M4A3 (90) HVSS Sherman, Operation Coronet, 1946

[Graeme C.]

Those tracks do look a pain Jakko, but at least you've found some better, the figure looks good in the turret. If you're doing it as the invasion of Japan, does anyone do Japanese civilian figures?

 

[Jakko]

I’m not sure, but like I said, it won’t end up in a diorama so there’s no room for civilians either I thought about some prisoners of war on the engine deck, being covered by a tanker with an M3A1 submachine gun, but there’s hardly any room on the engine deck because of the big bustle of the T26 turret, so I ruled that idea out too.

 

[Jakko]

Light guards added, from the etched parts that came with the kit (and also at the back).



I’m still debating what to do about the gun travel lock. I’m thinking perhaps the best option is to cut the exiting one in two and insert an extra section to raise it by about 3 mm, but I’m not quite convinced yet this is the way to go.

I also removed the two fittings on the left side of the turret and filed and filled their mounting points to (hopefully) remove all trace of them:



These fittings were mounting lugs for a crane to lift the engine on the M26 Pershing. However, I realised today that, first of all, the Sherman’s driver’s hatches can’t open if this turret is in the 12 o’clock position, but even with it at 1 o’clock, the forward lug would still prevent the hatch from opening. The former probably wasn’t that much of a problem (the M10 tank destroyer had much the same issue) but I doubt troops would have liked the crane mounting lug being in the way too. I think if given the choice between easier engine removal and easier exit from a burning tank, I suspect they would have preferred the latter

 

[Jakko]

Straps added to the tools on the engine deck, as well as a lead to the infantry telephone box on the hull rear and a tow cable from twisted copper wire, with the kit’s eyes:



I also decided to improve the loader’s looks:



This is a gas mask from the old Tamiya U.S. Infantry Weapons Set, with the plastic hose replaced by copper wire with thinner wire wrapped around it to represent the corrugations of the real thing and straps added from thin plastic card.

The Allies seriously considered the possibility that the Japanese would use chemical weapons to defend their home islands, so I thought: why not represent that in this model, again to show it’s not a model of the actual Second World War but a “what-if” build.

 

[adt70hk]

Great work as always Jakko and yet again learnt something new.... Japs and chemical weapons.

ATB.

Andrew

 

[Jakko]

They did very nasty experiments with chemical and especially biological weapons in China, and also used chemical weapons in combat. A lot of this was hushed up after the war, though, because the Americans decided that the researchers would be of more use in their own biological weapons programme than on trial for war crimes.

 

[adt70hk]

Thanks Jakko. In some respects one thing I wish I didn't know about.

ATB.

Andrew

 

[Steven000]

Nice progress Jakko, must be a horrible thing sitting in a tank thinking about chemical warfare...

 

[Jakko]

Thanks, now its mainly the tracks left to do … going to be great fun given that I’m also busy building those for the M-51 Sherman. Why did I get into armour modelling again?

 

[Jakko]

The turret needs radio antennas, but I had already used one of the parts on the T26E4, so I had to scratchbuild a replacement:



This is a core of 0.9 mm plastic rod (white) with 1.5 mm plastic tube (grey) and two thicknesses of copper wire around it, plus a ring punched from plastic card for the base and a bit of very thin card wrapped around the tube just below the thick copper wire. The top is drilled out to take steel spring wire for an antenna later on. Just eight pieces, but it took me the better part of half an hour to make …

In place on the turret:



The other antenna, near the open loader’s hatch, is the Tamiya kit part but with the antenna shaft cut away to only leave the spring bit, into which I then drilled a hole 0.5 mm in diameter so I could glue a piece of 0.5 mm diameter brass tube into it, which will also have a length of steel wire added later for the actual antenna.

 

[Graeme C.]

Nicely scratched antenna base, goes with the great detailing Jakko.

 

[JR]

What CA do you use Jakko ? there some very fine work there in the last set of photos.

 

[Jakko]

I generally use whatever I buy at a hardware store, which typically means either Bison or Pattex brands. I usually go for the thin type rather than the gel, because the thin ones becomes gel-like anyway eventually (before it sets rock-hard inside the tube) and I prefer it thinner than that There is no superglue on the antenna, though (other than to glue the 0.5 mm tube to the model), because the two bits of copper wire are trapped between the grey bits of plastic tube.

 

[minitnkr]

Dandy scratchery. PaulE

 

[Jakko]

Thanks, though the upper spring is too thick I can’t be bothered to fix that, though, as it’s hardly obvious.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Glad the track issue is sorted. Hope the RFM ones are OK. That figure is really nice and the mask idea looks good. As the others have said your scratching is good and tidy.
Jim

 

[Jakko]

I’ve tried assembling some of the track links, and have so far found that yes, they are definitely better to build than the AFV Club ones, but also more work (for the assembly, less for cleanup, so it’s an improvement overall), and that the manufacturer’s recommended method is best altered significantly. But as I’ve not done any modelling for the past few days, I’ll explain in more detail later

 

[Jakko]

Primer is on now:



Grey Vallejo from an aerosol can, with white (same) on the engine deck because I want to mask an air-recognition star there before spaying the model olive drab.

As for the tracks, I’ve decided to first take all the parts from the sprues before beginning assembly, beyond the eleven links I’ve done so far. This is great fun, with six parts per link, each and every one of them with two or three attachment points.

 

[Jakko]

US Army tanks in the Okinawa campaign of 1945 sometimes had a very large star painted on the engine deck for aerial recognition, as big as would fit rather than the regulation size (which was already quite big). I decided to do that for this model too, so I had some great fun (not) making one from masking tape and then getting it to fit properly on the model:



I first tried measuring out the star on strips of masking tape I had stuck to a pane of glass, but I got some of them wrong and ended up with a star with uneven legs. Second attempt was to print out a star on normal paper, cut it out and use that as a template to cut the star from the same masking tape. In retrospect, if I had thought of this earlier I would have left off the grab handles and tools on the engine deck and fitted them after painting.

Once it was in place, it was a matter of spraying the model olive drab, in this case with Vallejo Model Air:

 

[Jakko]

Highlighting added from Vallejo US Field Drab:



This is more pronounced than I normally do this, because I’ve reached the conclusion I’ve been applying it too subtly. Hopefully, it will now be visible after weathering as well as before

When looking through my paint drawer for a suitable paint to use, I noticed that I have two bottles of Vallejo 71043, olive drab:



Notice how they’re different shades even though they have the same number? I used the bottle on the right to paint this model’s base colour, and tried using the other for highlights. However, it’s much greener so I felt it would have given the model the wrong colour (after all, I’m the one who always keeps telling people “OD is not green” ) so I ended up with the field drab instead, which is brown.

So, I thought I’d share this photo of how the three colours compare:



This is the hull floor of the model, most of it is the “dark” OD but the paler, grey-green bits sort of top centre are the “light” variant and the more yellow patch at the top right is field drab.