Constructed at last, the "Last American" Sherman (Manic Laughter)

The skirts and spare track assemblies have finally been added (see below):

Paint it black again and this is what you get, ta da! (see below):

Was it worth the wait, well if it manages to get on a wargaming table, yes.

OK I still need to paint is green, but there is a queue of 1944 British Tommies in the way. They have been patiently waiting for some time now (years in fact) on the 'Painting Tray' frantically shouting "Oy! No blooming queue jumping mate!"

Is this really still the "Last American" Sherman build still a WIP?

I can literally "smell" the finish line (of the 'construction phase' anyway) but the danger is my stamina may fail me. The "silver track" has now been assembled onto the chassis (see below):

For the track assembly it is the classic style "do it with the office paper stapler" (no messing about with hot screwdrivers of super glue). The staple is just visible in the track assembly photograph (see below):

So if it looks like a Sherman, if it moves like a Sherman, if it shoots as poorly as a Sherman and if it gets blown up as easily as a Sherman, then it must be a Sherman (see below):

It sure looks like a Sherman to me! But I still have to don the mud skirts and assemble the "fiddly strange spare tracks assembly" as per the instruction booklet before I officially finish. Tune in for the concluding episode.

Paint It Black (undercoating the "Last American" Sherman)

The interior engine detail of the Esci/Italeri Sherman implied interior painting (ho hum) which in turn implied first of all a black (Tamiya XF1) undercoat inside and out (see below): 

With the undercoat duly administered the interior engine compartment was daubed liberally in Anita's Acrylic Metalic Black, which was then mixed with Anita's Acrylic Silver, in three step up shades (percentage of Silver to Metalic Black being increased to suit the eye). The turret was popped on for the complete Sherman look and feel, although I still have to connect the tracks together (see below) 

I can almost hear the engine turning over (see below):

The close up detail looks nice, but the only way I will ever see it is to ensure that tehe engine decking can be lifted off. That means expect a future blog post complaining bitterly about "how stupid I am" when the said 'engine decking' and 'Sherman' part company, ending up in separate boxes in the loft!

In many ways the Sherman kit reminds me of the awful Esci/Italeri M6 GMC truck transmission (including the M6's  37mm AT variant). That was nightmare model to make for the sheer complexity introduced for a completely hidden feature, but then again "I made it anyway" because it was there! Later Italeri to their credit produced kits (like the M8 Greyhound) that had a simpler 'wargamer rather than modeller' assembly option with less fiddly parts.
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Can you see what it is yet? It's my last [American] Sherman: (Part III)

And it came to pass that I put the turret onto the hull (see below):

And then I put the hull cover onto the chassis (see below)

Now:  "Can you see what it is yet?" The Sherman form is emerging.

But I still have to complete the rear engine deck (but I also need to paint the insides first) and put the tracks on ... this is a modelling diary in a 'stop-start' mode, more 'bitty' than usual.

Making 'that' last American 1/72 scale Sherman for my US Tank Battalion (Cont)

Edging ever closer to completing that last American Sherman (see below) ...

Bit by bit, one sprue down, with the tracks and turret still to do! The cup of char (French for tank, get it? Groan!) comes in handy ;)

I will have to do a bit of interior painting before I seal the superstructure to the chassis (unheard of in my past modelling experiences ;)

Making 'that' last American 1/72 scale Sherman for my US Tank Battalion

Here I am trying to make that "last American Sherman" for my US Armoured Battalion (Tank Division) and I hit the "how many parts is in this kit" bottleneck. I have gone back in time from the streamlined PSC production model to the 1970's, "many little fiddly parts" of the Italeri (ex-Esci) M4A1 Sherman 'Calliope' kit. For my purposes I am ditching the 'Calliope' part of the construction and just making a regular Sherman, my teenage self would shudder at this heretical thought.

The multitude of parts is shown below: 

The track assembly starts, thirty four parts in total for the two 'sides'. I assemble them on the sprue in order to try and keep a "limited spread" in modelling terms as I will be making this over several nights and don't want to lose small parts (see below):

An engine transmission and tank engine? Interior detail. Why am I bothering with all this hidden detail. All I can say is that is because it is there! I would obviously be less of a modeller (but more sensible) if I didn't. I now will have to let the rear engine covers be "lift-able or removable" in some fashion (See below):

That's as far as I got in one night, whereas I would have at least have had a PSC or HaT Sherman in my hands.

