Jakko’s 1:35 Sherman Crab Mk. I — seeing double?

[Guest]

Jakko, some great work there.
Are those raised letter the Archer ones you posted recently ?

[Guest]

Thanks, and yes, they are. They’re tiny letters and numbers printed in resin (don’t ask me how ) on waterslide decal paper, so you can cut out the ones you need and soak them off the backing paper just like model kit markings. Because it’s one big sheet, though, you need to cut out the exact bits you need, which makes them even more fiddly to apply. That’s why I haven’t done the hull markings yet, or one that I forgot on the turret.

[Guest]

Here’s the whole bin finished:

[ATTACH]377427[/ATTACH]

Compared to the above, I added narrow plastic strip on the lower edge of the front opening and the upper edge of the opening in the rear, plus wider strip along the bottom at the back, a reinforcing rib (or whatever that may be) inside and little punched-out discs above the openings, purpose unknown — possibly fasteners for the lids, that are missing here. I also painted the hard-to-reach spots brown, which has the bonus effect of showing the lamination on the bars much better than the bare plastic did.

With the bin in place on the tank, it looks like this:

[ATTACH]377428[/ATTACH]

You may notice I also added the tool brackets to the tank, all with more aluminium sheet:

[ATTACH]377429[/ATTACH]

Also the taillights, which I drilled out, because on other tanks in the village, they had all been opened up, probably to get the bulbs out, and their guards — supplied as etched parts in the Asuka kit. That not only has both plastic and etched guards, so you can choose which you prefer, but also a moulded plastic jig for bending the light guards. Very well done, IMHO. The brass strips along the bottom of the sponson are sand shield mounting brackets, which Asuka also supplies in the kit. I had to cut one of the pieces into three and chop off the front end, because the British had done so too on the real tank to convert it into a Crab.

Still to do: casting marks, hydraulic lines, chalk bins, flail rack on the left-hand side, wading trunk remains on the air intake, fire extinguisher brackets just in front of the taillights, and probably a few other minor things I don’t remember at the moment

[Graeme C.]

Impressive scratch building there Jakko. :thumb2:

[scottie3158]

Jacko,
The additions look great.

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Great stuff. This is a must see blog.
Jim

[Guest]

Gets better with each post Jakko.

[Guest]

Thanks all

[Guest]

Resicast provides the chalk boxes for the hull rear, but all photos of this tank that I know of, show that the lefthand one has been partially dismantled, with not only the lid removed, but the bottom as well. The scratchbuilding fun never ends …

[ATTACH]377631[/ATTACH][ATTACH]377632[/ATTACH]

I built a copy of the Resicast part, mostly from 0.25 mm plastic card, using a drawing from the real Crab’s parts list for the (few) details on the inside. The outside panel is still loose, because I want to paint the inside before I put it on — I don’t rate my chances of getting paint all the way inside the 2.5 mm opening very high otherwise

On the back, I put the Resicast etched brass mounting brackets, though I could have built them in plastic too, of course, for about as much effort as cleaning these up and bending them took.

[Guest]

Slowly but surely I’m getting to a complete model. I now painted the inside of the chalk box as well as the backs of both and the hull behind them, just in case, then installed them on the hull:

[ATTACH]377720[/ATTACH][ATTACH]377721[/ATTACH]

The ammo box in front of the left-hand side box is a resin one I bought recently. Carefully looking at the few photos I have of the right side of the tank has convinced me that there wasn’t a corresponding box on that side. I also added a few weld scars on the left side of the hull, from putty, where half of some kind of rack was apparently removed; I still need to build and add the other half, above the rear gap in the side skirt mounting brackets (the brass strips along the lower edge of the sponson), but I haven’t quite figured out its shape yet.

[Guest]

I added the missing casting marks to the hull front:

[ATTACH]378135[/ATTACH]

The green paint is Tamiya bright green I accidentally ordered instead of clear green — when mail-ordering in France, “clair” does not mean “clear” in English Anyway, it’s there because the decals don’t stick well to the bare plastic.

On to the rear end:

[ATTACH]378136[/ATTACH]

I could finally make the adapter on the air intake, on which the deep-wading shaft sat, after a fellow modeller kindly supplied me with scans of Second World War official photos of the real thing:

[ATTACH]378138[/ATTACH]

It’s a very simple thing, really, but very difficult to work out its shape from any other photos I’ve ever seen, because they’re never from up high or clear enough.

And the station-keeping devices on the sides of the engine deck, in their folded-up position:

[ATTACH]378137[/ATTACH]

These are entirely scratchbuilt. Resicast provides etched hinges, resin discs and plastic rod to make them, but the hinges fold into parts far too wide for the rod, the discs are the wrong style for the tsnk I’m building, and I felt the rod to be too thin in appearance So I just made everything myself, other than the discs, which my father made for me from brass rod on his lathe — all I had to do is hammer them flat and drill out the centre hole again, because they’re so thin they formed themselves into domes when almost done.

To give an idea of the size of these bits, the lower rods are 20 mm long, the upper ones 30-something, and both are 1 mm diameter. The discs are 5.5 mm diameter, the rivets are 0.6 and the bolt heads 0.7. Altogether, each of the two station-keeping devices is 14 parts. I’m glad I’m done with them

As far as I can tell, all I still need to build is the rack (well, the half-rack) on the left-hand side of the hull and the wooden block in the chain on the left rear bogie, and then I can start painting. Though I suspect I may discover a few other things that still need doing …

[Guest]

One more thing done:

[ATTACH]378184[/ATTACH]

I also started on the tracks for the derelict tank the other day. Taking it slow, because this is the usual dull work:

[ATTACH]378185[/ATTACH]

These are Panda Plastics T-48 worn tracks, which assemble in much the same way as the AFV Club tracks I tried a year and a half ago but are much better. There is hardly any clean-up needed and the vast majority of the end connectors actually stay on the track pins. You also get plenty of links: 30 sprues of each kind, making six links per pair of sprues, or 180 links when you only need 166 for a Sherman V (assuming they’re not much too short, of course). The length in the photo is 36 links, by the way.

Of course, I also have to build a second set for the monument tank, and that requires more care because several stretches need to be fitted the wrong way round, for accuracy.

[rtfoe]

These tracks do look good Jakko. Other makers should follow the same placement of ejector positions on the sprue.

Cheers,
Richard

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Another interesting update. Painstaking work. Those station-keeping devices are nice especially given the size :thumb2: Tracks look very good - slow work as you say. This project is unique.
Jim

[Guest]

These tracks do look good Jakko. Other makers should follow the same placement of ejector positions on the sprue.

Agreed, though they get in the way a bit for removing the end connectors, they are nowhere near as annoying as having to file off or, worse, fill eject pin marks on the links themselves (again, see my review of AFV Club’s equivalent tracks).

Another interesting update. Painstaking work. Those station-keeping devices are nice especially given the size :thumb2: Tracks look very good - slow work as you say. This project is unique.

Thanks, and I suspect it is unique, yes — I kind of doubt anyone else has ever tried to build an exact (well, nearly so) replica of this particular tank