Assault gun Sherman

[Rick Lowe]

IIRC the turret you used is an Italeri piece - I well remember that shade of Green.

Coming along nicely. I'd keep the hull hatches, as more access to work on the innards or ways bail out from would be advantageous.

[zenrat]

Having just finished the Dicker Max (pictures to follow) I feel almost obliged to join in (1/48 natch).   I have no Sherman though.
Ido  have a Stuart but I feel space inside is limited as it is without adding a breech.
Pz iv?  No, already done IRL.
There are more.  I will have a rummage in the stash.

I say again: M10/M36/M18

In my stash Churchill, Crusader, Cromwell, Matilda II...

[NARSES2]

Having just finished the Dicker Max (pictures to follow) I feel almost obliged to join in (1/48 natch).   I have no Sherman though.
Ido  have a Stuart but I feel space inside is limited as it is without adding a breech.
Pz iv?  No, already done IRL.
There are more.  I will have a rummage in the stash.

I say again: M10/M36/M18

In my stash Churchill, Crusader, Cromwell, Matilda II...

Crusader or Maltida II as extemporised SPG's in the Western Desert and then Churchill or Crusader as "Factory developed" late war types ?

[Weaver]

Having just finished the Dicker Max (pictures to follow) I feel almost obliged to join in (1/48 natch).  I have no Sherman though.
Ido  have a Stuart but I feel space inside is limited as it is without adding a breech.
Pz iv?  No, already done IRL.
There are more.  I will have a rummage in the stash.

I say again: M10/M36/M18

In my stash Churchill, Crusader, Cromwell, Matilda II...

Matilda's probably a lost cause.

Very first version of the Churchill had a 3" howitzer in the glacis plate, so with the turret off there should be room for something spicier.

Crusader and Cromwell are, in essence, 'British T-34s' with Christie suspension, so a Russian SU-85 style casemate, extending over the tracks, should be possible. The Cromwell was 10cm narrower than the SU and the Crusader 23cm narrower, so obviously the Cromwell would be a better basis, both for space and for it's WAY better engine.

[kerick]

IIRC the turret you used is an Italeri piece - I well remember that shade of Green.

Coming along nicely. I'd keep the hull hatches, as more access to work on the innards or ways bail out from would be advantageous.

That turret had the most brittle plastic I've seen in a long while. It broke in two places while cutting it.

I think I'll keep the extra hatch. Keeps the build a little easier.

[Rick Lowe]

Easier is Good. 

[frank2056]

That turret had the most brittle plastic I've seen in a long while. It broke in two places while cutting it.

How old is that kit? Styrene gets brittle with age - I have an old Aurora WWI Albatross from 1956 and the plastic is as brittle as resin.

[Wardukw]

That turret had the most brittle plastic I've seen in a long while. It broke in two places while cutting it.

How old is that kit? Styrene gets brittle with age - I have an old Aurora WWI Albatross from 1956 and the plastic is as brittle as resin.

Frank mate the plastic on that model might not be that old ,,tank turrets are a pain to cut by hand because theres no support until you glue the lower turret in place ,,those buggers are very springy when you try to cut em and yep i've had em crack from a cut while trying to use a hand saw to cut em ,,now i glue the lower turret in place and then cut it in half ,,so much easier to do .
Also Italeri like to use thin plastic on their M4 turrets and i've had these warped in the box from brand new .
Also a Dremel makes short work of the cutting part     

[kerick]

It's cut, sanded a glued in place. I'm pretty sure I have the road wheel situation straightened out. I'm just trying to decide if I should leave the road wheels off until I have painted them. Then assemble the suspension unit and attach to the hull.
The problem now is the gun barrel. I'm going for a 90mm gun from an M36 Jackson. I may have to order a turned aluminum one to get what I'm looking for. We shall see.

[George the Cat]

 

[Old Wombat]

It's cut, sanded a glued in place. I'm pretty sure I have the road wheel situation straightened out. I'm just trying to decide if I should leave the road wheels off until I have painted them. Then assemble the suspension unit and attach to the hull.
The problem now is the gun barrel. I'm going for a 90mm gun from an M36 Jackson. I may have to order a turned aluminum one to get what I'm looking for. We shall see.

I always paint the road wheels of my AFVs separately to the hull, then fit them after basic weathering has been done to the hull & suspension - it doesn't preclude you from fitting them during the build to get the suspension set up correctly, then removing them for painting.

Yes, Sherman-type suspension is a bit different but I still paint the wheels & VVSS/HVSS separately, then put them together & paint the vehicle before final fitting of the suspension units.

[Wardukw]

HVSS suspension is an easy one for road wheel painting ,,ya gotta be careful with VVSS painting i've found ,,ya just gotta be light with the paint is all as i found out to my annoyance 
So now i just paint them as complete units ,,the roads wheel spin very nicely when ya dont go nuts with the glue but we've all got our own ways of doing things ..try either or both Ken mate .
With normal tank road wheels and ones that allow you to ,,yep i always paint the road wheels separately ,,if i can that is but with the hundreds of these things i've built for me at least it's not an issue painting them on or off a model since so many of my kits dont have rubber band tracks .

[kerick]

Made some great progress! I used the gun barrel my friend gave me, possibly from an M47. I removed the muzzle brake since the Jackson never had one, but kept the fume extractor and will just work it into the backstory. I cut a hole in the glacis plate and covered it with extra armor. The road wheels are sorted with four of each type, and even the idler and drive wheels will be different. I had to drill out the Italeri idler wheel to fit the Tamiya poly cap—broke the first one and nearly broke the second due to brittle plastic. The bow gunner's hatch will stay, as I don't want to mess with it; I'll say they kept it for gun maintenance access. The story is that it's a knocked-out tank brought back to life by rear-area depot mechanics using whatever parts they could find. I might even vary the paint to show the contrast between brand new parts and recovered, reused ones.
I wrote this and then had AI look it over and make improvements. At least it seems to know grammar and punctuation better than me!
So here's a pic. More pics when there is more to show.

[Old Wombat]

  

[Wardukw]

Looking great so far Ken ,, are ya thinking of adding more armour to the front and the gun or is she more of a tank hunter than a assault gun ?