1944 M4A3 105mm

[PainlessWolf]

43rd Day: *chuckles* Ok, Alpha, Crazy Joe can stay as is. ;o) I will fix up his M4A1 a little tho' as nothing much was done to it outside of some sanding and touch up on tools, etc. back when I got it. I have the tools and parts now to make it look much better for ol' Joe. I think that a periscope will work on your Split Hatch turret. I went to Hobby Town this Saturday and got material to cut my own lens for the rest of the periscopes that Mike gave me. They can be shaped a little shorter to fit the Split Hatch. For the current Sherman, today started out with some popsicle sticks that I glued together and then cut and sanded to length to make a nice board for the front stowage rack. I got a little more ambitious for the next step and used some debonder to remove the stock exhaust deflector under the rear deck. I then sanded off old adhesive and checked fit on the excellent FoV one that Mike sent me and using a glued on toothpick section as a guide, got it installed. A great fit, outside of cutting off the half rounds on the HL deflector mount, no adjustment was needed. Much better looking with the rubber\plastic shocks on the back side which fit up against the hull between the exhausts. Lastly, I had an issue with the Tamiya mount peg on the .50 cal being a lot smaller than the Schumo mount aperture. A little heat shrink tubing on the .50 cal's mount fixed that. All in all, a productive day. Pictures:

[PainlessWolf]

43rd Day: continued:

[cannedheat]

yes you are indeed old chap [progress] its all to beautiful [marriot,lane]

[ALPHA]

Fynsdad... I agree in totality ... Joe is great

And since all the SHERMAN EXPERTS fynsdad..Canned..Painless are in the house... I have a question... on the HENG LONG... what do you all think about the outer diameter of the barrel... does it look too thick?

ALPHA

PS.. Painless... not sure if you need to hear it again.. but.. Awesome work... You've really gone above and beyond

[cannedheat]

its looks ok to me but i am no xpert,wot wot .....

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning,
Thank you , Gentlemen. *bows* Ol' Crazy Joe will be a fixture for years to come. Frynsdad, your British Officer looks like Monty! Archetypical, my man. ;o) CH, if anyone is a Sherman, expert, it is you. Alpha, It's a 105mm Howitzer. I read on one of the sites that the barrel was by necessity, truncated and larger in diameter than the standard 75mm. I'm happy with this this one from HL. The barrel is metal so the normal plastic jacket over an aluminum inner barrel isn't coming into play like the Mato Sherman's. Since you are doing the 75mm, you could look into this. Is there a different barrel that you have found or will you just turn down the outer diameter slightly?
warm regards,
Painless

[PainlessWolf]

Frynsdad,
Monty! Spot on! ;o) I love the 'eye candy' and 'wow', the tank dimensions. Was that a stencil?
regards,
Painless

[PainlessWolf]

Frynsdad,
Thank you for the link, Sir. ;o) That site is extra cool and packed with useful stuff.
regards,
Painless

[ALPHA]

Hello fynsdad Canned Painless... thank your for your input... no I did not turn down the barrel or replaced it ...Yet ...the reason why I asked was I hammered out a copper Mantlet for my Sherman build ... and thought the barrel was a little thick at the point where the mantlet stops and the barrel begins ... especially compared to the T34 which is supposed to be a 75 as well.. it is much thinner
The thing is I drilled the hole to match the current barrel on the Sherman... as I needed the hole for a centering point before soldering on those little flaps or barrel wings that my build requires... but it doesn't mean I have to use the current barrel... I might go with fynsdad's suggestion and go with a thinner one... and just sleeve the Mantlet... I should have photos later today.....spent most of the night on it... I hope you all come and take a look at it ... as though I'm pretty proud of the accomplishment ... I'm not sure I'll use it

I'm really finding out how hard it is to actually build a prototypical model...So I hope you don't mind fynsdad ... I might need your expertise when I attack the rear bulkhead...as I found the version I'm building has the dual doors instead of the single... and I've seen too many photos of the exhaust system... but none match whats on the stock Heng Long...the one that I might use looks similar to a Panzer IV...but with two pipes ... it is hidden under the rear hull...adorned with two filters on each side...I don't know if it's totally correct... but it will make for a good internal antenna mount

Thanks again Gentlemen...any suggestions or critiques are welcome... as I think the research is taking longer than building the tank ..

ALPHA

PS sorry for the intrusion on your build Painless

[ALPHA]

I think the HL barrel looks about right, like you say it is a 105 after all. If you're going for a 75mm, Alpha, I use a HL panzer 3 barrel on mine, it's not 100% but it looks pretty close
...Oh and here's a "Monty" I did......

Dang fynsdad... that's some pin up... it's the first one I've got to see close up... i'm amazed at the detail... that tank .. actually all your works of art are "eye candy"...
and what else can I say about your figures ... they're Fantastic... I still remember the German soldiers you posted ... that sketchbook guy was really something.

Thank you fynsdad ... it's always a special occasion when I get to see your work

ALPHA