The SAAF Forum

Another piece for my project of 6th South African Armoured Division in Italy.

I scored this old kit for a few bucks and decided to update it with spare parts from newer kits and 3D prints. It has some well known mistakes I'd like to adress so lets see where it goes. With RFM Sherrman V late configuration on the way, it makes sense to use Dragon kit for early build rather than backdate well produced RFM late version.

Artillery observation tank of 22nd Fd Artillery unit is well documented one from 3 sides rolling throught streets of Florence (Firenze) on 16th August 1944. That's great for spotting the correct details for propper date of pruduction identification. This tank being one of an early production ones equipped with M34 gun mount, smoke dischargers on side of a turret and T54E2 tracks.


Boxart


Some of the spare parts that I'm willing to use


Little progress made throughout last week. I worked on boggies mainly, where's nothing special to show of. I also worked on other parts of this kit. I am using Dragon "modern" boggies assamblies with spacers from spare box so these needed some adjustments to fit them properly to the hull. Speaking about lower hull, I updated position of boggies according to RFM Sherman V kit. Lower hull in these first releases is a bit longer but I decided to live with that rather then try to sort it out.

FDA cover was put together, line scribed into flanges and some angles around bullet splash rectified. My plan was to use Panzer Art FDA but it was missing few milimeters in the width. Engine deck plate was updated with new 3D printed grill from my design with corrected number of bars. As I am going to build early vehicle which had machined/beveled edges of plates I applied putty on all cut marks dragon provided. Front of upper hull received under cuts below cabs and new weld joints. Additional armor plates on turret bullet splash drainages were removed too.

Sand shields strip was also removed as this vehicle haven't had one, I only need to find some photos how those early "aircraft engine cowl clasps" looked like

Let's see if I'll able to finish this up or I'll throw it in bin

More progress made today.
First thing to note is that old light grey Dragon plastic is tricky. It seems theres harder surface layer on top and core is softer meaning different reactions to cement. I tried to apply texture to front plate, where I removed pre-molded location strips for spare track racks previously. My putty-extra thin mix ate plastic in those spots a lot quicker and created recessed lines... So I removed my mix and apllied polyester putty on front plate. I'll apply texture later to mimic casted texture.
I placed step bracket made out of plastic card to the front glacis and also two rectangles in position of lifting rings to replicate padded lifting rings this tank had. Further work on the rear of the upper hull consisted of removing some details, replacing plastic handles with wire, filling in locating holes for pioneering tools, relocating spanner to vertical plate and attaching air scoops in its place. Some drainage holes were added here and there too. I also removed dust fenders strip as this tank didn't have them.

Hull and some 3D printed parts like T54E2 tracks and exhaust deflector:




Idler wheel modified with those radiuses specific to Chrysler production. Exhaust deflector received bend on central rib according to references.


Photos of hull, note that the upper and lower hull are not glued together yet.




So that's my work so far to mimic this +/- March 1943 production tank. I'd be glad for any reccomendations and your supervision guys.

If anyone have a good photos or drawings how should an early attachement of fenders should looks like, it would be highly appreaciated.

Watching with interest.

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How come every time my ship comes in, I'm at the airport?

Interesting subject, I like Sherman's but don't know anything about tanks.

I will keep an eye on your build as I will be learning a lot of things.

Thank you guys. AT6C well at first I was happy that South Africans mostly used just one type Sherman V (M4A4) but when you dive into slight modifications getting into production every month it gets demanding. And it’s also worth to note that I have a unhealthily large stash (still growing) for my divisional collection of almost every vehicle used by 6th SA Armd Div like Sexton, M7 priest, several Sherman V, Firefly Vc, Firefly Ic, Chevrolet trucks, universal carrier, Jeeps, various scout cars and so on…

Well after my battlefield tour at Anzio beachhead and Monte Cassino, we’ve finally finished our moving into the new flat.


It seems that everything survived the moving without demage and I finally have a lot more space and time for modeling being just 5 minute walk from my job.
Fellow modeler from the Czech forum pointed out that I used wrong blanket box so I cut it with razor blade and correct one is printing.
MJ miniatures tool clamps arrived so I gave them a try and I also added rounded bar around blade sight made out of metal wire. MG barrels were fitted together with MG shield on the turret according to photos. Rotor shield is still dry fitted.

