1/16 RC M4A3E8 Korean war - Restoring Tamiya M4 with Takom kit - build

[lmcq11]

Hi Louis,

I am glad you decided to take on this build/conversion. You are saving me all this mental engineering work. I hope you don't mine me "stealing" as I have a Tamiya M4 and Andy's M4E8 and will do a late war build.

Excellent use of existing Tamiya parts to supplement the Takom and save where you can.

Barry

Thanks Barry,

It's a fun project. As i cannot work outside during winter, a low risk, low cost, plastic kit RC conversion like this is pleasant and less dirty. I try to keep it simple.

I am making sure there are no secrets on the build reports so that the experience can be useful to others, with a video at the end to prove it works...

Louis

[BarryC]

Keep up the great work!

I ordered, Andy's Hobby Headquarters AHHQ007 1/16 British Achilles M10 IIc Tank Destroyer to use on a HL lower.

Barry

[lmcq11]

Keep up the great work!

I ordered, Andy's Hobby Headquarters AHHQ007 1/16 British Achilles M10 IIc Tank Destroyer to use on a HL lower.

Barry

We will see more of these kind of builds. They are so easy to work with compared to the kitbashing of RC toys, relatively cheap compared to buying garage upgrade parts, and the models are so detailed. I have a Trumpeter/Heller Panzer III M with Taigen chassis next on the assembly line.


Continuing with the build; the Tail lights.


The Takom kit comes with nice tail lights. The main body is hollow but the inside is small and the face does not have separate clear parts for easy RC conversion.

1/16 RC M4A3E8 Korean war - Restoring Tamiya M4 with Takom kit - build

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The Mato metal Sherman tail lights have an embedded red LED, but they are not well detailed, and the mount is way oversized.

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I have decided to reuse the Mato tail light, but they need to be significantly trimmed with metal and nail files to match the accurate Takom size. The face is removed so that it can be replaced by a more accurate representation. If i had to do it again, i would probably select the Takom plastic body instead as it would have been easier.

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Tamiya produces a set of lens for the Sherman, available at Axel Modellbau.

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Leftovers from the Sho't Meteor build, they seemed to match the Takom part.

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Cutting away the solid lenses from the Takom headlights was complicated and it's difficult to achieve a good result. I wish Takom had molded them separately and provide clear parts, a suggestion for a future upgrade.

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It's so tiny, but i managed to do something without ruining the parts (there is a high risk of it), and make the Tamiya lenses fit them.

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Dry fitting them with a drop of superglue, looking good. They will be permanently installed only after painting.

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The Takom tail lights guards are nice but weak. One of then did not even make it on the sprue and is broken. I have not purchased a second hand Sherman without some or all the head and tail lights broken, so i want metal ones.

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The Mato Sherman Tail light guards have the right dimensions but are too thick. They need to be considerably thinned with a metal and nail file, then polished.

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Continuing on following post.

[lmcq11]

Tail lights and guards solidly installed. Superglue at the base to similate the heavy welding and will be adjusted as required. They are so solidly in place, I can lift the upper hull from the guards. They do protect the tail lights, which is important because the light have a weak joint with the hull.


In extreme close up, the guards still look thick but they look good with the naked eye from further away.

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Testing the integration of Mato tail light bodies with Takom faces and Tamiya lenses... Looking not too bad considering the mods of the parts from 3 different manufacturers involved on such a small item. It works.

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Right side

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Left side

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Now, the speaker.

Tamiya provides this monster sound box for their Sherman chassis, taking half the room available. It's as if sound was the most important thing on this vehicle.

I have other priorities. For a rivet counter like me, sound is important but if it is makes an engine sound that does vrooommm, i am happy. But i know sound is serious business for many but this simply takes too much room.

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I can make use of the stand for the speaker to fit under the engine deck, but i do not need the box below it. This is where the smokers will be located.

Tamiya put so many screws and bolts on this thing, it’s way over engineered for the simple purpose. I just cut the bottom middle section and threw it away.

