|
|
Modeller Build Logs
El Alamein Sherman III DV with full interior |
| By Hans Haase | | Started: | Oct 2, 2005 | | Updated: | Mar 23, 2006 |
|
I had been planning a Sherman III for quite a while, and buying bits and pieces over time for the build. Most of my inspiration came from a photo on British Pathe of a tank named Bacchus, with an unusually placed and unusually large name on the rear plate.
When I saw James Wechsler do his excellent Sherman III over the past few weeks, I was pushed over the edge to do my own. Thankfully, Chesapeake Models Designs made an appearance at the recent AMPS East with the hull I was looking for.
I have a feeling this will be a long and arduous process, just from the sheer count of resin sets I need to coordinate, but I really can't wait to get into it.
-Hans Haase
|
|
|
|
| Chapter 15 - Tracks and Hatches | Dec 23, 2005 |
Time to keep making progress. The tracks are the AFV Club T-51's. I'm not 100% sure if I should have used the T-51 tracks or the earlier T-41. Both are plain rubber block, which is what the tank in question shows, but I just can't tell which of the two the tank uses. It's very difficult to tell the difference between the two, even when on a model.
Some period photos show the various other types that were in production at the same time as the T-51's, and the date range is correct for them to be in service, so I stuck with them.
These tracks were a bit of a pain. The end connectors were simple enough, just clip off the sprue and use. However the track blocks themselves took a lot more cleaning. Each one had two prominant sprue attachment points on the long sides, and a big ejector pin mark on the inner face. Not much work individually, but over the course of 162 blocks it does add up. The set included 168 total, and I used 162 of them, so I don't think there would be enough for an M4A4 chassis. Not many spares included eithe, so be careful!
The tracks were assembled before painting, then sprayed in Gunze 'Burnt Iron'. The black rubber blocks were painted by hand to finish the base colors. I used a wash made with MIG pigments mixed about 2:1 standard rust and light rust. This was then carefully applied to just the end connectors, a few coats were needed to get the desired level of rust.
The hatches were a different story. These are the TigerModels commanders hatch and hull hatches. Easy cleanup and much better detail than the CMD hatches included with the hull. References were difficult to tell what the inner hatch colors were, but most photos I say seemed to be a dark color, which made my educated guess OD Green. Knowing how the US modification systems worked during mass production at the time, this seems correct to me. Topsides were painted in order to match the camo scheme of the hull. They will be weathered later, with the rest of the tank, in order to keep consistancy.
Not included here are the engine hatches, which were done the same way. I don't know which set these came from, they were provided by a very generous modeller from another aftermarket set. The CMD hatches were not made for an open engine compartment, and don't have any detail on the inner surface and are unuseable in this build. If there is a lesson I've learned in this build, it's that you can never have too many friends or too big of a spares box.
|
 |
|
|
