I have not completed a tank model since I started TMD on July 1, 2001! I have wanted to return to my personal modeling for many years, but I’ve always felt pressure to focus on TMD. I realize this pressure has been largely self-induced. Never-the-less, it has gotten in the way of me enjoying the hobby I have loved so much my entire life. This year, 2024, I hope to return to modeling once more. Hopefully, this blog will be the first of several chronicling my successful return.
STEP 1: ADMITTING YOU HAVE A PROBLEM
The first thing I have had to do is think — hard — about what — exactly — causes me to put pressure on myself to master and not build. The answer is simple: the need to make $$$ so I can keep TMD going. Well,… Thanks to the turn of events last year, TMD’s overhead is less than it has ever been. I have also decided that, come-what-may, I am going to start a sustained campaign to up-date my line, re-mastering products when and where I think it necessary. So, not wanting to set myself up for another failure, I have decided to find a project that I want to build which — at the same time — will provide me with incentive to start re-working as much of my existing line as possible.
STEP 2: PICKING A SUBJECT
Since the bulk of my product line is Sherman-related, it will be helpful to find a Sherman I would like to model, and, preferably, a Sherm,an that will provide me with an opportunity to use as many TMD items as possible. Additionally, since this will be the first time I have made a serious attempt to learn how to use the new acrylics, and to ‘weather’ my model using acrylic techniques, it would be helpful to find a suitable subject that will provide ample opportunity to try weathering without being overly complicated. Luckily for me, I have always been enamored with a Sherman II that should provide me with all of these things and more. So, without further a due, I present you with my choice of build:
Sherman II, HQ 2nd Armoured Regiment, El Alamein (or so I’m told)
STEP 3: PICKING THE KIT
OK, I have not built and painted a kit in more than 20 years, and I confess, I am afraid to ruin a TASCA/ASUKA kit. Therefore, after shewing on this a while, and looking at my stash, I have chosen the following kit for my build:
DRAGON Kit #6447: 1/35 El Alamein Sherman
Conveniently, it includes the markings for the tank I want to build:
Additionally, I have the following decal sheet — just in case I need it:
STEP 4: DETERMINING THE FACTORY AND BUILD DATE FOR MY SHERMAN
Since I suffer from Advanced Modeler Syndrome (AMS), and, because part of this build is intended to help me update and showcase TMD products, I want to be as accurate with my build as possible. That means, it’s time for one of my favorite parts of building a model: THE RESEARCH! And, lucky me, I have some of the best refere4nces available to help me with my research:
And let’s not forget:
[NOTE: If you are just interested in my build, you might want to skip down to STEP 6.]
THE RESEARCH AND PLANNING PROCESS
RESEARCH
STEP 1: I asked my Sherman ‘experts’ for help.
STEP 2: I searched through the text first, then through the pictures in every book I have containing information on the early Shermans at El Alamein (see picture above).
STEP 3: I put up a post on my favorite modeling DG asking for help.
STEP 4: I posted the same request for help on 2 Sherman Facebook pages.
RESULTS: I didn’t learn much more than I already knew. So, given that I could only find 2 pictures of the tank I want to model, and that it is believed to have been one of the earliest PSC M4A1s delivered to the British in North Africa, I decided to work from ‘The Sherman Bible’ and build my kit according to the drawing on page 102, vol 1 of the new, “Son of Sherman” books. These are a MUST HAVE — NOW!!! for any serious Sherman fan!
RESEARCH ADDENDUM (2.2.2024)
Thanks to Nick Mayhew for drawing my attention to the following thread on Missing-Lynx:
Sherman II at El Alamein Identification
As can be seen from the following pictures, and confirmed by the text in “Son of Sherman,” Vol 1 Part 1, pgs. 65-71, my tank is an early LIMA build. This changes things:
Welded lower hull (no rivets along the bottom of the hull side).
Extra tow cable stay on left side in front of the shovel storage.
Now, I’ll be using the drawings on pgs. 66-67 from the new “Son of Sherman books” [NOTE: hull only. The turret will have to incorporate the revised gun and gunner’s sight]:
(This changes things quite a bit from what I ‘thought’ I was going to be doing.)
WHAT I THINK I FOUND
Reading through the “Son of Sherman” text very slowly and carefully, taking notes and marking the appropriate dates as I go, I have come to the conclusion that ‘my’ Sherman was probably manufactured sometime before late March 1942. The apparently welded lower hull; lack of tail light guards; presence of a 3rd tow cable cleat; apparently fabricated grouser vent covers and lack of co-ax MG shield all seem to support this time frame. The only outlier seems to be with the suspension. The picture shows later suspension arms, without the retaining bolt for the early spacer tubes. According to “Son of Sherman,” this was dropped sometime during the summer of 1942, which would seem a little late to be on my tank. So, either my tank received some sort of upgrade between the point where it was issued and it was photographed in October 1942, or we have one of those many ‘fun’ little oddities we so often encounter in our hobby. Either way, I am going to build my kit as a March 1942 LIMA production.
PLANNING FOR A March 1942 LIMA BUILD
Since the tank I’m going to be building is an early LIMA, and the Dragon kit I am using is much closer to an early PSC build, I am going to have to make some changes. Most notably, I will have to:
— Add the plugged bow MG holes to the glacis plate, as well as a third tow cable stay cleat to the right side of the upper hull, just forward of the shovel storage.
— Remove the rivets from the lower hull to depict a welded hull.
— Make a new rear hull plate to depict a LIMA rear hull plate with the curved lower section and plated-over holes from the original pepper pot exhausts.
— Re-work the engine deck to include the fuel shut-off knobs and openings.
— Super-detail the heck out of every possible part of the rest of this kit, incorporating as many current and/or up-dated TMD items as possible.