Unconverting a Sherman V from the Rye Field Models Sherman VC

[Mini Me]

Very nice Jakko.....you should be pleased.....the little bits are what "make" the model. :thumb2: Rick H.

[scottie3158]

Jakko,
Some excellent additions.

[Guest]

Excellent additions to a superb model.

Thanks — I try my best

Well done with the chains. I can well believe you needed a rest between chains, I would probably have needed a strong drink and a lay down.

I don’t much like working with chains, the damned things always fall down and are really hard to get where you want them to. Here, I had used copper wire to tie the chain to the railing-type-thing, and when I stretched it to the pin I had glued to the rack, the copper wire bent and the chain slipped out. It was then very fiddly to get things tied together again with a new (much longer) piece of wire.

And of course, the next day I found some pieces of photoetched chain I could have used …

you should be pleased.....the little bits are what "make" the model. :thumb2:

Thanks, and you’re right: little details like this make it more believable. To add more touches like that, I now need to scratchbuild two 2-inch bomb throwers:

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The RFM kit has one (about the only internal detail in the kit) but I find it too clunky, and I need two anyway.

Some excellent additions.

Thanks

[Guest]

Someone supplied me with some more reference material, and it showed those rings were actually hooks, and aligned with the rods that connected to them. So, I chopped off the rings again and made hooks from copper wire:

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I also added the reinforcing strips on the top of the rear duct and reinforcing ribs to its front and back. Resicast provides but the former but not the latter, so I made them from some plastic rod with a strip on either side. I wasn’t originally going to add these, but felt the model would look more interesting with.

On the turret roof, I added the cable that activates the release gear for the wading ducts:

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Just a bit of copper wire from the Resicast release gear to the turret ventilator, that it went in through on the real tank. The way this worked, is that the ducts stood loose on the tank, held on by T-bolts at the rear and rods running to the release gear at the front. Pulling the cable released the rods, so the ducts would fall backward under their own weight and off the tank.

On the other side, I added yet another aerial mount, attached to the smoke launcher bracket:

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I have no idea why this was here, but both command Shermans at Westkapelle had it. You can also see another copper wire running to the turret roof from just behind this on the turret side. That connects to the extra aerial base on the little shelf on the turret rear, but goes through the supports for the ring on the tall aerial mount on the turret roof. I had seen this cable in photos, but only realised yesterday that’s what it is for, and how it runs.

I also added a 2-inch bomb thrower (smoke mortar) to the rear of the commander’s hatch. This comes in the RFM kit, but had a barrel for installation in the turret roof, so I replaced it by 6 mm of 1.6 mm diameter aluminium tube, drilled out to 1.4 mm internally. I also had to replace the handle, as it stuck out the top on the kit part when it should be diagonally on the right. Add an improvised mount (they were on the real thing) and a few bolt heads, and it looks the part:

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The model is now mostly finished, I feel:

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Though I think I may make a large bedroll-type thing on the left side of the turret before painting, and I still need to build the tracks, which look like this at the moment:

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They’ve been cleaned up, but nothing assembled yet. Also, this is a full set plus one sprue from a second set (seven sprues in all) because the AFV Club links are slightly too short and you won’t have enough links for a Sherman V in a single set.

[Mini Me]

That's looking the business Jakko, I look at those tracks and say..........better you than me! :tongue-out3: :thumb2: Rick H.

[Guest]

Thanks I consider the tracks to be very doable, except this is the AFV Club with chevrons, whose pins are smaller diameter than the plain blocks by the same manufacturer … meaning I’ll have to glue everything together, which makes it harder to get the tracks to fit correctly.

[Guest]

In addition to painting the other Sherman, I have been working on the smaller details of this one. The biggest of those is a large rolled-up thing on the left front of the turret, whose basic shape I’ve now made from tissue paper:

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Obviously, the string is temporary, to get the thing into shape and impress lines where the straps go that actually held it to the turret on the real thing.

[Guest]

Liking the "rolled up thing" made from tissue paper. Its is glued in anyway, I don't mean saturated, but brushed on to stiffen?

[Guest]

Sort of half and half It’s made from a paper handkerchief, which I cut up but left the layers in place; I brushed those with thinned PVA glue and then folded the edges over to create the impression of thick material like on the real thing:

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So some layers were saturated and others were not, though I think I put the glued layers on the outside for much of this. It’s actually three rolls one inside the other: a fairly tight roll in the centre, a second, narrower one wrapped more or less around it, and a third, outer one that’s wider than the middle, going around all of it. It still needs the looser tarp-like thing added on top, as well as the straps, of course.

Once it’s all done, I think I’ll try coating the whole of it with thinned filler putty, to get an even surface without the paper fibres that would show through the paint otherwise.

[Isitme]

In addition to painting the other Sherman, I have been working on the smaller details of this one. The biggest of those is a large rolled-up thing on the left front of the turret, whose basic shape I’ve now made from tissue paper:

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Obviously, the string is temporary, to get the thing into shape and impress lines where the straps go that actually held it to the turret on the real thing.

The 'rolled up thing' would more than likely be the tarpaulin to cover the tank when in transit or used by the crew as a shelter, hence the easy location on the turret. HTH, Mike.

[Guest]

I was thinking that too, but I’m not sure. It seems to be three items rolled inside of each other, though maybe it just wasn’t rolled very evenly so the centre part sticks out a bit more?

[Isitme]

I was thinking that too, but I’m not sure. It seems to be three items rolled inside of each other, though maybe it just wasn’t rolled very evenly so the centre part sticks out a bit more?

What used to be done was the 'tarp' would have had the ground sheet on the inside when it was rolled up that is why you can see what looks to be like three items, and normally the support poles/sticks would also be rolled in it as well, but owing to the position it is stowed would have been a hindrence to getting on and off the turret. So the poles/sticks could be on the rear deck out of sight, or have been 'liberated' after the battle...

[Jim R]

Hi jakko
Well whatever it is it looks the part.
Jim

[Guest]

Thanks for the explanation, Mike I think I’ll go with the poles being stored in one of the bins on the rear — the crew must have added an ammunition box on top of the normal rear-hull bin for a reason, after all …

[Guest]

I glued the tarp roll to the turret, added another folded-up bit of material on top from aluminium foil (not the standard kitchen grade, but a bit thicker) and then straps around it all from metal foil from a wine bottle, that I must have had for about 30 years

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The tracks were also added, not something I normally do before painting, but because the underside will be muddy, it’s no problem for this model.

And with that, construction is now pretty much done, I’d say:

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