At least once it is done the armoured battalion will be done ;)

20mm Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) US Sherman 76mm

Again the PSC "quick builds" comes the rescue of my flagging WWII Command Decision US Tank Battalion from the US Armoured Division Orbat. I cannot think of a more contrasting experience, the Airfix/Esci/Italeri/Matchbox/Revell (and worse, Fujimi or Dragon) 80-100 parts per Sherman versus the PSC 20 or so. Instead of months of hobby time, three M4 76's took less than a nights attention (see below):  

These Normandy+ "Tiger Tamers" (well that's what they were supposed to be) can add offensive weight one per US Sherman company (see below): 

The US Sherman Tank Battalion "box" suitable from when the Americans threw away the concept of having a separate "light M3 Stuart battalion" in the Armoured Regiment and instead integrated a light "Stuart" company as one of the companies in a Sherman battalion (and padding the original Stuart battalion up with displaced Shermans, thus retaining the same number of tank Battalions, for use in their Combat Commands). This allows me to field a force ranging from "post-Tunisia (Italy) to Berlin (Normandy, Break-Out, Aredennes, Germany)" (see below):

Note: As per my earlier point it is still waiting for one last, in this case Italeri (aka ex-Esci), Sherman to be made.

Left hand side (Light Tanks):

• 3 x M3 Stuart Company (1942-43)
• 3 x M5 Stuart Company (1944+)

Right hand side (Medium Tanks): 

• 5 x M4 75mm Shermans (1943-45) + one still to make
• 3 x M4 76mm Shermans (1944-45)

Top row (Command Company): 

• 1 x M4 81mm Mortar Half Track (1943-45)
• 1 x M8 Howitzer Carriage "Close Support" (1943)
• 1 x AA Recon Jeep 
• 1 x M4 Sherman 105mm "Close Support" (1944-45)
• 1 x M4 76mm HQ Tank (1944-45)

Note: An additional Sherman could be useful to downgrade the Command Tank in 1943-44 scenarios to a 75mm Sherman (in teh meantime the Sherman 105 can take its place)

The remaining US AFV's now fit into a separate box, which I will carry up into the loft very, very carefully (see below):

Also of interest are:

• 3 x M3 Lee (Tunisian Campaign, somehow making "another seven" does not appeal, for a tank formation that was quickly phased out of service. See bottom left)
• 3 x M24 Chaffee's (Late 1945 "Bust Berlin". See bottom middle)
• 2 x M36 Jackson's (1944-45, see top right)
• 2 x M10's (1944-45, see top left)
• 1 x M6 Pershing (1945, see top middle)
• 1 x "Easy Eight" Sherman (1945, middle right)
• 1 x Sherman Calliope (1945)
• 2 x M8 Priests (1943-45)
• 1 x M12 (155mm, 1944-45)
• 1 x M40 (155mm, 1945)
• 1 x 155mm "Long Tom" Artillery Piece (1942-1945)
• The 'mis-filed' DUKW (Interestingly for which I have not as yet found/devised a table-top scenario to fit in for 20mm, though candidates from reading various history books 'could be' D-Day, Market Garden and the Rhine crossing. Trouble is I may need more than one and my stamina to make another is not that great!)

There is another box full of US soft-skin/half-track transport to ferry the infantry about, but there is also the case of time to paint that infantry first.

(Sherman part of) WW2 US Tank Battalion WIP (Command Decision 20mm)

Only half as far on as the British late 1944 RTR is the US 1944 Armoured Division Tank Battalion (Command Decision OrBat). The manufacturers are going from top to bottom (see below):

• HaT (Armour Fast) x 2 75mm M4A3
• Esci/Italeri x 2 75mm M4A3
• Esci/Italeri x 1 75mm M4A1
• Revell x 1 76mm M4
• "Die Cast" x1 M4A3 105mm

Still in the bag is another Italeri/Esci M4A3 Sherman kit (actually the Sherman "Calliope" kit) to make which leaves me the option of getting the Plastic Soldier Company of three US 76mm (Wet Stowage) to "finish" the battalion off. As way of size comparison (funny as NZ was just asking this very question) the large 1/72mm kits fit in well with the Armour Fast and Esci/Italeri kits (see below): 

For both the US and British tank formations, these are still "post D-Day" formations and both would require and additional three 75mm Shermans to represent the early Normandy "hit the beach" and "breakout" formation.

So there's still a possibility of more Airfix and Esci/Italeri Shermans to make in the future ;)

Note: I should also point out that there is quite a lot of variation in the US Tank Divisions (as in between the Divisions designated as "Light" and "Heavy"). I am also just looking at the M4 Sherman contingent as the US tank battalions had an organic M3/M5 (Stuart) light tank company too.