Unspeakable Acts on an unsuspecting Sherman...

[Raminator]

A very neat result on the new glacis Rob, I'm impressed with how well everything's gone. ABS (especially Heng Long's) is rough stuff to work with, but at least it's strong. I'm looking forward to seeing how you go with the hatches!

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I am enjoying your build, Rob, and your sense of humor!

[Rob1970]

A very neat result on the new glacis Rob, I'm impressed with how well everything's gone. ABS (especially Heng Long's) is rough stuff to work with, but at least it's strong. I'm looking forward to seeing how you go with the hatches!

I found the ABS on the Sherman pretty good to work with sofar. And it reacts very well to the MEK and goopage, so that's a plus. For the hatches I have some stuff coming on from Shapeways. On that note;

MY SHAPEWAYS ORDER JUST SHIPPED!!!!

Saw just in time they shipped it with UPS, so I changed the shipping to delivery at the local UPS point. Last time I had something shipped to me with UPS they "said" they were at my house three days in a row, but I "wasn't home". And the fourth attempt they delivered... to an address (not mine) 140 kilometers away...

To do something useful while I wait for stuff to come in, I did a few things today. This morning I remade my shooting board (See this topic; viewtopic.php?f=38&t=31080), and then decided to do some work on the Sherman 105mm hull.


In this area I need to restore the details I removed. So, 0.8mm ABS sheet, and a sharp blade...


Carefull cutting, measuring, cutting again, filing, sanding and fettling will get you this...


You do that twice (let's be honest, I did it 4 times before I was satisfied...), and weld it in with MEK...


And then the new toy comes out!!!


Yeah, calling that 1.5mm...


To quote Gen. Anthony McAuliffe at the Battle Of The Bulge; "NUTS!"
Actually my second batch... the first batch was offered to the Carpet Monster when I sneezed at the workbench...
I was planning to stick them on today, but my physical therapist did a number on me this afternoon, and I am a bit broken right now. But tomorrow!!!

To Be Continued...

TTFN,
Rob

[Rob1970]

Sometimes all you want from life on a Friday afternoon is a moment of peace and quiet to get your nuts in the right place...



Also; 20 nuts used to get 12 into place... The Carpet Monster was having a field day...

To Be Continued...

TTFN,
Rob

[Rob1970]

Well, the Shapeways Stuff is here, and it's awesome!!!

British Antenna and Firefly Gun cradle from Niall...


New mantlet...


...Engine deck and Small Hatch Conversion from Woz.
All great stuff! I could print stuff like that myself (I've got two FDM and a resin printer...) but my skills at design are still at the Tinkercad level... But maybe someday... For now I am happy and lacking patience.


The Small Hatch conversion is pretty much a no-brainer. Figure out the exact placement with the help of drawings I gathered, and close up the sides. Woz designed them for a Heng Long Sherman with an unaltered glacis.


The new engine deck is also pretty easy to figure out, thanks to 43rdRecceReg's excellent thread here. I noticed that he shortened the new engine deck at the front end to make it fit, and that's what I am going to do as well.

Also noticed he straitened the rear end of his Sherman by adding a plate with a spacer. His infamous butt-lift. While browsing my various drawings I noticed something about that, and it bugged me enough to do some clever stuff with percentages and my printer, and I found this...


The butt doesn't just need straitening... it needs... shortening?


And by a pretty decent amount?

Opinions?

To Be Continued...

TTFN,
Rob

[Rob1970]

And by a pretty decent amount?

Opinions?...

Well, my reference model arrived with the post... Guess I will do lots measuring and maths! Also noticed this version of the IC has the squared, slightly downward-angled bumps for the small hatches... Choices, choices...


Good thing I build for my own pleasure. Imagine having to do your hobby to get the approval of others... *shudders*

To Be Continued...

TTFN,
Rob

[Rob1970]

Maths has been done! And I cheated; http://www.scalemodelersworld.com/onlin ... -tool.html

And like a true engineer I have come to a couple conclusions. And a quick reminder for those who are not exactly clear on the definition of "Engineer";

Engineer
[en-juh-neer]
(noun) Someone who does precision guesswork based on unreliable data gathered from questionable sources to meet unrealistic customer demands.
(see also; Wizard, Magician)

What I've found; From comparing blueprints, the Tamiya 1/48 hull, various pictures on the interweb and some guestimations;

• The Woz engine deck does indeed need to have that front 7ish mm shaved off (the red bit), so the bullet-splashguards of intake and turret meet.
• The hull needs to be shortened by about 11mm, and the angle changed from the 21 degrees of the HL hull to around 10 degrees. The white line is the cut line, and it makes the proportions of various sections of the upper deck look better in my eyes.
• Shortening the hull and adding back the rear plate also lines up the back with the track in a way that looks correct.

The white line here would be the cut line, the darker line the new rear plate. And it looks good to me.

Now, as a true mechanic I shall take these ideas and work from them for the rear and the engine deck. And a quick reminder for those who are not exactly clear on the definition of "Mechanic";

Mechanic
[muh-can-ick]
(noun) A person who fixes the mistakes made by engineers to the specifications the customer didn't know they wanted.
(see also; Grand-Wizard, Miracle Worker)

To Be Continued...
TTFN,
Rob

[Rob1970]

*Twilight Zone Theme*

Rod Serling; You're traveling through another dimension -- a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the Twilight Zone!

Imagine a small room in a community center... People gather to heal...

Counselor; "Hello everybody to Engineers Anonymous, I see we have a new face amongst us. Why don't you introduce yourself?"

Me; "Hi, I'm Rob, and I over-engineer stuff. Like... really badly."

Counselor, chuckling; " Now, we all feel like that sometimes. It is probably not all that bad. You can share here, this is a safe space..."

Me; "Weeeelll... I could show you?" Brings up this post on his tablet and shows the group. Gasps of horror fill the room, one of the people shrieks and begins sobbing...

Counselor, firmly; "I'm going to have to ask you to leave... THIS IS A PLACE OF HEALING!!!"

*Twilight Zone End Credits*

Aaaanyway, if you want to do major surgery on a patient, you gotta make sure the patient is stable first...


If I just go at it, those posts are going to die. And I want to keep them...


So some square ABS tubing, a strategicly places hole, and some sanding at the shooting board to get it juuuust right...


Shooting boards are AWESOME!!!


Step one complete...


Time to add some angles. I like to use cheap dollar-store plastic playing cards to make templates. Or use them as shims. Or as scrapers. Putty knives. I don't play cards tho...


And when you transfer your template to your 2.5mm ABS sheet, it's time to cover your angles...


...like... all the angles...


...and then I mean ALL the angles.


Even if I have to rip out this one when the surgery is done (or move the speaker box...)

To Be Continued...

TTFN,
Rob

[43rdRecceReg]

I don't know whether you've seen the thread yet, Rob, but I did some serious 'plastic surgery' to create a Firefly Ic conversion a little while ago, and also used the Tamiya 1/48- in part- as the 'studio model'/ maquette: that tasty wee Tamiya model from the tank 'catwalk'.
There might be a few details in there that could prove useful to you.
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=30971&hilit=Firefly+Ic

[Raminator]

I'm enjoying following along with your problem-solving and innovative fixes, Rob. If you can't save the screw posts though, you can try what others have done and close the two halves of the hull with magnets, catches or even Lego!