1944 M4A3 105mm

[PainlessWolf]

67th Day: Nothing in the mail today. Tank wise, I decided to go ahead and build the late war add-ons I had considered previously and put them on the tank. My 105mm was a ground breaker. *chuckles* I built the armored cover for the Gunner's Sight and made it moveable. Then, I drilled out the diameter slightly of the 2" Smoke Mortar muzzle and added the short tube that ordinance decided that these tanks needed to give extra range to the smoke grenades that it launched. I'll source a better cap for the tube tomorrow. I was going to start priming early and had put the tank back together and sealed off the electrics but ran out of time to finish prepping. Pics:

[palepainter]

You are getting so close!!! All the details and additions are fantastic! I am looking forward to seeing the color.

Pale

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning, Pale,
Thank you, Sir. I am _so_ ready to prime and start painting. I did a final test of functions last night before I closed up the chassis and upper hull and everything worked like a charm *crosses claws* This weekend will be a good one for progress.
regards,
Painless

[ALPHA]

Those periscope guards are really something painless... now hedging... I put the ones Mike lent me on for a dry run... just to see if they would improve the look.. they really add to the profile of the tank....thing about it is... none of my others have such detail.... but they are still great looking... and don't look too difficult to make

ALPHA

[ALPHA]

By the way Painless .. you are now famous... this build is plastered all over the net

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sit ... E%20GUARDS



ALPHA

[PainlessWolf]

Good Afternoon,
Alpha!, I know that you could turn out those periscope covers fairly easily and they are a great addition to the tank. I've seen the Mato types in plastic and metal but prefer the Schumo ones for their added on bolt casting. That page was a hoot!. I saw a lot of work from many of us on here represented. It is a little troublesome that accounts we have to log into securely can be accessed with just a click from Google. We will have to watch our Ps and Qs I suppose while building. Have a great rest of your afternoon!
regards,
Painless

[ALPHA]

Good Afternoon,
Alpha!, I know that you could turn out those periscope covers fairly easily and they are a great addition to the tank. I've seen the Mato types in plastic and metal but prefer the Schumo ones for their added on bolt casting. That page was a hoot!. I saw a lot of work from many of us on here represented. It is a little troublesome that accounts we have to log into securely can be accessed with just a click from Google. We will have to watch our Ps and Qs I suppose while building. Have a great rest of your afternoon!
regards,
Painless

So true Painless... they are nicely done ... the one thing I found about the schumos though is that they are a little too short to cover the FoV periscopes..the other thing is that Welsh doesn't carry the Pershing set... that one has five in it where the one for the Sherman has only three ...the difference in cost is minimal... but for me not worth the time or expense to order them...making them would be the best way...it's just it would take a little time to do....my build is pushing it's limits for my liking...the silver lining is that they can be added later.... as right now I other priorities for the tank
Plus I can always enjoy the look when looking at your tank

ALPHA

[PainlessWolf]

68th Day: Alpha, very true on all points plus I do not recall seeing the periscope covers on the Saunders Sherman from the Show. Tonight, I worked on one of the last bits of detailing that I wanted to add. Only one more to go after the rail and packs. Phil's excellent Sherman was the inspiration for this and after I found it illustrated in one of Zaloga's books about the Sherman in WWll, I decided to fit it onto this tank. Phil did an excellent and clean job of his rail and packs and I came close on the rail but decided to go for a slightly beefier (and easier) mount for the three packs I was hanging. I will add putty or resin tomorrow to fill out the backs and give them some weight. The copper strap is recurved to fit the rail so I would have to flip the tank to drop one of these ( I think ;o) Pics:

[ALPHA]

So those are the pack rails you spoke of... funny I don't recall Phil putting those on his SHERMAN... will have to take another look they look great hanging there Painless... a really nice added feature

Now the real question ... does this mean this SHERMAN will be weathered ?

ALPHA

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning,
Alpha, aye, Phil displays them on page two of his Build. He mounted them on the opposite side (which makes more sense as there is no pistol port there). I followed the illustration in my Sherman book and mounted the longer rail on the Driver's side. Maybe it was easy to prop open the pistol port and grab stuff out of the packs? I do not know but it seems possible. ;o) Weathering?, only a little as this tank is depicted as coming out of the field repair depot where it would have been washed, painted as needed, welds and shot damage repaired and the inside painted as required. A full load of ammo and fuel and supplies would be sent with the crew on it. I will show it with some dirt and dust blown up from the tracks but a lot of mud and collected crap, probably not.
regards,
Painless