1944 M4A3 105mm

[palepainter]

Did you visit Hobby Town in Longmont?

[jeff1101]

Hi Painless.

You're off to a great start. Looking back I would have wanted to have working hatches and access doors on my panther but I was just starting then and I thought to keep it simple on my first customization. Plus there werent many products in a similar vein in the market then.

Now its my turn to sit back and watch, read up and learn from your build. I will be staying tuned with interest.

regards
Jeffrey

[ALPHA]

I wondered what you were going to do with the body supports Painless...great job skeletoning them down....I can really feel a little of your excitement... seems you really got all the right stuff for this gal to go together properly

ALPHA

[ALPHA]

Painless, thank you very much for the tutorial on swapping roadwheels between the two Shermans. I wouldn't have thought to try and interchange the parts. I don't know if anyone makes a 2mm bolt that's long enough to replace the screw on the HL bogie arms (would have to be about 22mm long) but it sure would be nice to run that all the way through and put a self-locking nut on the back to hold the wheel in. The Mato wheels look just a bit oversized on the HL bogies, (to my eyes), but they ARE a lot nicer than the HL wheels, and worth the swap!

Alpha - I'll bring you a set of the Mato wheels the next time we get together. After reading Painless' greta posting about them this morning, I made two sets of them!

-Mike

OOOOOOOOOOO MATO wheels... I can feel eyes burning on the nape of my neck ...thanks Mike... I guess you and me both got a little enthused about those sharp looking bogies

ALPHA

[PainlessWolf]

11th Day: (and also my Birthday so not a lot going on modeling wise tonight) One shipment came in, my Black Friday Jerry Cans. *chuckles* Pale, yes!, that is Hobby Town on Main Street in Longmont ;o) You probably know the place well. ;o) I picked up some plastistrut and a new paintbrush and a couple of jars of paint (steel and gunmetal) and last but not least, a new #75 drill bit to replace the one that snapped and buried itself in my finger the other night. ;o) I'll get round to fixing the rear deck engine bay grills tomorrow night. I dreamed up a better way to fix the center gap that was left after mounting. Jeff, it is an honor, Sir. I am slow to get going, still working with some parts enroute and working around the Holidays but fun is definitely being had. I hope I do or come up with something useful for someone else doing a Sherman build.
Picture:

[sassgrunt]

Painless, just a quick note. You know how I said that the Mato wheels on the HL bogies just looked a little too oversized to me? Well, the more I looked at it, I came to realize that it looked that way because the diameter of the Mato wheel was larger than the diameter of the idler in the rear - THAT was what was making it look weird! What I did was to use the metal idler wheel that comes from Mato, and now the Mato wheels look more in scale compared to the idler. I'm much happier with the look, now. -Mike

[PainlessWolf]

Good Evening, Sassgrunt,
You are reading my mind, Sir. I have a set of the metal Mato Sprockets and Idlers for the HL to put on along with some of the nifty T74 tracks. I am really pleased with how things are coming together. *bows*
warm regards,
Painless

[jeff1101]

11th Day: (and also my Birthday so not a lot going on modeling wise tonight) One shipment came in, my Black Friday Jerry Cans. *chuckles* Pale, yes!, that is Hobby Town on Main Street in Longmont ;o) You probably know the place well. ;o) I picked up some plastistrut and a new paintbrush and a couple of jars of paint (steel and gunmetal) and last but not least, a new #75 drill bit to replace the one that snapped and buried itself in my finger the other night. ;o) I'll get round to fixing the rear deck engine bay grills tomorrow night. I dreamed up a better way to fix the center gap that was left after mounting. Jeff, it is an honor, Sir. I am slow to get going, still working with some parts enroute and working around the Holidays but fun is definitely being had. I hope I do or come up with something useful for someone else doing a Sherman build.
Picture:

Hi Painless,

I assume these Jerry cans were captured and requistioned by your Sherman crew? Jerrycans were a German invention hence the term "Jerry" - a deregatory term for German used by the allies in WWII. (Similar to the use of "Fritz" as a term for Germans used by the allies in the first world war) The allies discovered the jerry cans were more useful (and durable) than their own equipment for storing fuel rations that they would capture these and use it for their own.

regards
Jeffrey

[sassgrunt]

Painless, I also have a set of the T-74 tracks with duckbills coming in for my M4A3E2 Jumbo build. It wasn't listed on Mato Mart's site, (they're having a sale until the 15th, and if you buy enough, the shipping is free), so I emailed them about it. They said to buy the T-49 ones with the duckbills, but to specify that you want the T-74 ones, (same price).

On the Jumbo, I also used a Mato metal idler, but didn't like the 12 spokes on the face, when it should only have six. I spend a lot of effort trying to smooth out the face, and still have to install some sort of spokes to get it to look right. On this other tank, I removed the outer metal face of the Mato idlers, and cut down the OD and thickness of the Heng Long idlers, so that I could glue them in place of the metal faces. The OD of the metal idlers is bigger than the HL ones were. I also managed to add bearings, so now it looks and functions better.

Now, my only concern is that with running metal tracks, (on this one, I am using the T-49), if the mounts for the idlers will be strong enough to prevent them from getting 'pigeon-toed' over time. -Mike

[stug 85]

Hi jeff the jerry cans painless has are the us version the german blitz cans as the jerries knew them weremade from two peices of pressed steel and had a rim around the whole can whereas the us version had a flat bottom and a different filler cap