Comparison of Sherman turrets (1/56 scale)

 Here are some overhead views of Warlord and Rubicon Sherman Tanks.

Top to bottom: Rubicon Sherman IC Hybrid, Warlord Sherman VC, Rubicon Sherman I with early turret.

Left to right: Warlord Sherman VC, Rubicon Sherman IC Hybrid.

Top to bottom: Rubicon Sherman I with early turret, Rubicon Sherman IC Hybrid.

Top to bottom: Warlord Sherman VC, Rubicon Sherman IC.

Labours of Hercules - A Sherman VC part three

The crew of the Sherman VC "Hercules" gained fame after their epic battle against a Tiger Tank in the Normandy village of Nemea. Most of A Squadron were either beaten back or casualties, but Hercules made it into the village. There are two versions of what happened next.

In one version, even the fabled 17 pounder could not penetrate the Tiger's impregnable hide. Eventually, the crew scored a direct hit down the muzzle of the 88mm gun, blowing out the breech and detonating the Tiger's ammunition.

In the second version, Hercules out-manoeuvred the Tiger. first jamming the turret and then immobilising it. They then moved in to beat the Tiger to death at close range.

To commemorate their victory, the track from the Tiger and other tanks that met their end from their 17 pounder were draped upon the tank.

The Warlord Games Sherman VC has been fitted with the spare tracks from the Rubicon Tiger tank, plus track from the Rubicon German Stowage set.

A gun travel lock from the Rubicon Sherman I Hybrid replaces the moulded on travel lock. A cross brace was added so it looked more like the real thing.

As this is a fictional vehicle, I decided that the Division Insignia had been painted out by the censor.

Sherman VC at Bovington

A while back I visited the Tank Museum at Bovington.

There was such a lot to see, that I neglected photographing a lot of things I really should have, and that have become important on projects.

One of them was the Sherman VC Firefly.

This is displayed as a tank of A Company/Squadron, 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards.

Of note is the presence of the spot light on the turret. Sherman V (M4A4) had the three part transmission cover,

Tools on the right rear of the deck.  Note the fixed metal scabbard for the blade. The rest of the tools are missing, as is the fire extinguisher.

Rear storage box and first aid kit.

There are some differences in appearance compared to the Sherman V at the IWM.

Labours of Hercules - A Sherman VC part two

The Nemean Lion had impenetrable golden fur, Hercules slays the lion by (sources vary) shooting it in the mouth or beating it to death with his club. Hercules wears the pelt as armour.

So, this is the build of a Warlord Games Sherman VC as "Hercules", the slayer of big cats.

So since the last post, I have added some additional track to the hull and the turret. I bought another Rubicon German Stowage set and added one long and one short length of Panther track to the hull side.

Additional pieces of Panzer IV track has been added in front of the headlights.

A short length of Panther track was added to the right side of the turret.

I also removed the existing gun travel lock and replaced it with a travel lock from a Rubicon Sherman I Hybrid kit. It is not correct for a Firefly, but is better than the moulded on version. I added the cross piece from Slaters Microstrip. It does not match the shape of the Rubicon Firefly travel lock but does match the outline of the original.

The tow cable was shortened and replacement Rubicon end pieces added. The white posts on the turret are the fixing points for bags for the turret crew's kit bags (to be made from Greenstuff).

 Two more kit bag posts.

The commander's hatch still needs to be assembled and a suitable crewman added. Soft stowage also needs to be sculpted.

Shermhill Firefly

From a discussion on Lead Adventures, I present the Shermhill Firefly.

Warlord Churchill hull with a Warlord M4A4 Sherman VC turret (from my Hercules project).

You can see the turret ring will not fit between the hull sides.

Labours of Hercules - A Sherman VC

I have seen a number of photographs of British (and Commonwealth) Sherman tanks draped with the tracks of German tanks. It just made me think of the first labour of Hercules, the slaying of the Nemean Lion.

The Nemean Lion had impenetrable golden fur, Hercules slays the lion by (sources vary) shooting it in the mouth or beating it to death with his club. Hercules wears the pelt as armour.

So, this is the build of a Warlord Games Sherman VC as "Hercules", the slayer of big cats.

Sprue photographs. The track and side skirt sprue appear to be common with the Sherman V kit.

The upper hull is different from the Sherman V hull.

 The kit is quite chunky, verging on crude, no where near as good as the Warlord M4 kit nor both versions of the Rubicon M4A3 kits.

Once the main parts of the hull were assembled, the additional track pieces were added. The side pieces were added on to the appliqué armour. Square section 0.030" plastic rod was used to provide support for the track pieces where they went beyond the appliqué.

Additional stowage was added including a four pack of German style jerry cans, This used one half of part A11 from the Rubicon Allied Stowage set 1 (cut in half with a razor saw), one War Department jerry can from the same set and one German jerry can from the Rubicon German stowage set.

A base plate of 4mm Evergreen strip provided the base and a piece of Slaters plastic strip provided the straps.  The W^D logo is visible on the end can.

Two additional strips of plastic strip were glued to the jerry can block. This was then used to assist in glueing it to the back of the Sherman tank.

Warlord Games M4A4 Sherman V

At Warfare I bought the Sherman Tank Troop, comprising two M4A4 Sherman V tanks and an M4A4 Sherman VC tank.

Unlike the M4 kit, this is a Warlord Games only kit, not a joint project with Italeri.

I started by building one of the Sherman V tanks.

The kit is a lot "chunkier" than the M4 or the Rubicon M4A3.

The fit of the upper and lower hull is not very good, as you can see I have had to use milliput to fill some of the gaps. This would be masked if the optional sand shields were added.

There is also the appliqué armour on the hull, some M4A4 hulls had this armour, others did not. The gun shield looks clumsy compared with the M4 kit.

The three piece differential cover does not join the upper hull very well. I was impressed with the join in the upper and lower track pieces. Note also the fixing points for the separate lifting rings.

 More filling and filing on the other side. Note the turret also has the appliqué armour.

The lifting rings on the side of the turret are not particularly well represented. Note the fixing points for the hull lift rings which are separate items.

The HMG mount is fixed to the turret top and not the cupola. I have removed the mount, it still needs filling. There is no sign of the smoke bomb thrower.