Jakko’s 1:35 Sherman Crab Mk. I — seeing double?

[JR]

Wow Jakko, that's some dedication alright.

 

[Jakko]

Thanks, though I respectfully disagree that it’s anything special — just trying to build a reasonably accurate model

 

[Jakko]

The hull interior is now mostly done:



All I really need to add at this point is the ammo rack in the left sponson, beside the driver’s seat. The whole front part, with transmission, floor and seats is still loose so I can paint everything more easily. It just slots in from the front.

You may also notice I removed the Resicast firewall again and replaced it by that from the Asuka kit that I had originally put into the Dragon hull. This has two reasons: some test-fitting of hull and turret showed that the firewall won’t be visible at all on the Dragon kit, so it would be wasted in there. By the same token, the great detail on Resicast’s firewall would be mostly out of sight as well, so I felt it was better to take it out and keep it for a possible future model. Instead, I put in the kit part and added the most obvious of the missing detail myself from some plastic card and strip.

The reason for this is that I did some more reading on Shermans and their various updates, and concluded that my subject would probably not have received any of the later updates that were retrofitted to many existing tanks ca. 1943–44. I say this because it doesn’t have the additional armour plates on the hull sides, and therefore probably not the associated armoured racks inside either. This also means it most likely would have retained its full turret basket, instead of having had the perforated screen (that protected the turret crew when the turret rotated) removed for easier escape into or out of the turret. Thus, I will need to add that screen as well, which would obscure most of the view of the firewall.

Talking of which, I also started work on that turret basket:



I used a circle cutter to make the floor (38 mm diameter) and outer ring (47 mm) from 0.75 mm plastic card, and then also cut another floor plate from card with a non-slip pattern on it. As you can see in the illustration from the Tech Manual for the M4 and M4A1, the main floor was like that, but the plastic I had is much thinner than I’d like, so better to make it out of two layers for strength.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Just gets better and better.
Jim

 

[Jakko]

Thanks I forgot to mention earlier that I also began building the gyroscopic compass:



However, after I cut the front and back pieces and had built the basic shape of it, I remembered this photo:



That’s the Crab that stood directly behind the one I’m building a model of, and shows (presumably British) soldiers who were apparently tasked with salvaging anything useful from the derelict tanks. This explains the missing periscopes etc. in the photos of all the Shermans in Westkapelle, and I doubt they would have left something as advanced as a gyroscopic compass behind in any of the three Crabs. Therefore, I only put a little piece of plastic card (the prop at the back is invisible with the hull top on) in its place to represent the mounting for it. I don’t know what that actually looked like, but a little square something there is better than nothing at all

 

[Jakko]

Progress with the turret floor:



The floor below the gunner’s seat is raised a little, so I cut it out and put 2 mm square plastic rod around the straight sides of the opening before gluing the cut-out piece back onto that. I also scribed lines for the hatches in the floor and added a 5 mm wide strip of 0.5 mm card around it all as the sides of the lower floor, onto which the ring will be glued when this is well and truly dry (you can tell it’s not yet by the tape ).

In place in the hull:



This is in the 12 o’clock position, but on the finished model it will be turned almost 90 degrees to the right. To get the floor at the correct height, I put a 13 mm high plastic card support in:



I worked out that the turret floor should be about 15 mm above the hull floor in this scale, so taking into account the kit’s floor thickness and that of the turret I just made, I arrived at 13 mm.

 

[Jakko]

Ammo rack done:



This is just plastic strip and a bit of aluminium strip I made into a wave shape in exactly the same way as on my Sherman V (which should have had armoured racks, but too late for that now on that model).

Because I’ve been working on the turret floor, I also began on the turret itself, so that I can paint the inside of hull and turret at the same time. The main thing there is the gun, for which I bought a Resicast set (No. 35.2280, Sherman M34/M34A1 gun mount) of which it turns out I need only the gun, not its mounting — because the Resicast mantlet doesn’t fit the hole in the Asuka turret. For that reason, I had to modify the Asuka plastic parts to accommodate the resin gun:



That is, I had to cut away some of the inside ridges on parts L8, which take the gun trunnions. On the right side, I also needed to elongate the hole (not shown in the photos) because the gun turned out to not be straight in the mounting, so the barrel ended up noticeably pointed to the right a little.

And with the bits assembled:



In the turret at the angle it will be on the model:



The mantlet isn’t attached to the turret yet, but the trunnions have been glued here to ensure the angle is correct. “Correct”? Yes, as it was pointed downward on the real tank:



That is to say, it could most likely still elevate, and no doubt somebody would have played with it at times, but this photo clearly shows it slightly depressed, so that’s what I’m doing on the model too.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Nicely scratched turret floor. Slight droop to the barrel Love that reference photo - bet there's a dio there .
Jim

 

[scottie3158]

Jakko,
Great work on the internal details.

 

[Jakko]

Nicely scratched turret floor.

