Hi everyone;

Please go to the "What's New" page and check out the excellent job Konrad did on his corrections for the HB M4A1 "Elowee".

I have built several of the HB Shermans, and I can say with complete objectivity that Konrad has done an amazing job on this.

My hat is way off to you, Konrad. Cheers to a job very well done, my friend!

Pat

Absolutely tremendous work, Konrad !
Congrats !

Konrad; I'm still to chicken to try this so I'm going to stick to my surplus pile of Bandai hulls _ Ha! Really nice work and attractive finish to boot. Chris Schwach

M4A1 hull, except you should add the extra filler cap behind the deck hatch, remove the two inboard filler caps next to the air intake trunk up front, and rework the rear tail plate to look like the Hobby Boss hull. The dweebs got the basic shape wrong but did manage to do the correct angled straight tailplate, which even Dragon didn't get right until their third attempt. It's enough to drive one to strong drink.....

I will most likely use several of the Bandai hulls with the HB engine deck and hull rear plate grafted in..... Yes, the HB M4A1 engine deck piece is almost a perfect drop fit into the engine deck opening in the Bandai M4A1 hull. It's about .030" (.75mm) short and about less than .010" (.25mm) too wide; just add a strip of .030" styrene to the rear of the Bandai opening, and trim the sides until the piece drops in. Voila! You can also use the front of the HB hull grafted onto the Bandai main hull, as it has better details. It's all your choice.

Note that the Bandai lower hull/chassis is correct for the M4A2/M10 GMC/Sherman III; it is not correct for any of the kits Bandai actually made. Still, it's a nice resource to have an M4A2 lower hull if you need one. If you're not concerned about chassis-mania, cement your model to a base, and they'll never know.....

Bruce; Thanks so much for all of that useful Sherman info! I greatly appreciate the tidbits; very very useful. Chris Schwach

Excellent work explaining the all the corrections: It will be invaluable for my build, and the photos are cristal-clear too...

I'll remind everyone the Hobby Boss transmission cover has, with the Bandai, the closest dimensions to the real thing:
OA depth below rivet line: Actual : 17.6 mm, as measured from an actual Sherman.

Hobby Boss: 18.0 mm

Bandai: 17.2 mm

Tamiya: 16.2 mm

Both the Tamiya and Bandai transmission covers were a smidgen too narrow, about 0.5 mm or so, with the Hobby Boss width being dead on if a poster here is to be believed...

The Bandai's transmission cover is quite acceptable, but the one-piece cover is, if I'm not mistaken, not quite as good as the Hobby Boss.

The Bandai three-piece transmission cover is, on the other hand, very valuable as it is MUCH better than the apparently abortive Hobby Boss effort...

The Tamiya's hull mg too low position (because of the transmission cover's short height) makes the fix extremely difficult, the problem being visible no matter how many sandbags you pile on the glacis (the hull mg gunner HAS to have some aiming travel and visibility...). The only exception to that would be the Firefly, whose removed hull mg would allow covering the transmission cover rivet-line join in sandbags or tracks...

Given the comparative availability, The Hobby Boss Sherman is practically the only game in town based on that issue alone, in my opinion... Vertical errors, FRONTAL vertical errors, are much more unforgiving than the entire lenght, especially towards the rear for instance.

Don't count out those Hobby Boss kits yet...

Gaston

.... so is the Tamiya lower hull too shallow, or the upper hull too tall, or the inset for the top edge of the transmission covers too low, or the glacis plate too long, or at the wrong angle, or the whole hull too long, or the gun blister in the wrong place, or the transmission cover not bulbous enough, or what? A dimensioned drawing comparing the wrong and right way would be useful. And don't forget Gaston, I'll cast up your corrected masters for free!

