1/24 British Army Sherman - rebuilt toy tank

Modeling Subjects Armor
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I’ve been looking for a good modelling-related website/forum for some time, and finally found this one,
which looks very impressive! FSM is definitely one of my preferred modelling magazines, though it is a US magazine
and therefore is fairly US-centric in subjects and advertising (it’s particularly annoying to see the cheap prices you can buy kits for in the US, particularly Far Eastern imports such as Tamiya :frowning: ) it has a really good balance of different subjects such as aircraft and armour. Anyway, here’s my first post!

For the last 2 weeks or so I’ve been working on an interesting AFV modelling project.
I bought a plastic toy Sherman tank (almost exactly 1/24 scale, from measurements) and have
converted it into a proper scale model with complete interior and external detail. Yesterday I finally
finished it, and I’ll be taking it to my local IPMS meeting this evening.
I’ve been taking digital camera pictures of the model at each stage of the construction (interior, painting,
weathering etc) so here are the first lot - I won’t get the digital camera back till Thursday so cannot post any pictures of the 100% completed model till then, however I have some of the interior detail and some of the completed but unpainted hull exterior.

The model is of a British Army tank during the 1944 campaign, and is an early-model M4 with the 75mm gun. I’m really
pleased with how it’s turned out - I think it’s the best armour model I’ve made so far, despite its very humble origins
as a bright metallic green toy “Battle Tank”!

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Here are some pictures of the model in the early to mid stages of construction.

The basic parts of the toy tank (with some work already started on the surface detail)

Two views of the re-assembled tank with basic external detail finished, plus hatches cut out
and fixed in the open position

Gun breech and gunner’s chair

Unpainted interior

Two views of the painted interior

As you can see from pics 2 and 3 the tank had no “clutter” (spares, tools, track links
etc.) on it at this stage - the finished tank, however, most definitely does! - along with
other external details such as a turret aerial.
The pictures show the original metallic green and black finish, but the completed model is painted
in an olive green/green-black two-tone scheme, with markings for the 8th Armoured Brigade.

The original toy is simply labelled “Battle Tank”, and is sold for about £4 by the company “Time4Toys”. I actually picked
mine up 3 weeks ago at the shop in the “Cobbaton Combat Collection” military vehicle museum in Devon, England. It is moulded in polystyrene (making it easy to glue and reshape) apart from the tracks/suspension which are a slightly softer black plastic (and had to be Superglued)
Since I finished this project I’ve been looking for similar items in every cheap toy shop I pass (does the same
company make other WW2 tanks? maybe a Tiger, Stuart, T-34?) but I haven’t seen anything yet!

However last Sunday I visited a car boot sale (garage sale to US inhabitants) and picked up a toy M2 Bradley for 50p (about $1) which is even larger (appears about 1/18 scale). However, whilst the basic shape is accurate, the surface
detail (hatches, engine grilles, vision blocks etc.) is completely and utterly wrong - everything is in the wrong place,
it’s as if someone took all the external fittings off a Bradley and put them on again whilst blindfolded! For example, there is a large engine grill on the upper hull at the position where the troop compartment hatch should be. So I’ve decided to convert it to a M2A2 which has extra armour plates bolted on to most surface, and large armoured side skirts, allowing me to sand off the inaccurate detail and cover it up with scratchbuilt armour plates. I’m using the FSM article on the scratchbuilt 1/16 Bradley (I forget the modeller’s name, it’s in a 2002 issue) as a reference, and for the interior, the instructions for the Academy 1/35 kit. (Are there many interior differences between the M2A1 and M2A2?)

BTW I do build plenty of conventional kits too - I’d say my interests are about 50% aircraft, 40% military vehicles, and 10% ships and vintage cars. I also do some scratchbuilding, one project I’ve completed recently is a waterline 1/200 WW2 destroyer (HMS Cossack).

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Drawde,
Welcome to the forum!
tht is a very impressive project you have there.
i don’t think it will be long before Robert weighs in. [:D]

great pictures!
i am impressed not only w/ your work, but the fact that you had no problem getting the pics up.
a lot of folks have trouble the first time. [:)]

If you think the US gets great Tamiya prices, you should see what J-Hulk is
paying in Japan!! it’s downright sickening. [}:)]

thanks again for joining us here.
it looks like you can take a bunch of us to school!
and when you need help, ther will be plenty here ready to pitch in.

Great work on the Sherman.

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Welcome Drawde,
Very impressive indeed. Looking forward to your input in the Forum. You’re right, you landed in a good place.

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Yeah, but you should see what we have to pay for Airfix and Revell/Monogram kits!! Sheesh!

Good work on the Sherman, Drawde!
And welcome to FSM!

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Quite impressive…

Welcome

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impressive. i have a 1/18 “toy” p-40b avg markings. i did nothing to it. it is now “flying” above my cpu. love looking up to see that sharkmouthed preditor. welcome to the forums, look forward to seeing more of your builds.

joe

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[:D] very nice build,keep up the good work,and welcoemto the darkside.

gdarwin[roy]

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That is sweet drawde !!! Now I want one !!!

And welcome to the forums. Great to have another treadhead around here.

Enjoy !!!

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Great job and its a toy??? I cant wait to see what you can do with a kit! Welcome to the forum and keep up the great work.

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I’ll take some pictures of the finished Sherman tomorrow and post them here.
At the IPMS meeting yesterday, someone mentioned that the model ought to have cables/ropes to hold down the items
stowed on the rear hull. Any Sherman experts know what material was used for these (ropes or metal cables), and where
they were normally attached?

I started work on the Bradley yesterday - I started by sawing and sanding off all the
inaccurate surface detail, which was rather hard work as there was a lot of it! I also discovered
a useful technique for cutting out parts like hatches from very thick plastic - heat up a worn-out
knife blade in a candle flame and it will melt through the plastic easily. I cut out the driver’s hatch,
troop compartment hatch (moulded as an engine grille), turret ring, and rear door this way. The rear door
moulding is completely inaccurate so I’ll probably build a new one from card.
Today I’ll start on making the new armour plates to go on the surface, and some of the interior detail.

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That is a very interesting project Drawde, and you have done a great job. I look forward to the finished pics. You sure have made a silk purse out of the proverbial!

As the others said, welcome to the forums. This is the first and only forum/chat/discussion group of any type I have ever participated in, and it is still the only!

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Robert, i believe the question is for you!
:slight_smile:

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Drawde. Firstly welcome to the forums. Secondly u hav done sum great work there. Cant wait to see the finished pics.

Keep well.

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[#welcome]

She sure is purtie Keep us posted.

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[#welcome] Drawde, Very nice looking Shemie there.
In regards to tying down stowage: In pics I have seen rope (whatever size was handy) was used and it appeared that lift rings, light gaurds, tool clamps etc. were the most often used tie-off points.

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Wow, very impressive conversion. Definitely beyond my skills.
[#welcome] to the forum [:)]

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Very impressive indeed! Welcome to the forum and hope to see more pics of that big M4 of yours.

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Welcome, drawde – and thanks for the pics. Are we seeing a new trend in the industry?

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Looks good [tup]

Al Gore would be happy with your re-cycling effort for the environment

Great job