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  #41  
Old 07-16-2017, 03:15 PM
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Amccombs3 Amccombs3 is offline
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I've been continuing to work on the suspension assembly, but it's all been bits and pieces for a while. Today I finally got the return rollers, return roller brackets, and track supports that I think of as springs all together. They encompassed parts 10 (brackets), 11 (rollers) and 12 (springs). They were much easier to understand than the bogies, but the brackets took a while, with their support ribs, and lots of edge coloring. I was a little worried about shaping the "springs" to the pattern, but it wasn't as difficult as I feared. Here are a couple of pictures (apologies for the blurriness, I don't know why the camera was unhappy). There are, of course, six assemblies, but aside from having right and left sides they're all similar, so I am just showing representative ones. The instructions show a "pin" for the roller axle, so I used sewing pins, inserting them and then bending down the ends before trimming them to length so they can't fall out.

The next assemblies are the arms for the road wheels (parts 13ff.), some suspension springs that go up under the bogies but above the road wheel arms (14ff.), and the road wheels (15ff.), which promise to be a long subproject all to themselves.

Don, I will have the model at the Convention, but I won't promise that it will be complete. I'm working at it pretty steadily, but it's slow going.
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Anne's M4A3 Sherman GPM-gedc1008.jpg   Anne's M4A3 Sherman GPM-gedc1009.jpg  
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  #42  
Old 07-16-2017, 03:18 PM
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Kevin WS Kevin WS is offline
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Well done Anne - both for your excellent work AND for quietly slogging on with the build!
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  #43  
Old 07-16-2017, 03:36 PM
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The rollers look first rat, Anne!

I look forward to seeing it at whatever stage of construction. Remember how long it took Greg and Kevin to complete theirs? Remember this 2010 image?

If Greg shows up at Sterling, we can do a new image with the three of you.
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Anne's M4A3 Sherman GPM-002.jpg  
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  #44  
Old 11-06-2017, 11:29 AM
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Amccombs3 Amccombs3 is offline
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It's been a while since I last posted a progress report, but I've been slowly progressing on suspension components. I've built the 12 suspension arms. The only change I've made was that GPM supplied very long, thin, colored strips to cover the outside contour and inside cutout. I fiddled with that a bit and had to concede that I do not have the skill to make this happen, so I edge-painted them instead (first photo). Also please note the tiny rectangular slider blocks. I had one go "sproing" out of my tweezers in an unknown direction and despaired of ever finding it, but the God of Lost Things smiled on me this time and it turned up after some quality time lying on the floor.

Next were the Vertical Volute Spring Suspension (VVSS). These were not fun at all. The second photo shows the long stepped-taper strips that are rolled to make the springs. They are 5" long and taper from about 1/4" to 1/16 inch. Worse, they are wrapped around end disks to make them the correct size. The third photo shows this operation beginning on one spring (apologies for the blurriness), and the fourth shows the winding partly done. And of course there are 12 springs, and they are almost completely hidden on the completed assembly, up inside the bogies. A completed assembly is shown in the fifth photo.

Yesterday I simply could not face the VVSS, so I made the first of 14 road wheels. Why 14? Because these tankers carried two spares. On the model, they have paper rather than wire axles. I talked a lot to my predecessors Greg Perry and Kevin Stephens, and they were both very helpful in explaining details such as this. Since this is the first road wheel, I wasn't quite sure where the edge coloring had to be and it came out a little messy, but I hope to improve on numbers 2-14.

I actually enjoyed building the first road wheel, but we'll see how I feel after making 13 more.

I had the hull at the IPMC Convention this weekend, as my work-in-progress. It's not too impressive right now. I had thought that I would make some progress on it on Convention day, but I was too busy greeting old and new friends and looking at other peoples' models to do much cutting. But Winter Is Coming, and it's a good time to sit at home at the workbench.
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Anne's M4A3 Sherman GPM-gedc1022.jpg   Anne's M4A3 Sherman GPM-gedc1013.jpg   Anne's M4A3 Sherman GPM-gedc1014.jpg   Anne's M4A3 Sherman GPM-gedc1017.jpg   Anne's M4A3 Sherman GPM-gedc1021.jpg  

Anne's M4A3 Sherman GPM-gedc1023.jpg  
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  #45  
Old 04-17-2018, 07:32 PM
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Amccombs3 Amccombs3 is offline
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Dear me. This project (and all of my paper modeling activities) went dormant in November and I've only returned to the workbench this week. After the holidays, I had to deal with a family situation. I had previously cut out all of the components (first picture), which are numerous since there are 13 parts per road wheel and 14 wheels. I think I finished the edge coloring last night. Now I'm assembling and finding minor fit problems which require some trimming and sanding. The second photo shows the individual parts for a single road wheel, plus four steps in the assembly sequence. A completed road wheel is just under 7/8" diameter. It's very tedious, and the sprockets, idlers, and tracks promise to be an equally long process. And they never come out as well as I want them to, but I continue to try to make progress. Three of 14 are complete, and three more are partly assembled as shown.
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Anne's M4A3 Sherman GPM-gedc1026.jpg   Anne's M4A3 Sherman GPM-gedc1027.jpg  
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  #46  
Old 04-17-2018, 07:45 PM
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Looks like all the parts for a Swiss watch. Think you will have it done for Army Heritage Days next month?

Don
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  #47  
Old 04-17-2018, 08:55 PM
elliott elliott is offline
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Progress is progress Anne, however slow and tedious. Just glad to see you back on the build. You did a great job cutting out all those rings.
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  #48  
Old 04-18-2018, 04:05 AM
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Amccombs3 Amccombs3 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Boose View Post
Think you will have it done for Army Heritage Days next month?

Don
I don't think that is remotely within the realm of possibility. At best, I might get the hull sitting on the road wheels / suspension. But after that, there are sprockets, idlers, tracks --and then all of the hull details, turret, gun, etc. I'm not a fast builder and it's very much a long term project. I'm not discouraged, just accepting the nature of the process.
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  #49  
Old 04-18-2018, 04:53 AM
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So glad to see an update, your build is looking good. I have this kit in my stack and will build it someday. Your excellent build notes and photos are much appreciated!
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  #50  
Old 04-18-2018, 04:59 AM
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The road wheels look tedious yet good. Looks like an assembly line would be helpful.
Hang in there. Only 4000 itty-bitty parts to go.
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