On a Sherman trip … M4A3E2 now

[Jakko]

Luckily, I found it before I started

 

[Jakko]

The turret is now (just about?) finished:



Most of it’s straight from the box, except the commander’s cupola is from Tamiya (the Clearfix on the vision blocks was easily cleared off — it just breaks away from the plastic), though the hatch is Asuka. I decided not to use the Tamiya part for some reason I don’t quite understand myself, but by the time I had started on installing the periscope, it was too late to go back to that You hardly ever see a Sherman kit with a periscope in the one-piece commander’s hatch, and the flap for it is usually moulded shut. Thus, I had to file it away and then enlarge the opening for it so that one of the kit’s periscopes actually fit. I put a flap made from plastic card over it, in the open position as it can’t be closed when the periscope is all the way up in its mounting bracket. Without a periscope, there should be such a bracket on the inside of the hatch, which is missing entirely on many Sherman kits.

And I just remembered I need to add the hatch lock, which is missing on the kit part. Oh yeah, and the guard for the loader’s periscope is from Tamiya as well, because Asuka only provides them as etched parts, but they were made from steel wire on the real tank and so wouldn’t be flat.

I also had to add a few details, like the rounded thing in front of the commander’s cupola and the casting numbers. The latter are from Tamiya sprues: those of the last 20 years or so have long ID numbers on the side opposite to that with the parts’ numbers, so I shaved them off with a sharp, chisel blade and glued them to the turret. The number on the roof is the part number for the turret, 7067400; the 157 on the sides is the serial number of this particular turret. In all 254 were made, but by two different foundries; in a book, I saw 152 in photos of a turret with a rounded lower edge, so 157 looks plausible to me.

 

[Jakko]

Almost done building …



On the turret roof, I had to replace the commander’s sighting device (the L-shaped thing next to the gunner’s periscope) because, as you can see in earlier pictures, I had managed to break it — though I only noticed that after taking those photos. Luckily I had some spare from previous Shermans that didn’t need it, so I could just cut the base off one of those and glue it to this turret instead.

I also added straps to the tools from thin plastic sheet, a tow cable (twisted copper wire with Asuka ends), and the drivers’ hatches as well as a few other details, and built the machine gun for the turret top:



This is a very well-detailed item, almost a kit in itself and a very impressive moulding. I decided to leave the top cover open, as if the gun is being reloaded (or just unloaded after action), because as you can see, Asuka has also moulded details on the insides so it would be a shame to hide all of that away

Pretty much, I’m ready to paint this one now, I think.

 

[Steven000]

Looks all good to me!

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good from here as well!

 

[Jakko]

Thanks As the Royal Model figures I ordered for this model came in, I assembled two of them:



The man in the loader’s hatch is actually intended as leaning out of the co-driver’s hatch of an M26 Pershing, but I’ve decided to use him as the loader who’s just bringing out boxes of .50-calibre ammunition. I’ll probably need to replace his right hand for that, though, as it’s holding a cigarette between two extended fingers at the moment.

I still need to do the driver, but will have to find a way to get him into the hull after painting first, as he’s rather more than just a head and shoulders which would fit through the open hatch.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Great progress. Turret is very nice. I do like the odd spoked wheel. Figures fit well - always nice to see figures added. Good luck getting the driver in.
Jim

 

[Jakko]

I’ve been trying to figure out how to do that, and I think I’ll need to build a base that fits underneath him, then when the time comes to glue him in place, first stick the driver through the hatch from underneath, then glue the base into the model and finally glue the driver onto the base. That might just work …

 

[Jakko]

This kit comes with impressive jerrycans, which Asuka apparently also sell separately. Here are the sprues:



The bottoms of the cans themselves are moulded hollow, and the sprues contain two each of petrol and water cans. Built up, you get this:



The design is very good, everything fits perfectly and you can’t put the tops on the wrong bodies — or the wrong way round on the right body. The petrol cans on the right have a G moulded into the sides (for gasoline, I suppose) while the water cans don’t, but have WATER in the tops, underneath the handles.

I’d definitely recommend these if you’re looking for good American petrol or water cans.

