Unspeakable Acts on an unsuspecting Sherman...
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 10:00 pm
Well, about a week after I got my Heng Long Sherman SWMBO started getting suspicous...
"Hun, is it just me, or did your tank turn into one-and-a-half tank over the past few days?" Me; "Must be you, sweetheart..."
But I think she is on to me... What I've gathered thusfar in parts and stuff is;
Now, the "Plan" for now is;
Remove plastic engine grills from the top of the hull and replace with metal grills and hinges. This for easy access to the innards, like the smoker for refueling and the Voltage alarm for settings and turning it off.
Remodel the spare turret to look like a Firefly turret. I know this involves another barrel as well, and I have ordered one from Toucan's store on AliExpress. They are shipping it along with the Panzer IV I may or may not have bought... The barrel I bought willl still let me shoot BBs.
Ordering (or scratchbuilding) the british style commander's hatch. Loader's hatch is going to be scratchbuild.
Remodel the (spare) hull to resemble a VC Firefly hull. This means a different type of driver hatch and eliminating the front .30cal. Which means I have a MG firing led going spare. Which I might move to the top .50cal. Because... why not?
Remodeling the gear box covering to resemble an early type. Or buy the excellent resin one Forgebear sells. Not sure on that one yet. There's an awful lot of variants around anyway.
Change IR stuff to LegoDEI's system. As soon as I figure out how to get the purchase not get killed by the new stupid tarif laws in the EU.
And that's just for starters. Going to do all the major remodelling on the spare hull and turret, except for the metal grills. Those will go on the "working" hull, since I want to be able to access the voltage alarm and an easier way to "refuel" the smoker.
But I started with coding all the wires. Saves me a lot of hassle later. Back right the new wires I strung from the battery compartment for the Voltage Alarm. The new metal grills will let me switch it off when it goes off (and ya kinda need to... it's rrrreally annoying). You can also see the repair I had to do on the wires for the rear lights. They got pinched when the hull was closed up in the Heng Long factory, and the insulation was damaged. The copper itself was fine, so it was just a matter of popping the metal bits from the connector and sliding on some heatshrink.
Time to get started... Starting with strengthening the pillars, since a part of them rests on the engine grills. I used some square 8mm ABS tube. Took a piece long enough for both struts, and drilled a 6mm hole in the middle. Cut it in two pieces right down the hole and fettled them until the fit nice and snug (one a bit too much, but some 0.5mm sheet fixed that...). Glued in place with MEK on the hull side, and with ABS/MEK slurry on the pillars. Once that gone off, it should be solid ABS all the way through. Also added some strips round the edges and down the middle to get a little more "meat" for the hinges.
Chop time. Warranty voided...
New grills in. The Mato stuff is really nice, altho cutting the thread on the stems that attach the hinges to the hull was a bit nervewracking.
...the result is totally worth it tho. And with a couple of small magnets and a bit of metal embedded in the middle strip they stay solidly closed.
And decisions have been made. I'm going for a Sherman IC Firefly. So no 3-piece gearbox cover. Still have to change the engine deck, but I think I can manage that. This also means I can stick to my plan to make the top hulls swappable. Only one thing to sort out for that to work to my liking. And that is fixing the single-piece gearbox cover. The Firefly hull has a more sloped glacis, but that can't be done neatly with the bolts from the cover attached to the top piece of the hull. So it's hacksaw time!!!
Lip removed from the Firefly hull, and a strip added to the top back for the top hull to rest on... No need to be too careful, because I have to remodel that whole front glacis anyway.
Lip attached to the gearbox cover with CA glue and baking soda.
Gearbox cover back in place. Now to get rid of the lip with bolts on the Sherman 105 hull.
The end result with the Sherman 105 hull. Still going to add cast texture to the gearbox cover, and I have new lights on the way as well. Next big job would be the changing of the glacis on the Firefly hull.
To Be Continued...
TTFN,
Rob
"Hun, is it just me, or did your tank turn into one-and-a-half tank over the past few days?" Me; "Must be you, sweetheart..."
