M4A1 Sherman - 2nd Armoured - Carentan

[grim_marmazet]

I finally have a few updates to post. Sorry for the delays.

I've fitted the electronics now and tested them all. That Ford GAA firing up is a lovely sound! I'm trying to keep the cabling tidy, but it's not a big space in there;


I've soldered the DMD and MFU cables togeth onto a Deans connector, tucked nicely behind the motor;


The resin parts I ordered from Nick Aguilar arrived today. The workmanship is fantastic, he even cleaned up, filled and sanded any imperfections.
First there's the 75mm gun and M34A1 mantlet. I need to slighly expand the curve of the mantlet to fit onto the rotor shield;



Next is the transmission cover. This is fantastic with the cast texture, casting numbers and the tow shackle mounts already moulded in;



I also got the split hatch to replace the late one on the Tamiya kit. Its a tad smaller than the original, so it'll take a little reshaping of the turret to fit it;


The pièce de résistance is the cast hull. This really is a work of art;


Even included is the manufacturer badge,


and the markings for 'oil' and 'gasoline' next to the fuel caps;


With the hull Nick includes a variety of extras, including the fenders, hatches, travel lock, periscope holders (to be filled with periscopes! ), crew heater and engine vent covers;


He also chucks in a few little bits to help, the mesh for the engine deck vents, and by the exhausts, a bit of brass tube to extend the barrel for recoil, and some brass rod for the hatches;


The turret ring, has a large amount of play in it which will be remedied with plasticard. I now have a lot of tasks to be getting on with! Thanks to Rob who's sending me some brass strip, i'll be able to scratch up the brush guards, and i'm going to attempt to scratch the periscope guards as well.

Cheers,
Rik

[[ICE]monkey]

looking good , love those resin cast beauties

[volvospeed2010]

great work!! nice idea to mix all this stuff

Thats me, sitting on a sherman

[littletankman]

Looking good Rik , Im sure this will match your Tiger .

Andy

[grim_marmazet]

Thanks for the comments guys. The cast parts are excellent. Some bits need a little cleaning up, and reshaping, but nothing major.

Volvospeed, I hope I can get it near the quality of your work. I'm using the components that to me 'make' a perfect Sherman, the image of one I have in my head.

I've been working on some detail parts while I work out the turret and wait for more parts to show up. I've fitted the head and tail lights, horn, travel lock, lifting lugs and rear storage shelf. I have also started adding the fittings for some of the tools, but the toolds themselves will have wooden handles made for them;



The lighting has been wired in and connected to an RC transmitter controlled switch;



Thanks to the Pershing MFU, when you pull the throttle back slightly, the brake light comes on. To achieve this, the break light was wired seperately and plugged directly into the light socket on the MFU;


I hinged the travel lock and added the small catch for it on the hull. This makes it stay off the hull slightly as per the real thing, though I didn't make the travel lock work. I may change this later though;


I added the casting number behind the drivers hatch. Some cast hulls had them, some didn't. I liked them. I tried to replicate the large 'C' in the hexagon next to it. It came out ok, and looks a bit better with a coat of mr surfacer to blend it in to the hull. I may give it another coat to make look better;


The last bit is the 'comb'. This has been a bit of a Sherman mystery, as there is no technical documentation to show what it did, there's a lot of variations of it, and it was very inconsistantly used. I like it, so I added it. It still needs some weld seams though;


More information on the 'comb' can be found here;
http://web.inter.nl.net/users/spoelstra/g104/comb.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thats all for tonight guys. Hopefully I should have plenty more to show tomorrow.

Cheers,
Rik

[littletankman]

What can I say Rik thats awsome , think I shall have to follow your footsteps mate . The cast parts are realy good .

Andy

[Silverstalker]

nice detail! .... could that comb thingy be used for snagging barbber wire as it goes along so it dont become wrapped up in the turret/drivers head ?? just a theroy

[grim_marmazet]

The two current theories for the 'comb' are;

1. That it was some sort of quick release for a towed trailer. Some Shermans had a sort of pully mounted in a box above the comb. So it's been theorised that a control inside would unhock a cable from the comb, dropping the trailer somehow; or

2. It was a travel brake lock. This is my personal favourite theory. It is possible tha a cable was fed through the MG opening to the brake lever and attached to the comb to hold the brake on during transport. This seems to be supported by some shots such as this one;

That have "Unhook cable before towing" stenciled on the front. It would make sense.

What is strange is that no Sherman technical documentation or manuals mention this comb, or its function. I guess it's just one of those things lost to history.

Cheers,
Rik

[grim_marmazet]

I've had a fairly productive day today.

I finished all the tool mounts. I also made a starter handle, which is missing from the Tamiya kit. Some Sherman's had crow bars as well, but I didn't include one on mine. I've put the tools on temporarily to show the mounts properly;


Another missing mount is the barrel cleaning rods. I made the rack on the bottom of the storage shelf. I used some large styrene tube to simulate a casing for the brush, but I may use some khaki coloured cloth and string to make a cover after the paint has been applied;


I built the typical wooden shelf on the transmission cover with some strip styrene, and balsa wood planks, which I will stain a darker colour. I also used some brass to make the tow cable clamps on the front and rear;



The last picture to show tonight is the improved MG weather cover attachment. I added the little 'spikes' in what has proved to be the most tedious and frustrating thing i've ever had to do to a tank! lol I'm happy with how it came out though, and with a little coat of Mr. Surfacer to blend it in, and strengthen the whole thing, it should look fine;


I've added various weld seams since taking the pictures, and started to texture the turret. Hopefully I should have more pictures to show soon.

Cheers,
Rik

[sassgrunt]

Rik, thank you very much for posting pictures of your bogie modifications. Even though I've seen the other threads you mentioned; I never really understood where to cut & modify the parts until your photos, (they were much more clear than the others). They give me a lot more confidence to follow your lead and make my own changes to the bogies.

-Mike