I pressed further with my build. I added stowage rack to the front fender made out of evergreen profiles. It is obvious from photos that rack only contained British flimsy can together with canister in some sort of rack and 25 pdr ammo box is just strapped in front of it. Tow rope was attached to front hull lifting rings via double tow shackles according to photos. The end was simply rolled up on the engine deck as rear clamp was blocked by stowage. Plastic front lights were drilled out, light guards attached and siren glued in place.
Sunshade brackets were attached in place and demage represented again based on photos.
Exhaus deflector was fitted in place and hinges made out of evergreen profiles again.
I also tried to detail up a bit insides of hull hatches as both are going to be represented open.

Today I added handles out of brass wire and some minor details. As everything except turret blanket box was ready, I fired up my air compressor and sprayed black Gunze surfacer which showed some places which should be taken care off (note the sanded areas).
In the mean time I also pulled out suitable resin figures of tank crew, one of them requiring a bit of surgery to attach Dragon helmet as per photos. I also purchased civilian figures for this one and attached them to pins. Here’s just quick sneak peek with original photo in the back ground.

Hey, we even have the QA Panel inspecting

_________________
How come every time my ship comes in, I'm at the airport?

It's coming along nicely!

A quick question?
Would it not be better to fit the tow cable after painting the tank or will the cable be the same colour as the tank?
I'm dumb with armour builds.

... but give AT6C a Harvard or Allo III and he sings a different tune

On a serious note, I had the same question in mind.

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There's no such thing as a good or bad gun. A gun in the hands of a bad man is a very dangerous thing. A gun in the hands of a good person is no danger to anyone except the bad guy.

Haha thank you guys for your support. My workflow is usually to fit as much parts as possible to prevent any duds like glue marks or so after painting. In this case, tow rope is in tricky position and it has to be secured by CA glue to copy shapes of tank properly.

Anyway, it took some time to progress on this but there was nothing special to report as I was working on both runs of tracks.
Well nothing special until recently. I repaired some mistakes which were highlighted by surface and sprayed whole kit with AK Real Colors Olive Drab. That showed some more imperfections which were sorted out quickly and resprayed again. Coat of satin varnish was applied and once it cured, AK chipping fluid followed by AK Real Color Light Mud diluted with IPA were applied.
Quick job with water, brush and toothpick provided me with reasonable chipping to OD color. Some chips were resprayed with Light Mud and another protective layer of satin varnish before Blue Black was applied.
Please note that some large chips that are still there are going to be covered with Blue Black, dust or sorted in final touch ups before decals and so on. Other places were omitted of chipping as these are going to be covered in stowage.
Next step for me is to finish fenders by gluing inner strut to them and paint.
I hope I’ll spray blue black during weekend.

Throughout the week I studied photos of this tank and figured most of shapes of blue black scheme marking it in a blank blue print of Sherman V.
Thankfully all went according to my plans and I was able to spray another layer of chipping on entire vehicle. Once it was dry I masked it of with blue tack and sprayed AK RC Blue black. This approach also allowed me to wipe any undersprays with wet cotton bud.
chipping was again made using water, brush and toothpick.
I then tried out a bit of postshading using highly diluted Tamiya smoke. Once happy, everything was fixed with another layer of AK RC satin varnish.

My next step should be:
1. detail painting and creating stowage
2. decals
3. wash
4. further highlights with oils
5. Flat warnish
6. Pre-dusting with airbrushed buff
7. Dust accumulation and streaks using newly acquired Gouaches
8. Final enamel effects and pigments

If anyone would recommend a different order or any other advices, let me know.

A bit more progress on this. I painted out the details like pioneering tools and stowage. I opted for shades of olive drab as it gives interesting contrast. Smoke discharges was also painted out with black, grey and wood. I used various acrylic paints by Vallejo, AK and AMMO to paint them. Decals by STAR Decals company were applied and everything was sealed with satin varnish that needs to cure properly before I work more on this.

I also worked on sand shields, these are now painted in light mud and scratched to OD base. Once varnish cures I'll apply blue black camo to them.

Looking good!

_________________
How come every time my ship comes in, I'm at the airport?

Thank you Dean
Got some time to work on this for a last two days. I managed to made a stowage, highly isnpired by original photos. As a base I used plastic cubes I glued together and some resin ammo boxes of poor quality that I bought of aliexpress. I rolled some blankets and tarps out of Tamiya two part epoxy. Once everything was in correct place, I attached these to each outher with super glue and covered it with another tarp. It cured overnight so I was able to remove it from the tank and basecoated it with surfacer black. Painting itself was done with acrylics by brush and different shades of tarps were achieved by vairous enamel filters.