Sherman II mid October 1942

[scottie3158]

Mike,
Looking forward to this. Nice little SBS on the tracks.

 

[Allen Dewire]

My Gawd Olderthanme,

Can you still see straight Mike??? Great SBS, but I think I'll stick to Axis armor meself. I take it the pins in the pads must remain movable and the dingsbumms on the outside are to be glued on at least one pin to keep them workable. Man, do you have patience!!!

I'm in for this and I know it will not be a 100% OOB knowing you. Been slug hunting in the camo-jammies with your double barrel salt shooter yet??? Take care and stay sane!!!

Prost
(Still) Youngerthanyou

 

[BattleshipBob]

Know bugger all about lots of things and includes Shermans and nailing them together

So sitting down and learning

 

[outrunner]

Looking good, and here was me thinking that Mirror Models tracks were a pain.

Andy.

 

[Isitme]

Of course I'm available for any psycho support required to keep Mr. Race within the bounds of reason....I'll pull up a chair next to him and keep a look out for Matron, should she be required to administer a little "needle" therapy to said Mr. Race....Terrific progress on the build Mike, I like a good Sherman as much as the next guy. Rick H.

Hello Rick,
Nice to hear from you, and your position of head anal yst is very welcome.
Mike.

 

[Isitme]

Did you use the spongy black stuff Asuka puts in the kit, or fix the suspension with some plastic card (or those little shims they provide in some kits but not others)?


Only if it’s an early tank (like you’re building) that was made by Pressed Steel Car (PSC)


When I saw the length in the first photo I thought they were AFV Club, based on the colour of the plastic. Having seen this post, I think I’ll pass on ever buying a set of Modelkasten Sherman tracks myself …

Hi Jakko,
No, afraid the spongy stuff went in the bin, although I did get fooled into thinking I could use it. That part od the suspension is a pretty tight fit, so once all assembled I used the back of a scalpel blade to move the part down about 1mm and added a touch of liquid cement to hold it in place.
As for the manufacturer of the tank I will go with you there, I have the Hunnicut book/bible but not the strength to lift it
Yes the plastic does look similar in colour to AFV Club. But do not be put off, most of the work is the preparation, as we all know preparation is a pain sometimes and once you get underway then you can get into a rythm. As I said the slowness was for stopping to take the photos.
Mike.

 

[Isitme]

Know bugger all about lots of things and includes Shermans and nailing them together

So sitting down and learning

Ditto with Stugs

 

[Isitme]

Looking good, and here was me thinking that Mirror Models tracks were a pain.

Andy.

Andy, they are ok if you swithch off and hum to yourself while siiting in the Lotus position.....

 

[Isitme]

Mike,
Looking forward to this. Nice little SBS on the tracks.

Cheers Scottie.

 

[Isitme]

My Gawd Olderthanme,

Can you still see straight Mike??? Great SBS, but I think I'll stick to Axis armor meself. I take it the pins in the pads must remain movable and the dingsbumms on the outside are to be glued on at least one pin to keep them workable. Man, do you have patience!!!

I'm in for this and I know it will not be a 100% OOB knowing you. Been slug hunting in the camo-jammies with your double barrel salt shooter yet??? Take care and stay sane!!!

Prost
(Still) Youngerthanyou

Hello is there anyone here, I will just run my fingers over the screen, sorry matron! I thought it was odd the screen went all bumpy.....
Ahh! it is you Youngerthanme,
The sight is returning, got the sellotape on one eyeball and the other fixed to my ear. I actually pulled a long lost Dragon Tiger out of the stack the other day, maybe in the future, but thought I would attempt to see how long sanity would last, Sanity claus does not visit anymore..... My SWMBO would disagree with you on the patience thing.
As for the pins, I could not see how they would hold the end connectors without cement, so went for the cement one side and leave the other side free approach, obviously not correct as both need to be free, but good enough for scale modelling. Bit like putting a corset on, are the dangly things for over the shoulder or for holding you socks up???
Pleased you are staying the course and welcome. Far too wet for slug hunting, but have found a new game... The new tennants across the street are damn noisy, tooting car horns, slamming car doors, and do not know how to converse quietly, then spend the better part of the day snoozing. So what I do now is fire rolled up bread onto their roof and the seagulls do the rest, tap.tap.tap on the roof tiles....
Stay safe and look after yourself
Cheers
Olderthanyou

 

[Jakko]

No, afraid the spongy stuff went in the bin

Really? I’ve used it on all the Asuka Shermans I built … No, wait, that was in the nightmare I had …

That part od the suspension is a pretty tight fit, so once all assembled I used the back of a scalpel blade to move the part down about 1mm and added a touch of liquid cement to hold it in place.

In some kits they provide shims:



But neglect to mention anywhere which ones you need, or how many. Off the top of my head, A is 0.5 mm, B is 1 mm and C is 1.5 mm, and that last one is too tall to fit anyway. B (or 2×A, of course) for a normal ride, A for a heavily loaded vehicle, I’d say.

