Sherman Crab (again!)

[rtfoe]

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That’s 41 chains fully finished, other than painting and bending (some of them) to fit the tank.

As you can probably imagine, this was [sarcasm]a great, fun job I would happily repeat[/sarcasm] … It went reasonably well until the last of those four plates of parts, where something appears to have gone slightly wrong with the 3D printing, causing a lot of the openings in the parts to fill up. Drilling out the eyes on the D-clasps saw quite a few break, to the extent that there were parts for 48 chains, out of 41 I needed, and all I have left of the D-clasps now is enough for one chain. If you look closely at the photo, you can also see I had to make four rings from copper wire, due to the same problem: many of the printed rings having filled up to the point where trying to remove the excess material caused them to break. Luckily those rings are easy enough to fabricate — if I had run out of usable D-clasps I would just have hung a few less chains on the underside of the roller.

Of course, once all that was together, I still had to stick two etched parts from Resicast to each of the chains, for the attachment to the roller.

It's crazy Jakko but I like it. Hats off for the perseverance.

Cheers,
Richard

[Guest]

when will your 19th Nervous Breakdown happen? :flushed:

Luckily for me, I don’t get nervous breakdowns over building model. All kinds of other stuff, sure, though

It's crazy Jakko but I like it. Hats off for the perseverance.

You want to hear the even worse bit? I lost one of the chains

This afternoon, I went and sprayed them black, with primer from an aerosol can. I did this in the shed on a piece of old newspaper, carefully from a good distance so the spray wouldn’t blow the chains away. After I was done, I left the door of the shed open so the fumes from spraying would dissipate a bit; when I returned maybe ten minutes later, a gust of wind had blown the newspaper to the floor Luckily the tackiness of the paint had left most of the chains stuck to it, but a couple had come off. I found the others of the floor, but after counting I only had 40, not 41. After spending quite a long time searching, I still haven’t found the missing one

[Airborne01]

Luckily for me, I don’t get nervous breakdowns over building model. All kinds of other stuff, sure, though :smiling3:


You want to hear the even worse bit? I lost one of the chains :sad:

This afternoon, I went and sprayed them black, with primer from an aerosol can. I did this in the shed on a piece of old newspaper, carefully from a good distance so the spray wouldn’t blow the chains away. After I was done, I left the door of the shed open so the fumes from spraying would dissipate a bit; when I returned maybe ten minutes later, a gust of wind had blown the newspaper to the floor :sad: Luckily the tackiness of the paint had left most of the chains stuck to it, but a couple had come off. I found the others of the floor, but after counting I only had 40, not 41. After spending quite a long time searching, I still haven’t found the missing one :sad:

Real time structural failure mate!

[Guest]

My own stupid mistake, of course. I should have kept the door closed until the paint had dried enough that I would take the parts inside, or put something heavy on the newspaper so it wouldn’t blow away. But it was a quiet day today, wind-wise, so the thought didn’t occur to me at all that this sort of thing might happen

[Guest]

The real tank that this is a model of, is back where it belongs:

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Since about 09:30 this morning

[grumpa]

Will be checking in on this one for sure Jakko.

That chain work really is something special alright!

Jim.

[Steve Brodie]

wow

[Guest]

Thanks, guys

I’m finally in sight of the finishing line with this one … I made a replacement chain and sprayed it black too, I’ve repainted the parts of the tank that I had to do additional work on, and started weathering the suspension. Now I need to complete the markings, weather the rest of the model, attach the chains and finish painting them too. Easy

[Guest]

Today I applied the remaining markings from a variety of sources, including a 30+-year-old decal from an Italeri M32 tank recovery vehicle kit and some hand-painted bits, to arrive at a good representation of this tank’s real markings:

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After that, I put an overall wash of thinned Tamiya flat earth over the tank as an initial bit of weathering, followed by adding some dark stains with Games Workshop Devlan mud, which is really a pre-mixed dark brown-grey wash. It needs a good deal more work, though.

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[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Brilliant work on the chains. A heart stopping moment when you saw the newspaper on the floor. Great that you were able to update details. Shows how your modelling has become more precise since this was started. Looking good. Nice to see the photos of the actual tank returned to its place.
Jim

[adt70hk]

Just had a catch-up Jakko. That is outstanding work. Very well done indeed.

ATB.

Andrew

[rtfoe]

I like the amount of dust you've added to the tank Jakko. This would be evident due to the amount of debris and dust kicked up by the rotating chain.
The little dots of darker paint also breaks up the overall green of the base paint...nice touch too. Careful with the freehand graffiti as realism and amatuer paint work can be a fine line that can ruin a good finish.

Cheers,
Richard

[Tim Marlow]

Looks fine and dusty Jakko. As it is a vehicle that has been stood immobile for quite a few months would there be rain streaking as well?

[Guest]

Brilliant work on the chains. A heart stopping moment when you saw the newspaper on the floor.

Thanks. More like a moment of very strong words, though

Great that you were able to update details. Shows how your modelling has become more precise since this was started.

TBH, I would’ve added those details two years ago too, had I known of them. But it wasn’t until new pictures of this tank surfaced, that pretty much nobody had ever seen before, that I realised they were even there.

Looking good. Nice to see the photos of the actual tank returned to its place.

Definitely. It’s been a while (10 months) but the area now looks like it should again

Just had a catch-up Jakko. That is outstanding work. Very well done indeed.

Thanks

I like the amount of dust you've added to the tank Jakko. This would be evident due to the amount of debris and dust kicked up by the rotating chain.

I’m not sure this tank did any flailing in this particular operation. The only evidence I’ve found of any Crab using its flail is in the memoires of one Frank Himsworth, who commanded Crab Red Tod (WD-number unknown) at Westkapelle, who said his tank cleared a path off the beach. On this model, the dust and dirt represents it standing outside in all weather for about two and a half years.

The little dots of darker paint also breaks up the overall green of the base paint...nice touch too.

It needs more of that, but I’ll need to study pictures of the tank some more to see where and which shapes

Careful with the freehand graffiti as realism and amatuer paint work can be a fine line that can ruin a good finish.

It’s not just any graffiti These are the markings the tank carried in the landings: CHERRY is the code-name of the assault team the tank belonged to, while 6 is the code-number of the landing craft it was to embark in (which was LCT 650). The 148 over 656 on the bow is probably because the tank was repaired not long before, so I’m guessing its WD census number was painted on the nose because tanks would have been parked side by side close together at the workshop where this happened.

Looks fine and dusty Jakko. As it is a vehicle that has been stood immobile for quite a few months would there be rain streaking as well?

There doesn’t seem to be much rain streaking in evidence in this picture:



My model represents the tank around the time this photo was taken, so this is the look I’m trying to copy. As you can see, though, it needs more stains and I think the star on the rear deck also needs toning down/scuffing a bit.

[Guest]

I had forgotten the War Department census number on the inside of the stowage bin on the right-hand side. This was most likely the original location of the number, before the tank was converted to a Crab, and was visible inside the bin after the war. I made it from Archer dry transfers, applied first to a piece of transparent tape that I then stuck inside the bin:

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And rubbed onto the tank:

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Here’s some overall views of the model as it is now, with additional weathering:

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This was mainly done by painting and stippling various shades of olive drab and green onto the model, as well as some work with a Tamiya weathering stick (a kind of marking pen with a mud-coloured paste inside) that I dabbed on and smeared out with my finger, plus adding a second, lighter-coloured wash over the lower hull, suspension and tracks.

I think it still needs some more, though