Sherman Conversion

[tankman]

Very impressive job so far. Keep up the good work and keep the pictures coming.
Alan

[nickmow]

More work this evening,
Come to an acceptable conclusion on the mantlet, and the Crew seem really pleased though the skipper is still trying to figure the plans by the looks of things !

Also stripped the suspension right down and sprayed having succesfully completed 1 complete unit split as per Bubbajoes technique ! Boy needs a lot of patience I used Humbrols canned spray Light Olive Green, which isnt quite the shade I was after but I think it will weather up well. The finish is really very good out of the can.

[nickmow]

Things are progressing. Man If I had any idea how much work in terms of man hours this thing was going to take, Id of stuck with the out of the box look
So... oops Tamiya upper hull arrives (well it was cheap as chips and I thought..why not ?) Set to work trying to construct the drivers and co-drivers compartments, after re-angling the Glacis plate from 47 to 56 degrees. Not such a difficult task, as I downloaded a printable protractor and used it as a cutting template.
http://www.ossmann.com/protractor/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Struggled to find a scale plan and looked at thousands of pics for reference...then remembered my 21st 1/18th Sherman was sat there as an ideal model to work from. Sometimes I amaze myself how thick I can be.

Next to the Mato Hull for comparrison, The Tamiya hull is a good fit but you need to shave off about, rough guess 1.5mm off each side of the Mato lower.

With the Turret on for checking fit

Primed to see how rough the sanding had been, and little helpers are keen to get on with the job.

Suspension finished. Ive left the centre suspension units unmodded for now. I figured they would lend a bit of strength to the undercarriage and not detract too much from the effect produced by Bubbajoe's mod.

With reference models, 1/18 to the left and 1/76 matchbox firefly, I built in mm let me see 1979/80ish !!

So now it looks like a sherman again ! sort of. More work to do over the weekend.

[grompix]

Fantastic progress on the Sherman. Looks brilliant!
Cheers
Chris

[YHR]

Nice job on your Sherman. The Mato has lots of room for improvement, but it does provide a good starting point

IF those Shermans start showing up on the island you might want to consider this suspension modification. They are close to being prototypical and you don't cut the traction bars. Tailend Charlie come up with the idea, and I added a few ideas of my own. Seems as some of you guys are still unable to get on to RCU, and since the Firefly is a Brit tank I thought I would share.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_93083 ... tm#9308302

I'm on my fourth Sherman.

[nickmow]

Thanks YHR, thats remarkable work you've done there, I note that you say the 1/18 wheels are a closer to scale ? They do look better on your Firefly. Think that may be a project too far for me though. Resin wouldnt be up to the job of Road wheels would it ?

[YHR]

As long as you use bearings or at least metal bushings you would probably be OK with Resin

[nickmow]

Well thats interesting, I might just give it a go, Thanks YHR

[nickmow]

Bit more progress, starting to look the part now

Will keep slogging...problem is Ive had an idea for a slightly bigger project

[tankmad]

Its comming along good style keep up the good work.
Stevie