I am workign on the Tamiya 1/48 scale sherman and want to put it on a flatcar fresh from the factory.
Question 1. DOes anyone have some good photos of them being
shipped? In particular i was looking for refrence photos
of what kind of protective cloth covers may be installed.
Question 2. My model had extra armor that can be added onto the sides
of the turret, the sides of the main body, and the front of
the glassis plate. WOuld those have been installed at the
the factory or were they a field modification?
Question 3. Would it have left the factory with big, white stars on it?
Thanks for all the help. I am trying ot do as accurate a scene as possible so any help as to where to go for pictures or other resourses is greatly appreciated.
BTW: the new little tamiya kit is a real jewel. I have to think that Tamiya may be on ot something here in regards to this scale. THe price was certainly right at 20.00, and it is up to tamiyas usual high quality.
BIll
BUMB:
I found out about the added armor, however i cannot find any phots of shermans in transit.
Crossracer,
Pictures of Shermans on the rails are a little difficult to find. I can get some pictures of model railroad Sherman trains if your interested. I can tell you from what I remember they were 2 per flatcar, blocked off with 12"x12"'s, and tied down with chains. You probably already knew that though.
Hi just reading your request for info on the sherman. I am reading a book ta the moment called the sherman tank ( isbn 1-86227-042-2). The photos show two tanks to a flat bed, & reading on the tanks only had their serial number painted on. About the plates & stars were put on once they reached their destination before shipping to were ever. Hope this helps or anyone can come up with more info for you.
I don’t have any hard references, but my EWAG would be:
Protective covers for main gun, top .30/.50, hull .30, maybe headlights.
Markings would probably be limited to stars, military registration numbers (like the hood numbers on jeeps/trucks). Unit markings would have been added by unit motorpool.
Again, just my EWAG.
Most of the extra armor on Shermans were applied in the field. They would not only apply armor over the sensitive areaa of ammo stowage but would also add armor in front of the personnel positions. These might be a couple of plates welded in front ot the driver and bow gunner’s position or it might me one large plate with a hole cut in it for the bow machine gun. It wasn’t until late in the war when first hand combat reports started coming in that they had factory applied armor. Of course, but the time such things were finally fielded, the war was about over. Our government, at the time, was interested in quantity, not necessarily quality in order to best the panzers.
someone just posted a video of some shermans in transit on a train, crap forget where it is…