RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

'Morning All,

I'm kitbashing Tamiya's 16th scale Sherman into a Sherman Firefly Mk Ic (Hybrid) and have a couple of "detail" questions for the more knowledgeable Sherman types here.

Q.1. Did British/Commonwealth Sherman Fireflies retain the siren mounted beside the left front headlight and guard when converted into Fireflies?

Q.2. Were the Pioneer Tools mounted on the rear hull held down with leather straps and buckles, or web straps, and if leather, was the leather left in a natural colour or tinted a green?

For anyone considering the DGS British/Commonwealth AFV external stowage accessory kit from Dean at DGS Military Hobby - get it. It's an excellent set and the service from Dean was first rate. Thanks Dean.

Cheers,

Chris Preston,
Victoria, BC
Canada

Dean is absolutely the man!

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Most, if not all surviving Fireflies are shown on this website. Perhaps you've already seen it, but if not, do have a look:
http://the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving_Panzers.html
A pdf on the Firefly is downloadable from the site.

edit: The Firefly pdf is some 22MBs, and so I can't upload it to RCTW.

Much of my Firefly build came from Bovington and actual drawings. I cover my build in detail and most parts out there are Firefly-ish. The radio box and other details are incorrect. I have only seen one high bustle Firefly turret as well. It was used as a fixed emplacement, not mounted.

Here is the link to my build. I found some more of the build photos.
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=7885

X82d Pathfinder wrote:Much of my Firefly build came from Bovington and actual drawings. I cover my build in detail and most parts out there are Firefly-ish. The radio box and other details are incorrect. I have only seen one high bustle Firefly turret as well. It was used as a fixed emplacement, not mounted.

Here is the link to my build. I found some more of the build photos.
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=7885

Ahem.

Still waiting for those photos of a cast hull firefly too.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Mine too was built using photos of a firefly at bovington. Though mine is the vc

tomhugill wrote:

X82d Pathfinder wrote:Much of my Firefly build came from Bovington and actual drawings. I cover my build in detail and most parts out there are Firefly-ish. The radio box and other details are incorrect. I have only seen one high bustle Firefly turret as well. It was used as a fixed emplacement, not mounted.

Here is the link to my build. I found some more of the build photos.
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=7885

Ahem.

Still waiting for those photos of a cast hull firefly too.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Would you like a brownie button? I am the first and only to chronicle a build in detail as I did. The number of views also show it's popularity and has clearly been used as I intended. As an instructional build. It was also my first build. The lack of responses will likely deter me from doing another build and posting the step-by-step build I answered probably 200 questions behind the scenes and your snide remark isn't deserved or fitting the effort it required.
Remember, my build is almost 10 years old. Pictures, details and documents surface regularly and it changes what is known.
I own at least 15 books on the Sherman and searched Google and other mediums for information. I looked high and low for information on the Firefly.
I have one shot that was taken by my grandfather in the Graves, Holland area. He passed when I was five so I never had an opportunity to ask him where and what units he encountered after the jump.
The picture and second printing hasn't happened by Zaloga, so perhaps I'll just post what I have. I signed rights to use the photo which is why I never posted the original.
Now the pictures were on my old cell phone's memory card. Converting the files and resizing them would take a huge amount of time.
If you'll PM me your Email I'll forward them to you via Email. I went back college and became an Airline Pilot for the largest carrier in the world.
Until the Chinese tried to destroy the world's economy I was gone 3-5 days a week from home.
P.S. You're welcome.

I assume it could be a Canadian as well. However, there are no visible unit markings on the armor.

Chris Preston wrote:'Morning All,

I'm kitbashing Tamiya's 16th scale Sherman into a Sherman Firefly Mk Ic (Hybrid) and have a couple of "detail" questions for the more knowledgeable Sherman types here.

Q.1. Did British/Commonwealth Sherman Fireflies retain the siren mounted beside the left front headlight and guard when converted into Fireflies?

Q.2. Were the Pioneer Tools mounted on the rear hull held down with leather straps and buckles, or web straps, and if leather, was the leather left in a natural colour or tinted a green?

For anyone considering the DGS British/Commonwealth AFV external stowage accessory kit from Dean at DGS Military Hobby - get it. It's an excellent set and the service from Dean was first rate. Thanks Dean.

Cheers,

Chris Preston,
Victoria, BC
Canada

Hows your build going Mr Preston?
Got any pictures of your progress yet ?
By the looks you will need a boat load of extra track links whatever the version !!

'Evening Herman,

My Firefly build is progressing nicely - I'm working on finishing off the hull details - tools, lights and light-guards, tow cable, etc, and minor corrections to some details and damage that's occurred during the build. Once done, I'll move on to outfitting the turret internals and adapting Tamiya's 17 Pdr barrel with recoil to a Nick Aguilar turret (I hope ). I have photos of the build, but they're stored on my computer, so I'll have to figure out how to post them on this site.

By my count, I'll need at least 35 extra track links - know of anyone who does 3-D T-74 links?

I've tested the modified hull with Mato VVSS units, tracks, idlers, and drive sprockets, and everything seems to work properly. Cheers,

Chris, in Victoria, BC

'Evening All,

Another question for you more knowledgeable types on Sherman Fireflies, this time regarding vehicle tool stowage on the rear hull. For British and Commonwealth Fireflies, particularly Mk Ic's (Hybrid) did they carry the gun cleaning rods, and if so, where were they stowed? Also, what was the most typical location for the Idler Adjusting tool, and the Hand Crank Starting Handle? The new Model Centrum pub on Sherman Fireflies, has two scale diagrams for Mk Ic's - early and late, with subtle differences in tool stowage on the upper rear hull.

Thanks in advance.

Chris Preston