Tim

www.fighting48th.com

YEP THIS THE EASIEST WAY TO FIX ANY drama's, i used tamiya light curing putty for the main filling as it is my weapon of choice and it's very quick .I'll add my photo's to this one to show how it's done ,this si the easiest of the hb sherman's to fix as for the rest well that's awhole diffrent story

To add that i used some plastic strip to give the putty something to key to .It help's with big area's of filler as plastic is'nt the best thing to stick to sometime's have fun wayne

Glad you all liked the article - coming from you Pat that is high praise, thanks - Chris, Bruce really hit on something with the lift and separate correction to this hull - try it - and THANKS BRUCE. Glad you like it Gaston, I think the shape is ok - and Tim, this is a perfect mule for your tracks, the next HB ones I have in the works will all have them, esp. those T66's - oh dear ! pant, pant, so THANKS TIM, and as Wayne shows us all, it is easy to do - light curing putty - brilliant.

Konrad

Ref the light curing putty, don't forget to keep your eyes closed while you use it, otherwise it will go off too soon!

Tim

www.fighting48th.com

Why aren't you outside planning and plotting the latitudes and longitudes of the exact Geosynchratic location for the Temple O' Resin!!! It will arrive....and you will be ill prepared, I fear. I worry about doors hung upside down, etc. There are pixies everywhere who will try to mess up the erection!!
Ohhhhh, that sounds SEX-U-AL....huh?? I bad....
Tuesday is only.....ummmm, a few days away, I guess......so lets get ready!!

Nothing is worse than when "little elves mess up the erection".

Gold, pure gold.

I've been dealing with a nasty case of double penetration!! Last night on my way to see the old man at his nursing home, I must have run over a discarded set of allen keys, and two of the little boogers slashed a gert big hole in my rear tyre!! Suddenly my back end went all squirmy, and I ended up having to wait 4 hours for a recovery trailer to get the Yamaha back home! I got the rear wheel out today, and hopefully will have a new tyre on it tomorrow. I'll post a pic of the damage if anyone is interested.

Ref the barn-raising, I'm going to rely on the skilled team of erectors arriving tomorrow to sort things out! I'm going to be trying to get the bike back on the road. But I'll definitely post pics of the edifice as it rises majestically from the very soil!!

Tim

PS No, I didn't fall off. The gravel in my knees is from kneeling while trying to undo the bolts on the rear brake caliper torque bar......

Tim, Get off that bike! Too dangerous.
You're not allowed to bust yourself up until we get those PTO EEC tracks........

Seriously though, be careful on that thing.

I am sure Tim will agree, statistically speaking, two-wheeled vehicles are in fact safer than four-wheeled ones. This is actually true.

BTW, I purchased a new car last week, and have been looking for an excuse to show it off.....I went the polar opposite direction from Tim, and went with my first "tank". Well, it feels that way when I am driving it.....I am used to little, low cars, and I got this:





I'm chuffed, as it was a great price too. But WOW! It can really swallow gas! I must learn to use a very light foot on the ol' accelerator.
I just got tired of shovelling out my car in the winter. Winters in Eastern Canada can be very messy.

Konrad, delete this if you want!!!






I seriously hope the roof is going to end up a bit higher than this....

Tim

www.fighting48th.com

That is a serious puncture there amigo - please take care of yourself, having ridden a bike a couple times, that looks hair-raising.

Pat, you have the right idea from my persepctive - I have the same exact thing in forest green, six cyl, all-time 4WD. Never gotten it stuck, never broken down in the bush. Great car and has always come through for me. Even has ABS. Hope you enjoy yours as much

Right, back on topic, sort of - Tim that shed looks like it is going to be just the thing, once they add a little raising to your barn Dave will be just extatic !

Keep us in the loop,

Konrad

I am!!! While I haven't had my barn raised in many a moon....I'm sure young Tim will enjoy it....especially at the hands of professionals!!
Today is the day....pictures by dusk, please, Mr. Perry!!

BTW, My bet is for a Churchill kit from Tim....y'all remember those conversations about 5 months ago???