But I think she is on to me... What I've gathered thusfar in parts and stuff is;
- Spare plastic hull (with the leds for the front and rear lights already installed)
Complete spare turret (V6.0 with all the electronics and BB stuff, alltho no 360 conversion)
Metal engine deck grill (Mato)
Metal horn and cover (Mato)
Metal .50cal for the turret (Mato)
Brass barrel and etch details for the .50cal (Aber)
Metal .30cal for the turret (Mato)
Now, the "Plan" for now is;
Remove plastic engine grills from the top of the hull and replace with metal grills and hinges. This for easy access to the innards, like the smoker for refueling and the Voltage alarm for settings and turning it off.
Remodel the spare turret to look like a Firefly turret. I know this involves another barrel as well, and I have ordered one from Toucan's store on AliExpress. They are shipping it along with the Panzer IV I may or may not have bought... The barrel I bought willl still let me shoot BBs.
Ordering (or scratchbuilding) the british style commander's hatch. Loader's hatch is going to be scratchbuild.
Remodel the (spare) hull to resemble a VC Firefly hull. This means a different type of driver hatch and eliminating the front .30cal. Which means I have a MG firing led going spare. Which I might move to the top .50cal. Because... why not?
Remodeling the gear box covering to resemble an early type. Or buy the excellent resin one Forgebear sells. Not sure on that one yet. There's an awful lot of variants around anyway.
Change IR stuff to LegoDEI's system. As soon as I figure out how to get the purchase not get killed by the new stupid tarif laws in the EU.
And that's just for starters. Going to do all the major remodelling on the spare hull and turret, except for the metal grills. Those will go on the "working" hull, since I want to be able to access the voltage alarm and an easier way to "refuel" the smoker.
But I started with coding all the wires. Saves me a lot of hassle later. Back right the new wires I strung from the battery compartment for the Voltage Alarm. The new metal grills will let me switch it off when it goes off (and ya kinda need to... it's rrrreally annoying). You can also see the repair I had to do on the wires for the rear lights. They got pinched when the hull was closed up in the Heng Long factory, and the insulation was damaged. The copper itself was fine, so it was just a matter of popping the metal bits from the connector and sliding on some heatshrink.
Time to get started... Starting with strengthening the pillars, since a part of them rests on the engine grills. I used some square 8mm ABS tube. Took a piece long enough for both struts, and drilled a 6mm hole in the middle. Cut it in two pieces right down the hole and fettled them until the fit nice and snug (one a bit too much, but some 0.5mm sheet fixed that...). Glued in place with MEK on the hull side, and with ABS/MEK slurry on the pillars. Once that gone off, it should be solid ABS all the way through. Also added some strips round the edges and down the middle to get a little more "meat" for the hinges.
Chop time. Warranty voided...
New grills in. The Mato stuff is really nice, altho cutting the thread on the stems that attach the hinges to the hull was a bit nervewracking.
...the result is totally worth it tho. And with a couple of small magnets and a bit of metal embedded in the middle strip they stay solidly closed.
And decisions have been made. I'm going for a Sherman IC Firefly. So no 3-piece gearbox cover. Still have to change the engine deck, but I think I can manage that. This also means I can stick to my plan to make the top hulls swappable. Only one thing to sort out for that to work to my liking. And that is fixing the single-piece gearbox cover. The Firefly hull has a more sloped glacis, but that can't be done neatly with the bolts from the cover attached to the top piece of the hull. So it's hacksaw time!!!
Lip removed from the Firefly hull, and a strip added to the top back for the top hull to rest on... No need to be too careful, because I have to remodel that whole front glacis anyway.
Lip attached to the gearbox cover with CA glue and baking soda.
Gearbox cover back in place. Now to get rid of the lip with bolts on the Sherman 105 hull.
The end result with the Sherman 105 hull. Still going to add cast texture to the gearbox cover, and I have new lights on the way as well. Next big job would be the changing of the glacis on the Firefly hull.
To Be Continued...
TTFN,
Rob
