Next in the Cue is Dragon’s Sherman. My second build. I got Aber’s generic Sherman PE, and an Etch Mate, to help me make the best Sherman I can.
I started with the bogies, stock except for the obvious photo etch. This is my first use of photoetch in anything other than a simple flat engine intake screen.
Here’s a bogie, you can see where I drilled the alternate mounting holes for the trailing arms,
And a top view just to prove I put all the PE bolts where they belong:
Here are the rest of them
I hate to jinx myself, but the initial foray into PE went so well that I started on the M2, which has a TON of teeny tiny parts:
I think it’s going OK, but here’s a preview of just the PE that’s left to do on the .50:
Well, that’s it for now, it may be a while before I make any more progress, but I feel pretty good about this build.
Aber’s PE sets are mixed bags–be aware that even the best of modellers who have tons of experience in PE work still blanch at the amount of parts in their sets. Many of their parts are actually somewhat “ridiculous” in their ambition and scope–you’d have to be a masochist, IMO, to use 100% of the detail that they provide.
Be conscious of what you can use and what you can do without. A lot of times in these extensive PE sets, things are producred in PE that are better left in plastic, as the plastic is often more correct in scale than the PE part.
Off to a great start Bill! Your first foray into PE and an Aber set to boot is definitely striking out into new territory, so far so good!. [;)]
Doog’s right about the complexity of Aber’s sets…sometimes you just shake your head at what they ask you to do…they are by far the most complex of the sets out there and some are able to get the full magic out of them (like working tool clamps!) without going insane but I’m not one of them. [(-D]
Will be watching this one with interest and keep stretching those boundaries! [tup]
It signifies “wet” storage of of the ammunition vs. “dry” storage. Wet storage was added as a way to try to improve the survivability of the crew once it was discovered that dry storage in the sponsons increased the chances of fire and the vehicle brewing up as a total loss. At least, that’s the way it’s always been explained to me as a non-Allied/Shermanaholic. [:D]
Don’t know the specifics on the “wet” but the general way to distinguish them is that the “dry” had applique welded armor plates added to the hull sponsons. It’s not 100% though but generally that’s how you tell.
Brief update. I tried out the Etchmate 3c, and bent up some periscopes. I forgot the IP of the WIP, so here’s a shot of the spot where the periscopes came from on the fret, with a dime for scale. This is my first attempt at non flat photoetch, so I figured it would be a welcome learning experience for those who, like me, are a bit apprehensive about the leap to 3d PE. Let’s see what an optivisor and etchmate do for my non existant bending skills, shall we?
Here’s a finished one with a dime
The four are done
And an obligatory lower hull progress shot, I am leaving off the running gear until I get the first color coat on. Gotta love those digipics that show where I missed some mold lines!
So far, PE is pretty straightforward, especially since I can now see what I am doing. Comments always welcome.
The ammunition itself was stored in tubes below the turret, angled a bit from vertical as I recall, with the tubes being immersed in an anti-freeze type solution. So the ammo itself is still dry, but is otherwise surrounded by water. The most obvious telltale as to which is which would be the presence of applique armor on the sponsons, one plate on the driver’s side, two plates on the other side that indicate dry storage. Aside from that, late hulls with the 47 degree glacis and large hatches for the driver and bow gunner are usually wet storage, although there are exceptions, such as the composite M4, late M4A2, and Jumbos.
Today, I broke out the Optivisor, and tackled the driver and other front hatches, the front fenders, and attempted to do the gas caps and retrainer chains. but the Aber instructions are so bad, I can’t tell what I am supoposed to be building.
Anyone have a reference photo of a Sherman gas cap and showing the retainer chains?
Here are the pictures, remember, this is my first 3d photo etch:
The open hatch:
The other hatch:
Front fenders
Here are some test springs I made up for the loader’s hatch, not happy with any of them yet:
I note that the gaps around the rotating portion of the periscope assembly are kind of prominent at this magnification, is there any way to fill that gap delicately? I tried super glue, but it retreated when it dried.
Anyone who can post a pic of what that Aber gas cap and chain are supposed to look like, Thanks in advance.
