Welcome to Geoff’s D-Day 80th Anniversary tribute chat thread.

[Geoffers]

Hello Chaps,

Thanks to all who have chosen to enter the group build, currently we have:

Me
Lee
Tim
Andy
Vizenz (Andreas)
Ian
Neil
Spanner 570
Andy T
Steve T
Allen
Airborne 01 (Steve)
Jakko
A_J_Rimmer
Lee W
Papa695 (Ian)
Peter

Everyone is welcome to join, the more the merrier.

Rules are simple.

Any ALLIED subject - Aircraft , AFV, Vehicle, Ship, Figure which took part on D-Day or the immediate aftermath ie up to July 44.

Try to keep it to this time frame but if it’s slightly out it’s no big deal just pm me first to clarify.

Model must be new and unstarted.

You may start the thread build thread but no building until the start date.

Before the build starts you need to post photos of the box art and the sprues and any other goodies you plan to use for the build.

Loads of photos and a bit of text to tell what you are doing.

Ask as many questions as you want, support the other guys in the group build if they ask for help.

Most importantly have fun

Thanks,

Geoff.

[Lee Drennen]

Thanks Geoff for get this together.

[Lee Drennen]

With Jakko helping me get the right Sherman for this GB I think I’ll be doing this one. I’ve never built a Sherman so be gentle folks.

[Guest]

Count me in too, I just ordered the Sherman kit I need to put the Resicast BARV conversion onto.

[Guest]

With Jakko helping me get the right Sherman for this GB I think I’ll be doing this one.

That looks good, but remember to not use the spare tracks or the planks over the suspension (You could always fit them to a second Sherman without the deep-wading gear.)

[Guest]

I'm still looking for a kit for this, was going for a Mossie but not sure now. Thankfully there's lots of time to decide on what I'm doing.

[Lee Drennen]

remember to not use the spare tracks or the planks over the suspension

Ok Jakko I will and thanks again. What about the small plates on the lower Hull add them as they show in the box art?

[Guest]

Ok Jakko I will and thanks again. What about the small plates on the lower Hull add them as they show in the box art?

You mean the plates in front of the drivers’ hatches that come with the Tamiya kit? Add those — they were part of the uparmouring done for the invasion. From the resin set, don’t use anything except the deep-wading gear. All the wood planking was USMC-specific, and spare tracks as armour only began to be done in Europe some time after D-Day and its immediate aftermath.

Also, it just clicked that the Black Dog set you have is for an M4A2, not a plain M4. This because the USMC used the M4A2 in the Pacific, until it was replaced by the M4A3 in 1945. What this means in practice is that none of the parts will fit properly onto your model … The inlet trunk on the engine deck won’t fit over the M4’s very different (both in size and position) air intake grille, and the outlet trunk on the hull rear will be intended to go over the M4A2’s exhaust instead of the M4’s You can probably use the trunks themselves, but would likely need to scratchbuild the mountings for them if you want to be reasonably accurate.

[Lee Drennen]

don’t use anything except the deep-wading gear.

Yes I know that I mean those small plates on the sides

[Lee Drennen]

scratchbuild the mountings for them if you want to be reasonably accurate.

Well that changes things. I might try to scratch built the mounts but can I just build it with out Wading Stacks and just build it out of the box and be period correct? Sorry to pick your brain.

[Guest]

Yes I know that I mean those small plates on the sides

Oh! Sorry, misunderstood — I thought you were asking about the conversion set You mean Tamiya parts B12 (×2), B15, B16 and B17, in steps 7 and 8, right? You should add those, yes. B16 and B17 are optional, as they weren’t on all Shermans by June of 1944, but B12 and B15 were on every small-hatch Sherman in the invasion, to the best of my knowledge (cue someone posting a picture of a tank in Normandy without )

Well that changes things. I might try to scratch built the mounts but can I just build it with out Wading Stacks and just build it out of the box and be period correct?

Without is of course an option. As soon as the tanks were ashore, they would drop the tall intake and exhaust stacks, but the adapter on the back of the hull would remain attached. Once the crews had the time, they would remove that too, leaving little or no trace of the tank having been fitted for deep wading. Here are a few pictures of M4s with deep-wading gear, which show fairly well how it fits:

[ATTACH]508690[/ATTACH][ATTACH]508692[/ATTACH][ATTACH]508688[/ATTACH]

The last one has a cast hull front, making it an “M4 composite” in American terms (“Sherman I Hybrid” to the British), but it’s still an M4, just later production than the one from your kit.

Whereas this is the setup for the M4A2:

[ATTACH]508694[/ATTACH]

Note that I’m not entirely sure if the set you have is the same, because there is the chance that the USMC used different bits than the US Army. You could probably modify the rear exhaust adapter to the rounded shape of the M4 version, and adapt the air intake stack to fit on the M4’s air intake by boxing that in with some plastic card and putting the stack on top.

[Lee Drennen]

Oh! Sorry, misunderstood

That’s ok I knew not to put the ones on the suspension. Yes those step that you mentioned 7-8. I will add those.

[Lee Drennen]

I’m not entirely sure if the set you have is the same,

Yes it’s the same as far as I can tell looks pretty easy to convert if needed. I found that first pic when searching but not the others the pics are very helpful you posted. I appreciate all your leg work and knowledge Jakko.

[Guest]

Looking forward to seeing you put it together, then If you have more questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

[Lee Drennen]

don’t hesitate to ask.

Thanks Jakko and I won’t this is what I really like about this forum and the support very helpful no matter how long you’ve been here.