As for the manufacturer of the tank I will go with you there, I have the Hunnicut book/bible but not the strength to lift it

I’ve got that and Son of Sherman, which provides the kind of detail like this — Hunnicutt is more generic

By the way, I don’t know how accurate you want to make this, but if you’ve got these air intakes (actually grouser compartment covers), then the idler wheel mounting should be fixed to the tank with rivets rather than bolts, as that was a feature unique to PSC-produced tanks as well.

do not be put off, most of the work is the preparation, as we all know preparation is a pain sometimes and once you get underway then you can get into a rythm.

I still think I’ll pass … this seems to be complexity for complexity’s sake. I mean, if they can mould a hole for the bolt, then surely they can mould the bolt in its place too?

 

[Jim R]

Hi Mike
A very interesting SBS on the tracks. The end result is good but the construction is certainly a test of one's patience.
Jim

 

[Isitme]

Really? I’ve used it on all the Asuka Shermans I built … No, wait, that was in the nightmare I had …


In some kits they provide shims:

View attachment 426879

But neglect to mention anywhere which ones you need, or how many. Off the top of my head, A is 0.5 mm, B is 1 mm and C is 1.5 mm, and that last one is too tall to fit anyway. B (or 2×A, of course) for a normal ride, A for a heavily loaded vehicle, I’d say.


I’ve got that and Son of Sherman, which provides the kind of detail like this — Hunnicutt is more generic

By the way, I don’t know how accurate you want to make this, but if you’ve got these air intakes (actually grouser compartment covers), then the idler wheel mounting should be fixed to the tank with rivets rather than bolts, as that was a feature unique to PSC-produced tanks as well.


I still think I’ll pass … this seems to be complexity for complexity’s sake. I mean, if they can mould a hole for the bolt, then surely they can mould the bolt in its place too?

I think I wil pass on the shim method, as the model will not be a moving model then cementing the parts will do. There is still movement on the suspension arms to allow for any ground contours.
Thanks for the information on the idler wheel mounting, but as it will not really be visible then it can be ignored, as this is just a shake and bake build for fun rather than full competition inspection.

 

[Jakko]

The shims are there to fix the suspension, it makes the units quite rigid. In any case, as you’ve cemented yours together the point is moot anyway — I mentioned it mainly in case you ever end up building another. The rivets for the idler mount are visible (see here), but only someone (too) knowledgeable in Shermans will notice if you correct the parts

 

[Isitme]

Update
Still plodding away, have been playing at track building and very little hull building, but....

First bit of brass now in place on the air cleaners. Although not too clear in the photo I turned each of the wing nuts in different directions to get away from the flat etch look. Also I could not find the two tow brackets so had to look through another M4A1 kit to find them - they are located on the sprue with all the hull parts and are so insignificant they are easy to overlook. But it was an easy job to fabricate a couple more. And finally the holes drilled for the replacement door handle.

As I do not normally put crew figures in my vehicles I usually brush paint the inside matt black, only this time I nicked SWMBO's rattle can of matt black....
More later,
Mike.

 

[Isitme]

Update,
I was going to add the brass dust/track guards, but instead went for the kit offerings... I also added the drive sprockets and idler wheels as yet not glued untill after the tracks have been fitted. The grill behind the turrent was a bit on the large side so I cut some finer mesh and added that. The barrel was exchanged for an aluminium one and the co-ax was replaced with a brass offering, but it was cut down to the same size as that from the kit.



That is it for now, the turret has been cleaned up and re-textured and set aside to dry - all joints that require it will be cleaned up and then it will be onto adding the final details, before prime and paint - Desert Pink....

 

[JR]

Update
Still plodding away, have been playing at track building and very little hull building, but....
View attachment 427116
First bit of brass now in place on the air cleaners. Although not too clear in the photo I turned each of the wing nuts in different directions to get away from the flat etch look. Also I could not find the two tow brackets so had to look through another M4A1 kit to find them - they are located on the sprue with all the hull parts and are so insignificant they are easy to overlook. But it was an easy job to fabricate a couple more. And finally the holes drilled for the replacement door handle.
View attachment 427117
As I do not normally put crew figures in my vehicles I usually brush paint the inside matt black, only this time I nicked SWMBO's rattle can of matt black....
More later,
Mike.

SWIMBO has a can of Matt Black ! The mind boggles at such a thought.

 

[Isitme]

SWIMBO has a can of Matt Black ! The mind boggles at such a thought.
View attachment 427254

She got it to spray paint a flower pot, liked the design but not the colour ?????? My mind has not stopped boggling....

 

[Graeme C.]

Liking this build a lot Mike, the SBS on the tracks is good, but they do look fiddly.

 

[Mini Me]

What is it with you guys and the pointy toed shoes?? Have seen this posted several times and it has piqued my curiosity. Terrific progress on this one Mike and I do love a Sherman build....aren't enough of these available in different models in my scale, unless you want to spend outrageous amounts of money for them. Heiser's used to produce several in resin (ugh!) but he is all but out of business, so a huge dent in the market. Keep it coming Mate I'm really enjoying this. Rick H.