Sherman “Wolf of Badenoch”, Westkapelle, 1947

[Jakko]

This was a lengthy build, which is of course what you get if you don’t do much work on a model for years on end … but it’s finished now

 

[scottie3158]

Cracking result.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
A fine model. Extra special as it is an actual, well researched and detailed tank. It's definitely taken a while and changed in the making but worth the effort.
Jim

 

[Jakko]

Thanks, guys

 

[Mark1]

Nice work

 

[adt70hk]

Very nice indeed Jakko.

Very well done.

Andrew

 

[Jakko]

Thanks Though looking at the pictures some more, I think I’m going to tone down some of the brush strokes a bit. They’re just too stark.

 

[Jakko]

I wasn’t quite happy with the paint smeared on the side of the hull, so I went over some of it with green to make it appear thinner and not as stark:

 

[Graeme C.]

Excellent work Jakko.

 

[Jakko]

Thanks

 

[Tim Marlow]

Really nice work, and excellently researched as always. Fine model.
One minor thing though, wouldn’t you expect a little more wear and staining on the underside of the engine deck when it’s open?

 

[JR]

Agree completely with Tim's post.
Any chance of seeing the original photos as well please.

 

[Jakko]

Really nice work, and excellently researched as always. Fine model.
One minor thing though, wouldn’t you expect a little more wear and staining on the underside of the engine deck when it’s open?

Thanks, and good point — I hadn’t thought of that at all, if I’m honest. I’m now wondering how much oil stains etc. would still be visible after that engine deck had been open for months …

Any chance of seeing the original photos as well please.

Sure Let’s start with the tank during the Walcheren campaign:



This is in the village of Domburg, on the northern side of Walcheren, where the four remaining tanks (two Shermans and two AVREs) were used to overcome heavy German resistance. The tanks arrived there on the evening of 2 November 1944, though I’m not sure this photo is of that date — it could be anywhere between then and about the 8th, I guess, when the last Germans surrendered. The Commando OC made sure the Germans got to hear of the tanks, via civilians, in order to demoralise them. Apparently, this worked, because some captured German troops said they would have been prepared to oppose infantry attacks but felt they had nothing with which to counter tanks.

And during the actual fighting in the dunes around Domburg:



Wolf of Badenoch is the one in the middle, the other tank that’s mostly hidden behind the Commandos’ heads, is Cock o’the North.

To give an idea of the intensity of the fighting, over that week or so, these two Shermans fired (according to Nigel Duncan in 79th Armoured Division: Hobo’s Funnies, Windsor: Profile, 1972, SBN 85383 082 7) “over 1,400 rounds of HE ammunition besides a large amount of AP shot” while just one of the two AVREs went through 24 boxes of Besa ammunition in two days.

Here’s a view of the Westkapelle street the tanks were left in after the war:



The Churchill at left is T-69114/B, the Sherman in front of it is Wolf of Badenoch and the one at right, just behind the truck, is Cock o’the North.

This is looking in the other direction, a reasonably early picture, as Wolf of Badenoch still has spare tracks on its glacis plate:

Some local people posing by it for the camera:





And probably tourists looking it over:

It looks like Tim’s right about the staining on the engine deck:

 

[Tim Marlow]

Nice set of pictures. Good to see them again.
As to the engine deck, if it’s been open for months it would at least have the same weathering, fading and staining as the tank surface…..plus oil and grease stains that are ingrained in the paintwork…..

 

[Jakko]

True, and I did weather it like the rest of the tank — except I never thought to add oil stains etc. I may go back and put some on, to make it look more like in the last photo of the real tank.

 

[colin m]

Very nice tank Jakko. And a nice 'Tabby' as well.

 

[Jakko]

Thanks, and congratulations for being the first one here to have noticed it — well, mentioned it, anyway I used one of my own cats as a model to try and get the striping right, which didn’t quite work out, but it’s close enough.

 

[JR]

Thanks for posting those, I remember some of them from before.

 

[Jakko]

I don’t think I posted all of these here before I have some more, but these give a good impression of this particular tank, I think.

 

[JR]

I don’t think I posted all of these here before I have some more, but these give a good impression of this particular tank, I think.

If you have any more please post them. Seeing a model of the real tank and the story that goes with it makes it far more interesting.