M4A3 (76) HVSS just off the boat

[Jakko]

You must be sick and tired of the sight of Tamiya tape but it has worked out well in the end. A unique model.

There are things I’d rather see right now than yellow masking tape, indeed

If it has a sponson bottom perhaps it's not a Tamiya kit but a re-box from another brand. Haven't bought any Tamiya kit for a while so don't know what their state is like now. I thought their new kits were detailed and fit perfectly?

The sprues say Tamiya, so it’s not a rebox — they did rebox a Tasca/Asuka Sherman at one point, but this kit most definitely isn’t from that line. I haven’t built Tamiya kits in years either, but aside from the sponson bottoms, everything else just looks and feels like Tamiya — except for things like somewhat wobbly fit of the wheels in the bogies and some parts whose location isn’t entirely unambiguous.

 

[Jakko]

Another fun part: making the tool brackets, which would have been empty during shipping to prevent the tools being “lost” (the tools were stowed inside the tanks and/or the crates).



And on the front, I added the “comb device” and its cables:



This can sometimes be seen in photos of Shermans in service, as a little sawtoothed bit of steel on the right side of the transmission cover. What it is, is a steel cable that’s hooked to both brake levers and runs over a few pulleys to go out through holes in the plug in the bow machine gun mount. When hooked into the comb, it pulled the brake levers tight and so prevented the tank from moving. If it needed to be towed or pushed around on board ship, or the docks or somewhere, the cable was unhooked so the brakes released, to be re-applied when the tank was in position.

The front still needs the guards for the headlights and horn, for which I’ve filled the holes because I’ll be using spare etched parts from another Sherman.

 

[adt70hk]

Another fun part: making the tool brackets, which would have been empty during shipping to prevent the tools being “lost” (the tools were stowed inside the tanks and/or the crates).

View attachment 407096

And on the front, I added the “comb device” and its cables:

View attachment 407097

This can sometimes be seen in photos of Shermans in service, as a little sawtoothed bit of steel on the right side of the transmission cover. What it is, is a steel cable that’s hooked to both brake levers and runs over a few pulleys to go out through holes in the plug in the bow machine gun mount. When hooked into the comb, it pulled the brake levers tight and so prevented the tank from moving. If it needed to be towed or pushed around on board ship, or the docks or somewhere, the cable was unhooked so the brakes released, to be re-applied when the tank was in position.

The front steel needs the guards for the headlights and horn, for which I’ve filled the holes because I’ll be using spare etched parts from another Sherman.

Thanks Jakko. So effectively the cable is like an oversized car handbrake. Something else I've learned as part of this build.

Most informative!

ATB

Andrew

 

[Tim Marlow]

Great attention to detail as always....

 

[Jakko]

So effectively the cable is like an oversized car handbrake. Something else I've learned as part of this build.

Only if you like being able to apply the handbrake from outside your car As I suppose you know, Shermans are steered by means of two levers, one for each track: pulling back brakes that track, so pulling back both levers brakes both tracks and stops the vehicle. The transmission has a parking brake, but that would be very difficult to (dis)engage from outside the tank, so they came up with the idea of using a cabe attached to the steering levers instead.

What I forgot to mention in my previous post is that the comb is not usually on tanks anymore if you see “action” shots of them, because it was supposed to be removed when the tank was prepared for use after shipping. It was sometimes left on, though, and even still survives on a few preserved tanks.

Great attention to detail as always....

Thanks. If only I could actually build it the way I see it in my mind

 

[Tim Marlow]

Yep, that’s an affliction we all suffer from......

 

[stillp]

What I forgot to mention in my previous post is that the comb is not usually on tanks anymore if you see “action” shots of them, because it was supposed to be removed when the tank was prepared for use after shipping. It was sometimes left on, though, and even still survives on a few preserved tanks.

Thanks, I was going to ask about that!
Pete

 

[minitnkr]

Thanks, always wondered what it was for. PaulE

 

[Jakko]

There’s more information on it here:

Sherman Register - The Comb

 

[Jakko]

The hull front is mostly done now I added the headlight and horn guards:



These are etched parts from an Asuka M4A3E2, because that has a generic fret with etched parts but doesn’t need the guards as it had no headlights or horn on its glacis plate.

On the back, I added the stowage shelf, which I wanted folded up. The Tamiya part, though, comes moulded in the open position, so I delved into my spares box and dug out an old Italeri one, to which I added the folded-up braces from some plastic strip and punched bolt heads, plus the stowage rack for the gun cleaning rods underneath. That last bit was … frustrating to build from aluminium strip



Here’s the back of the tank with the pallet and crates in place:



On the turret top, I also added the springs to the loader’s hatch, which I was really not looking forward to. When I forced myself to anyway, it was done in minutes …



It probably shows

 

[Graeme C.]

They look fine to me Jakko, plenty of extra details going into this build.

 

[BigGreg]

SUPERB WORK wonderful idea

 

[Jakko]

Thanks, guys All it needs at the moment is for me to finish the sand shields, which I had to extend to fit the wider suspension.

 

[JR]

Great research as usual Jakko, looking the part .

 

[Steven000]

Nice progress, looking good

 

[Jakko]

Thanks I hope to finish the build part this afternoon … well, other than the tracks, as I have a set on order but it hasn’t arrived yet.

 

[Jakko]

The sand shields:



These are from the Asuka M4A4 kit, which means they were too narrow for the HVSS, so I had to widen them by 6 mm. On the front, I had to sand it all smooth, but at the back, the real tanks had a separate section bolted on.

Those knowing their Shermans should now go, “Hang on, isn’t the M4A4 longer? So how do these fit?” Simple: all types of M4 medium tank used the same sand shields, with plates bolted behind the joints of the front, middle and rear sections. Those had elongated slots for the bolts, allowing them to fit both hull lengths. What I needed to do with these was cut down the tab on the front part and remove the bit of strip a the top sticking out at the front of the middle part, and that was it.

As I’ve also added a few other missing details, I think construction is now done (other than the tracks, which I don’t have yet), so here’s an overall view:



The gun crutch is separate and still attached to a bit of sprue to ease painting: its top will lie over the tape that covers the drivers’ hatches, but that needs to be sprayed black while the crutch should be OD.

 

[Jakko]

As I didn’t feel like making Azeroth unsafe tonight, I decided to spray the model with Tamiya XF-62 OD instead:

 

[Jakko]

I like to put a figure onto AFVs, to show their size and add some human interest. For this one, though, that’s somewhat harder than usual, because you can’t just add a tanker in a hatch. I could have put one somewhere on the tank, as if he’s checking it over or getting ready to unpack it, but I decided to go a different route:



A railway, tank depot or dock worker (I like to think of him as the latter) gesturing to a crane operator to come in closer.

The figure is mostly from the Master Box set Civilians, Western region, WW II era:



It’s the body of the bearded/Jewish man with a Hornet British head from which I cut down the beret so the farmer’s flat cap fits, and arms from the Tamiya crew figures for their Famo half-track, using hands from some arms mated to different actual arms (if you understand what I mean ) so he appears to be gesturing to come closer. The putty is simply filler from a tube, as I don’t really like mixing up two-part epoxy putty even if it would probably be a better choice

 

[Neil Merryweather]

that's a great figure, Jakko- full of character