Sov's 1/16 RC M4A3E8 (Tamiya/AHHQ004)
Posted: Fri May 16, 2025 6:14 pm
Hey all, it's been a while. Looking back, I started on this forum in 2012... Never finished my Tiger, I'll get back to it eventually. Wow has the tech changed over the years, scratch building originally, and since I went in big on 3D Printing, even being a top global supplier for awhile for model bits.
Starting something new. Hopefully a lot easier than the (WIP) Tiger. Not looking to extend this build 13 years ongoing like the last one...
I've had this Tamiya Sherman kit on the shelf for many years (decade?), along with Nick Aguilar's E8 kit. Seeing lmcq11's instructions on the amazing Korean War model he's done and being inspired, I'm going more than route. Full credit to lmcq11 for this. You'll see a lot of common connection to what I'm building vs what he has! Once this build is complete, I think I'd like to pass on my kit from Nick Aguilar and other spare Sherman bits on to someone in need.
.
Combining these two kits.
.
Basic Tamiya assembly began. The molding on the Tamiya plastic isn't amazing, required a lot of scraping mold lines and sharp edges of plastic for all those wheels.
.
First real challenge/hiccup, which front transmission/cover to use and how to fit it. Stock fit of the AHH/Takom part is not great, this is after shaving some plastic away on the inside. It's pretty tight.
.
I felt determined to use the AHH/Takom front section and carved out some holes/slots to match the Tamiya mounting options.
.
Also carved out a channel to fit the metal hull a bit smoother.
.
Here it is mounted to the hull with just some screws to hold it in place for examination.
.
Had to tilt the upper bolt bracket that mounts the Sherman transmission to the upper hull due to the fit and gaps. Held and gap filled with epoxy to make it look less obvious.
.
Upper Hull meeting the chassis and transmission.
.
Had to do some filing to get the metal chassis to fit the upper hull. There's a beveled edge on the metal, it fits quite nice now.
.
A bit of a fast forward, but it matches the progress. Here is the entire nose permanently mounted, with epoxy and gearbox covers. It's solid now, no gaps, nice tight fit and looks natural enough. I used a heat gun to slightly deform the transmission/cover to fit this Tamiya chassis better and it worked great. I'm quite happy I decided to use this cover, even though it was more struggle to make it work than I can properly represent.
.
Next episode.... the back of the chassis major overhaul. It's good to be back working on a model again.
Starting something new. Hopefully a lot easier than the (WIP) Tiger. Not looking to extend this build 13 years ongoing like the last one...
I've had this Tamiya Sherman kit on the shelf for many years (decade?), along with Nick Aguilar's E8 kit. Seeing lmcq11's instructions on the amazing Korean War model he's done and being inspired, I'm going more than route. Full credit to lmcq11 for this. You'll see a lot of common connection to what I'm building vs what he has! Once this build is complete, I think I'd like to pass on my kit from Nick Aguilar and other spare Sherman bits on to someone in need.
.
Combining these two kits.
- 20250516_122854.jpg (282.55 KiB) Viewed 876 times
Basic Tamiya assembly began. The molding on the Tamiya plastic isn't amazing, required a lot of scraping mold lines and sharp edges of plastic for all those wheels.
- 20250503_144536.jpg (327.2 KiB) Viewed 876 times
First real challenge/hiccup, which front transmission/cover to use and how to fit it. Stock fit of the AHH/Takom part is not great, this is after shaving some plastic away on the inside. It's pretty tight.
- 20250503_184443.jpg (281.69 KiB) Viewed 876 times
I felt determined to use the AHH/Takom front section and carved out some holes/slots to match the Tamiya mounting options.
- 20250503_144553.jpg (279.07 KiB) Viewed 876 times
Also carved out a channel to fit the metal hull a bit smoother.
- 20250503_144611.jpg (188.76 KiB) Viewed 876 times
Here it is mounted to the hull with just some screws to hold it in place for examination.
- 20250503_184434.jpg (346.27 KiB) Viewed 876 times
Had to tilt the upper bolt bracket that mounts the Sherman transmission to the upper hull due to the fit and gaps. Held and gap filled with epoxy to make it look less obvious.
- 20250504_114822.jpg (215.5 KiB) Viewed 876 times
Upper Hull meeting the chassis and transmission.
- 20250504_122109.jpg (321.64 KiB) Viewed 876 times
Had to do some filing to get the metal chassis to fit the upper hull. There's a beveled edge on the metal, it fits quite nice now.
- 20250504_122101.jpg (236.33 KiB) Viewed 876 times
A bit of a fast forward, but it matches the progress. Here is the entire nose permanently mounted, with epoxy and gearbox covers. It's solid now, no gaps, nice tight fit and looks natural enough. I used a heat gun to slightly deform the transmission/cover to fit this Tamiya chassis better and it worked great. I'm quite happy I decided to use this cover, even though it was more struggle to make it work than I can properly represent.
- 20250516_122709.jpg (151.08 KiB) Viewed 876 times
Next episode.... the back of the chassis major overhaul. It's good to be back working on a model again.