 

[Jakko]

When I decided to glue the suspension on my other current Sherman build before painting, because of the intention to just spray the whole area with a dirt colour, I figured the same would apply to this one, so I did the same here:



The track is the Asuka one that comes with the kit, two-piece, soft plastic T-48 rubber chevron track with extended end connectors and is still loose.

I also put some stowage onto the tank:



The bags on the turret are all from the Tamiya Allied Vehicles Accessory Set, with a bit of thread as a rope they hang from. These are also attached already before painting as it makes glueing them down easier. The stuff on the rear hull is still loose, and may therefore change still The jerrycans are those I showed earlier, the roadwheels are simply Asuka spares and the rolled-up tarp is a resin one I sawed off from a piece that had two such rolls together. I think it’s an old Verlinden part, but I’m not sure because someone once gave me a plastic bag with a bunch of this kind of stuff in it.

 

[Jakko]

I had a busy afternoon spraying models. The M4A3E2 got a coat of Gunze-Sangyo olive drab straight from the bottle, then had highlights added from this same paint with some Tamiya dark yellow mixed in. After that, I sprayed the lower hull, suspension, tracks, etc. with Tamiya flat earth as the basis for later weathering to represent the mud that was typically all over these tanks in early 1945.

 

[Jakko]

This model got the same treatment as the M4A1: a wash of GW Devlan Mud followed by drybrushing with Revell yellow olive and light olive, plus added mud on the suspension:



Again, markings and details are next, but this one won’t get white winter camouflage applied.

 

[Jakko]

Markings applied and detail painting started:



The bumper code 761Δ B-9 indicates tank No. 9 of B Company, 761st Tank Battalion. I have no idea if this is historically correct, but that company had two M4A3E2s in early 1945, so it’s at least plausible. These all come from Archer dry transfers, that I applied to the model using sticky tape like I showed for my Sherman that’s just off the boat. The markings are repeated on the front of the tank.

The registration number 3083152 is similarly fictitious, but in the range of those assigned to the M4A3E2 (near the tail end, actually: the very last was 3083176). These I made from ancient decals from the 1980s Tamiya M4A3 kit, so the decals were at least 25 years old, because I don’t think I bought that kit since then. They still worked very well, though, no “old decal” syndrome here. As the set had the number 3081532, all I did was cut the 15 and the 3 loose so I could swap them around.

I painted the tools as if they have a little wear, but not overly much:



I want this to look like a tank that hasn’t seen that much (ab)use yet, so the tools have some light chipping, and that’s it. The wooden bits are a sand colour, the steel parts gun metal, but I still want to highlight the latter to make the tools more realistic.

Incidentally, the reason I didn’t paint the whole tools is because these were generally dip-painted with olive drab at the factory: the whole tool was pretty much dunked into a vat of paint, pulled out and left to dry. What you often see on models of American vehicles is tools painted as if they’re unpainted, and though that could be the case, making them OD overall is the safer option.

 

[Jakko]

Stowage is now on the tank:



This is just the stuff I showed before, but painted now and with a bit of brown sewing thread around the jerrycans to make it look like they’re tied to the stowage shelf they sit on. Wouldn’t want your tank to be driving over a bump and lose your spare fuel and water

Next stop: crew figures …

 

[Jakko]

At some point, I broke one of the fixtures for the machine gun stowage on the rear of the turret, and didn’t notice it until it was too late to find it again. I soon decided that building a new part was too much effort, so I found what I think is a fairly clever solution, but then kept forgetting to actually make it



I cut a piece of plastic card to the approximate shape of the bracket, glued it to the model and will cover it with a piece of cloth hanging over it so it will be entirely hidden. All that remains is to make the cloth at this point …

 

[scottie3158]

Jakko,
Looking good.

 

[Jakko]

Thanks, and almost done now … Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow

 

[Steven000]

Nice progress Jakko

 

[Jakko]

Thanks. I completed the model by adding a dirty rag over the “bracket”:



Just a bit of tissue paper soaked in thinned PVA glue and then painted a pale blue-green with brown paint and black ink stains. It looks better in the flesh than in this photo, I must say. The shadows and highlights are getting washed out here