M4A3E8 Thunderbolt VII Kit |
| By Eric Scurlock |
| Started: | Dec 15, 2007 | | Updated: | Jan 14, 2008 |
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It’s high time I put away the Panthers I’ve been working on and start on something completely different. One of the first models I ever built was a DML M4A3E8 Korean War. That model was destroyed in a paint stripping accident a long time ago. I was very excited when DML came out with there Thunderbolt VII kit. I’ve had a copy in the stash for I guess a year and now is as good a time to build her as any.
I’ll be building her mostly out of the box but I won’t be doing an out of the box vehicle.
There are so many vehicles you can build from this kit I just don’t know how to behave. My initial goal with the kit was to build an M4A3E8 without any add-on armor, split hatch, single pin tracks, mantlet W/O dust cover clips, and muzzle break. That’s been a tough combination for me to come up with given my limited Sherman library. The best I’ve been able to come up with in the above combination is a vehicle with add-on hull armor as seen in the attached picture.
It is an interesting vehicle in that it has the add-on armor, an additional 30 cal MG mounted on the turret roof and a 50 cal coax MG but these features are very late war indeed; as such, I may hold off on it for a second go at this kit.
I may end up building an oval hatch vehicle simply because I at least have good pictures of them without the add-on armor. We’ll just cross that bridge when we get to it.
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| Pistol Port Area of Turret | Jan 14, 2008 |
| Overall I really like the DML T23 turrets. The casting texture is quite nice. There are a couple of areas that require attention even for a basic build however. The oval indentations at the rear were already covered. The pistol port is another area that requires attention. There is a faint mold... more |
| Turret Rear | Jan 7, 2008 |
| I don’t know what the oval shaped indentations at the rear of DML’s T23 turrets are supposed to represent but I can find no photographic evidence to support them. I decided to fill them with squadron white putty and texture the area with Mr. Surfacer 500. I stippled the Mr. Surfacer with a coarse brush... more |
| Engine Cover | Jan 3, 2008 |
| The engine access doors and engine cover plates suffer from blobs for lift handles. There’s really no excuse for this gross simplification in an otherwise very good kit. I replaced them with handles from Academy’s Sherman accessory sprue. |
| Suspension | Dec 31, 2007 |
| One thing to be careful about when building the suspension is that parts Q13 and Q14 are shown correctly in the instructions but the part numbers are transposed. Overall the suspension looks the part but as noted by others the wheel bolts are undersized. I decided to use the kit parts and live with... more |
| Transmission Cover Redux | Dec 28, 2007 |
| Well I can never leave well enough alone. Love or hate DML there is one thing about there kits that sometimes comes in handy. There are frequently spare parts in there kits that are meant for different versions of the same basic vehicle. I really wanted to make an easy eight without add-on armor but... more |
| Transmission Cover Mounting Plate | Dec 25, 2007 |
I’m beginning to think I’m going to have to rename this blog – How Not to Assemble a Sherman.
The transmission cover mounting plate is a separate piece on this kit. I much prefer Tasca’s and AFV Club’s transmission covers with the mount plate molded as part of the transmission housing – as it is... more |
| Corrected Hull Sides | Dec 22, 2007 |
| Here’s the corrected hull side. Now the final drive cover will sit appropriately in relationship to the front view of the vehicle and that ugly overhang is gone. You can see the depth added if you look in the hole for the final drive. |
| The Basic Hull or… | Dec 18, 2007 |
There You Go Again Putting Your Keen and Penetrating Mind To The Task and Coming to the Wrong Conclusions.
I always start my builds with the basic assembly. I’ve as of yet to build a DML kit that hasn’t given me consternation at one point or another and this kit is no exception. The hull build was... more |
| What I will be Working With | Dec 15, 2007 |
I’ll be building this model mostly out of the box. I’ll be using Archer dry transfers and Eduard photo-etch along with stowage from the spares box.
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