Just one mistake I noticed when I tried to find references on the turret basket: the raised bit of floor is too narrow (and the hatch is too wide, because I based one on the other). I’m not going to bother correcting this, though, as most of it will be barely visible

Love that reference photo - bet there's a dio there .

The thought had crossed my mind, but as I wouldn’t have the room for a diorama, I most likely won’t be building one like that. However, adding the mat over the barrel is very tempting

 

[Jakko]

Trying the turret floor in the hull gave an unexpected surprise:



It’s too wide to fit between the hull sides! My first thought was that I should have measured the hull width, rather than basing myself on a lengthwise cross-section drawing of an M4A4. Then I realised that, because the turret basket sides are almost vertical, and the turret ring diameter is much larger than the hull width, something else was wrong. Some searching turned up the photos on this page where someone has restored a real Sherman V, and in the last few you can see that the basket does indeed overlap the sponsons. Conclusion: the drawing I used, that shows the outer floor ring lower than the sponson floor, is wrong. Phew I also removed the support I had made in the hull, as it’s pointless in the light of this discovery.

With that page at hand, I could begin to work out how and where the struts between floor and turret ring go. I could count the bolts holding the basket to the ring in one photo and found there to be 32, so I could then use those to work out the positions of the struts and the openings in the basket. To draw those onto the floor I built, I needed to make an aid:



This is just a circle the same diameter as the floor, with 32 lines radiating from the centre. I made it in Adobe Illustrator (other vector graphics programs are available ) by drawing a circle the right size and then adding a horizontal line with its mid-point in the centre of the circle, after which I copied the line and rotated it by 360° ÷ 32, then copying the two and rotating them by 360° ÷ 16, etc. until I had all the lines. After that it was a matter of putting the floor onto the printed-out drawing and marking off where the lines (=bolts) were. Finally, then, I could mark the locations of the struts and the beginnings and ends of the screens around the turret basket.

I made the struts from 18 mm lengths of 0.5 × 1 mm strip and glued them to the edges of the floor:



Then I put the lower part of the turret upside-down on my workbench (the rear end overhanging the edge so the rest was flat) and glued the struts to the turret part. It required a few adjustments to get it all lined up correctly, but when it was, I could add some thickness to the struts from slightly narrower, but square strip (I think I may need to make the “back” part a little wider with some more strip, though) and also adding pieces of that running down to the centre section of the floor:



To finish the basket, I need some perforated plate that I ordered but haven’t received yet. Before then I’d better add some of the detail inside that will be difficult to reach when the outside is on, but I think I’ll have to be careful not to break anything …

 

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Interesting update. Could have been more problematic if the scratched floor was too wide. As least this only involved removing the support. Clever way of getting the struts positioned - marking out 32 angles of 11.25 degrees would have been a pain (if my maths is right ) Looks as if you have it all under control although it will take time to get all the struts sorted.
Jim

 

[Jakko]

Could have been more problematic if the scratched floor was too wide.

That is what had me a little worried at first, yes. “Oh, crap, now I need to build all this again but smaller … Hang on, the turret ring is wider still …”

Clever way of getting the struts positioned - marking out 32 angles of 11.25 degrees would have been a pain (if my maths is right )

Your maths is spot on, and marking that out by hand is pretty much undoable, if you ask me. A graphics program on the computer will get it all exactly right every time, though, so far better to let that do it for you. It’s a method I’ve used before for similar things, and it works quite well.

 

[Jakko]

Now I got the perforated plate I needed, I could continue on the turret basket.



Three sections of Aber “drilled plate” with 0.6 mm holes, plus plastic strip glued on after that since the edges of the real screens weren’t perforated. I also added some more detail, but much still needs to be fitted, especially the crew seats.

In place in the hull, in approximately the direction it will be on the finished model:



And with the turret top on it as well, showing what’s visible through the hatches (more or less, as in real life you can see more). I had to take these photos with flash, else nothing much would be visible inside at all:

 

[Jim R]

HI Jakko
Great stuff.
Jim

 

[scottie3158]

Jakko,
Really nice work.

 

[Si Benson]

pulling out all the stops on this one

 

[Jakko]

Thanks all, and yes, I’m trying to do this tank justice

 

[Jakko]

Two views of the basket with more details added:



Mainly bolt heads (I’ve left off those that will be obscured), a support for the loader’s seat and part of the ammo ready rack and the wiring harness. It still needs more racks on the floor, holders for the ammo (no rounds, obviously), the radio shelf and the gunner’s controls. Oh, and all three seats, of course, of which I’ll have to scratchbuild one.

I also thought I’d start adding stuff to the upper half of the turret, when I discovered this rather big cut out of the side:



That will be (sort of) visible through the commander’s hatch, but as the pistol port will be open on the model, the thickness here would be obvious as well. I’ve therefore added plastic card around the opening, which I’ll be puttying smooth before filing the hole to match the port:

 

[JR]

All too much for me, looks amazing well done Jakko .