Well I started this project about four years ago and just got sidetracked by other things. A month or so ago I was inspired to pull it off the shelf and finish it. It has an Eduard turned barrel, Fruil tracks, bits from numerous photoetch sets, and Bison decals to portray a vehicle from the Irish Guards, Guards Armoured Division during Market Garden. I used Humbrol paints and then weathered using an oil wash on pane lines, Tamiya weathering master powders for various effects, a few pastels, ans some woodland scenics for turf on the running gear. Well thats enough talk, here it is. Any critique or otherwise is welcomed.
Look’in good and a clean build. And if I may, that is the only thing I see wrong, no tank unless it just came thru the landings, was ever clean in battle, need to dirty up a bit more! I am a big fan of the Firefly and this one appears well researched.[Y]
Well wanted to try some MiG pigments on this but before I can ever get to the hobby shop someone else always goes and buys them out. Looking forward to doing a MaK but gotta take care of a few things first then I will find the one that speaks to me.
I like it. Two things I’ll comment on, though. 1) Most companies used to do poor jobs depicting the pistol port on the turret left wall. Have a look here how smoothed in the fairing around the opening really is:
Try to even out the mud on the bogies and remove excessive build up where the wheel rims would rub with the tracks and end connectors. There’s a “chia pet” look about things that could use some improvement, I think.
Your Firefly looks very nice![Y] Overall I really like it! I have but one critique- a minor one at that. The Arm of Service badge (red square with the white number, the British Army equivilant of US Army bumper codes) is wrong for Irish Guards. I have researched this quite a bit. Irish Guards was 53, Coldstream Guards 52, and Grenadier Guards 51.
Well Stik I guess it will be from the Coldstream Guards then, they were also involved in Market Garden. Where did you get your info. I tried to find as many pics as possible of Guards Armoured as I could. One showed a Firefly with the number 52 and the caption read that is a vehicle from the Irish Guards, clearly a mistake.
Roy
I was concerned as to the look of the turf myself. Its really my first time at a heavily encrusted look. Didnt want it to look like mud but rather just torn up turf and dirt just stuck to the running gear. I will “pick” at it to give a more uneven look.
Most of my info came from two Concord books- The Sherman Tank in British Service, and British Tank Battles, France and Belgium, as well as another book from a different series/publisher Market Garden Nijmegen. Each of the Tank Battalions had a different way of sub unit markings in addition to the AOS badge. The Irish Guards used Blue outline geometirc shapes (traingle, square, circle with a white number 2 inside to denote sub units. Coldstream Guards used the letter/number combo as yours shows, and Grenadier Guards used white numbers (medium sized) on the hull side. Iplan on building at least one Sherman from each, but as of yet have only completed the one for Irish Guards. I really want to build Lord Carrington’s tank which was one of the first across Nijmegen Bridge. There are lots of great pics in those books of different Guards Armored Division Shermans. Yes the Coldstream Guards were of course part of the battles on Hells Hiway as well in the drive to Arnhem. The last book I listed has a break down of the Battalions of Guards Armored Division as to how it was organized at the time of Market Garden.
Nice model. I agree on the vegetation accumulation on the bogies, looks a little much.
I have question for you: I still read about having to shorten the hull by 4mm on all DML’s M4A4-based kits. Did you do this, or know about it? I just started one and did, looks like it’s going to put the idler in the right place in relation the the rear hull overhang and rear bogie. I have a couple of the old MP Productions -A4 hulls, and they’re the same length as the un-cut DML hull…
I never heard of any such problem with the kit and did not do this myself. From what I could tell the fit and placement was spot on. I still need to redo the vegatation and add a few details. I will post updated pics soon.
I’ll probably have a pic or two up shortly, it helps. Dragon got the fit fine, no issues there, it’s just the fact that the rear bulkhead is too far back, along with all the engine access hatches on the bottom hull plate, not noticeable on a finished build.
