M4A3 (90) HVSS Sherman, Operation Coronet, 1946

[Guest]

Grrr … Anybody want a set of AFV Club T80 tracks?

I had bought a set 15+ years ago for a Dragon Sherman (that still isn’t painted ), to replace the tracks that came in that kit. I decided to use them here instead, so began cleaning them up. I hadn’t expected them to be great after my experiences with another set of AFV Club Sherman tracks, but these are worse.

The other set had two basic problems: loose fit of the end connectors, so the track falls apart all the time and therefore isn’t workable despite being intended to be, and an ejector pin marking on every link.

This set has both those problems, and more They appear to fit jus as loosely and have not one but two ejector pun markings per link. Okay, thinks I, that means I’ll just have to glue them into lengths after filing off those markings. Nope, nothing that simple … you have to take great care cutting them off the sprue because the two halves of each lonk are connected by two thin as of plastic, which bend and break easily: in taking the 24 links off the first sprue (of eight in the set), I broke two already. Then came the filing part, where you obviously have to be very careful not to put more strain on those bars. Take a look:

[ATTACH]412675[/ATTACH]

The other set had the ejector pin markings proud of the surface, so filing them off was easy enough. These links also have that, but suffer from shrinkage so the marking ends up in a hollow … this makes filing them away rather more work, and coupled to the required delicate touch, makes this a job I do not want to be doing.

Now to find an alternative … of which there aren’t that many, it turns out. VVSS Sherman tracks are everywhere, HVSS ones rather less so.

I also built a figure to go into the loader’s hatch, from a MiniArt set of American tankers:

[ATTACH]412677[/ATTACH]

[Tim Marlow]

Bit of bad luck with the tracks there Jakko. Figure looks good though.....

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
I do like the look of that figure. As for the tracks - they sound a nightmare. Even if you were totally slap-dash and could ignore the pin marks you will break so many because of those thin joining rods. You're actually making great progress despite the track problem.
Jim

[Guest]

Ah plastic tracks, my worst nightmare Jakko.
Do like those weld marks on the upper hull and some neat work on the suspension.

[Guest]

Thanks all

I quite like these MiniArt sets, even though the faces could be a bit better. You do need to take care putting the helmet together onto the head, and are best off doing one piece at a time and waiting for the glue to set on it before continuing, else it turns into a shambles (as I discovered on the figure for my recent M4A1 with sandbags.)

As for the tracks, I’ve put them up for sale on another forum and somebody already said he wants to buy them when I was looking to order a replacement set from a different manufacturer (I settled on the Rye Field Models set that was released last year. They involve glueing blocks together around track pins, but that will be less painful than these AFV Club ones …)

[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?

[Guest]

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.

[Guest]

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

[ATTACH]412950[/ATTACH]

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:

[ATTACH]412955[/ATTACH]

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

[Guest]

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:

[ATTACH]413043[/ATTACH]

I also decided to improve the loader’s looks:

[ATTACH]413044[/ATTACH]

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

[Guest]

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...

[Guest]

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?

[Guest]

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

[ATTACH]413210[/ATTACH]

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:

[ATTACH]413211[/ATTACH]

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.