I just got the dragon firefly Vc and very nice it looks too . There is however an option on the tracks for what appears to be width extensions. Are these widely used? or were they for a specific time period (winter say) ?
This will be my first kit using these indy tracks and also my first shot at PE stuff too , so Im pretty excited to get started.Another Brit armour kit to add to the growing( albeit slowly) collection.[:D]
There called Duckbill track extenders they were used to displace the weight of the tank on soft ground, to stop it sinking in soft ground
Im going to have to look for the dates
But you don’t have to use them on your firefly, theres loads of photos of fireflys without them,
Most of the pics I’ve seen with the duckbills showed a lot of mud. In north west Europe, you’d be talking about the fall of '44 or the spring of '45. Given how dry Normandy apparently was during the summer of 1944, you probably wouldn’t see them used during that summer.
From my own experience building that kit, if you’re really keen on using the kit indies, start them now. They take forever. There are 3 pieces per link (2 end connectors and 1 track pad), and most of the track pads had ejector pin holes or parting lines. They took me an age to clean up before I got so thoroughly fed up with them that I ordered Accurate Armour resin tracks from Scotland. If you run into any problems during your build, don’t be shy about asking. A bunch of us built it just last year. There’s help aplenty if you need any.
Thanks Captain and buff , I probably wont use them but its nice to know what they are.
I must be a freak, I thought the Firefly indies went together o.k. I put the duckbills on just because I thought they were good looking and the Canadian Firefly I used as ref. had them. But caveman is right, there are alot of picts of them without.
thats a very nice looking Firefly, what paint did you use? or did you lighten it through weathering
i like the duckbill end conectors they make the sherman look meaner
Thanks caveman!! The paint was kind of an experiment that I liked. I first base coated with MM Acryl Green Drab. Then used MM Acryl Olive Drab lightened with MM Acryl Isreali Gray and lightly oversprayed it. I tested this combo on a piece of scrap first and liked it so I went ahead. I got a bunch of MM Acryl when my LHS went out for CHEAP. They weren’t all real common colors but for $00.50 apiece I figured I could play around.
That’s the biggest reason I went with the extenders and this tank was cause I thought it added something to the kit.
stug61 its good to know they went together so well lol. Seeing the extensions on your kit makes me rethink and wanna put them on mine now.They do make it look meaner. Thanks for the input and the pic.
Andy,
[#ditto] That’s one fine looking Sherman. I’d go [tup][tup][tup][tup]
Joe
That’s a great paint job Andy. You’re colors turned out really well. I’m glad your tracks went together so well. I hated mine.
I also used the duckbill end connectors in my build. When dealing with these 3-part indies…patience is the key.
Here are the pics of my build just in case you want to check it out.
Nice dio Dwight. Those extensions really do add something to the tank.