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And i put back the sides in place, and changed the connector to fit the TK 7.1. The speaker is held in place with nuts and bolts instead of the custom brass mounts.

Once the smokers are installed and I know exactly how much space is available above them, I will likely create a new bottom cover for the speaker box, much higher than before.

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[lmcq11]

Now there is room for the engine smoker and the gun barrel smoker, and everything else will be at ease too instead of being cramped on top of each other. The Heng Long TK 7.1 is also taking a lot less space than the Tamiya electronics.

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Takom detail is amazing, even the lift eyes have cast part numbers.

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And each of the fuel and liquid caps have their own individual and different cast part numbers on them.

Take notice of the detailed drain hole, a rare sight in model building. With such a detailed Sherman model to work with at less than $100 for the whole kit, there is no way back for me. I have a couple more Tamiya Shermans that need such upgrade too...

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The model as it stands today.

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Next step, finishing the upper hull.

Regards, Louis

[Kaczor]

Looking at Andy's kit details, I regret buying I Love Kit, but on the other hand it was three times cheaper...

One rivet counter note: US ww2 vehicles have red light only on the left side. Right side have only white blackout lights.

[lmcq11]

Looking at Andy's kit details, I regret buying I Love Kit, but on the other hand it was three times cheaper...

One rivet counter note: US ww2 vehicles have red light only on the left side. Right side have only white blackout lights.

The AHHQ kit could be purchased on Black Friday sale for less than $100 in North America. There is a lot of price difference on this kit, same for the Trumpeter.

Other than the top left oval lens that should be red, all the other lenses of the Sherman tail lights should be painted black. But that would be a bit boring on a RC vehicle.

[Kaczor]

Side note: Andy will soon announce another Allied set. I wonder if this will be another Sherman based vehicle...

[MonsieurTox]

Looking at Andy's kit details, I regret buying I Love Kit, but on the other hand it was three times cheaper...

Yes me too, however I ended up buying the I love kit because it can easily be converted to RC after modifying the suspensions, and the tracks are better and stronger than HL or Tamiya plastic tracks.

You're doing an incredible job as always Louis !

[lmcq11]

Yes me too, however I ended up buying the I love kit because it can easily be converted to RC after modifying the suspensions, and the tracks are better and stronger than HL or Tamiya plastic tracks.

The I Love Kit has nice rubber bands for the roadwheels too, all plastic roadwheels on Takom/AHHQ. They both have their strengths and weaknesses.


The following posts are for the driver's and radioman/gunner's hatches.

The kit has nicely detailed hatches. It's bizarre that Takom did not bother making them operable. The hinge design is not obvious but it would have been easy for them to add the required pins... a suggestion for another release maybe.

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Let's at least try to make them operable so that figures or electronic switches can be added as needed. Worst thing that can happen is that the hatches will remain static in case of screw up...

Let's drill the hinge to hold a 1.19mm brass rod. After a lot of study and dry fitting, i can say that finding the proper center on the hatch section is difficult. The hinges have a lot of free mouvement on their own with the chassis, there is a risk.

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Taking my best shot, it opens and closes... The brass rod is made to be removed as needed, it will never be glued, no need to anyway, it holds on its own.

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Before installing the hinge, a notch needs to be made on the hidden lower section for the rod to be inserted from underneath.

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The hinges are glued to the hull, the hatch is positioned and the pin is pushed through.

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Looking ok, some finetuning is required to align hatches properly. No major screwups.

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The fragile periscope guards will be added only at the end of the build, they would likely be broken during construction. I don’t want them in the way at this time.

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The hatches do open, but i realize now that a Large Hatch Sherman upper hull with its hatches opened is not really a pretty sight.

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So, in the end, they are likely to remain shut, or maybe used for an On/Off switch if i replace the tiny plastic handle by one made of brass rod, easy to do. I have not decided yet. It seems easier to just lift the upper hull completely to access the electronics and switches than opening hatches.

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Continuing on following post