It Begins! My M4A1 based Sherman Firefly Build.

[sassgrunt]

Dan, that is some impressive detailing! I too, am looking forward to seeing it painted. Are you planning to battle this tank? I ask, because on the one hand, it would be a real treat for people to see it out running around a battlefield; while on the other hand, doing that would jeopardize breaking off some of the fantastic detail you've put into this build. -Mike

[X82d Pathfinder]

Yes, I intend to do some battle with it. I have tried to make sure that the majority of the details are at minimum, as strong as the Tamiya componets. I have been careful to make sure surfaces are clean and that I have a great bond with details. You can hold the entire tank by the light guards.
I don't recommend shaking it being it weighs about 12-13 pounds, but it's pretty strong. The sad truth is I'm at the point where I'm getting excited about completion, however I am about 13 days from surgery, so I don't know If I'll get it done prior to. However, I am pretty sure at this juncture that I will likely have it shot in the British SCC15 green before I go. The weathering and figure posing and painting will be last. I will probably make up a master for the 17 pounder metal ammo boxes and cast a few. I wanted a couple shells, but of course they aren't made by anyone in this scale. After working with some scale drawings I found that converting the Verlindin 88 round won't be that difficult to look like the 17 Pndr. If I do, I will cast spares for other dummies who love armor that isn't commercially available. I want to make a few APDS rounds. They're distinctive and certainly umistakable for anything else during the period.

[X82d Pathfinder]

I had a bit of spare time today and finally got my smoker, manifolds and exhaust pipes made up. Here are the pictures. It clears the speaker assembly I made and is all is slip fit. If I need to do maintainence, It can be completely dissassembled. I used the Tamiya exhaust mount bracket and tapped the rear hull for 080 threads to hold the exhaust dumps to the hull. Here are the pictures.

-Dan

[X82d Pathfinder]

I have been recovering from heart surgery, so I haven't done much in the last couple weeks, however someone pointed out that Fireflys didn't use the M2 Browning .50. So I decided to make up an M1919 .30 Browning to make most of you happy, however Bovington and pictures tell a different story about the M2 .50.
Here is the M1919 browning and the can mount I scratch built. The resin M1919 came with a tripod for ground usage, so I converted it to the armor style mount and built the ammo can bracket. Here is the project in the white.

-Dan

[sassgrunt]

When I see the details you have built in each new post, all I can say is WOW! I am looking forward to seeing it all come together in the different colors of the various materials you used to build it, and then painted and marked. It will be a 'reference build' for people who want to build their own Firefly in the future, I'm certain.

And as far as the .50 cal goes, if YOUR tank commander felt it would give him an edge in a fight; I'm sure that nothing would have prevented him installing it and having it to use. There's an interesting thread of this subject on Missing-lynx. http://www.network54.com/Forum/47208/th ... d+UK+tanks -Mike

[X82d Pathfinder]

I am personally rather fond of Ma Deuce. She lays down a hell of a suppessive fire and is rather effective on soft targets. I can see the issue with exiting the commander's copula in a hurry to an extent , but the split doors open with the .50 clipped in place. or left free turned to the side. Perhaps the real issue was with storage on the tank itself. The US armor had brackets on the turret to store the M2 broken down with the barrel removed. There were no provisions on most Brit armor I noted. Many had a bin attatched, but not large enough to hold the M2. So perhaps the real issue at hand was how to store it. Mike :the AAR the Brits issued was interesting to say the least, however those of us who are prior service know that the opinion of the brass for field studies often aren't based on practical use of such implements.

Eastern: The M1919 is a Verlindin kit, I used a small piece of .028 brass rod to mount it to the pintle so it could piviot. The other is .020 strip and sheet plastic and a small piece of quarter round. That simple.
-Dan

[X82d Pathfinder]

I finally completed the hull and all the small detail. Paint makes it hard to identify all the work done, so I took pictures in the buff and pictures in primer. I will post the 'nudes" first. The primered photos will follow. I really had a hard time getting the turret rotation worked out where it was reliable. I had to use brass tube on the centering wheel shafts in the resin turret and I bushed the wheels themselves. I made about 20 full rotations both directions and it ran well. You also have to relieve the the turret splash sheild as well. If you don't do it where it clears, you'll ruin your paint after it's complete. Anyway, here you are.

-Dan

[X82d Pathfinder]

Here is the completed hull in primer. Everytime I thought I was done I'd find something I missed.

-Dan

[sassgrunt]

Thank you for posting your most-recent pictures. I especially liked the pre-primered ones, as it makes it easy to see all the hard work you've put into the details. I think that my favorite detail is the welded plug for the hull machine gun. But then again, I like the gun crutch, and the cast-in numbers & symbols on the hull, too. Oh heck, it ALL looks great!

[X82d Pathfinder]

Mike:
Once primered it really does tend to hide all the work. I started thinking about that and I decided to post before and after photos just for that reason. I was starting to wonder if I'd ever get done. Paint isn't far away! LOL
-Dan