Anne's M4A3 Sherman GPM

[Amccombs3]

After I posted yesterday, I gathered all of my nerve and fitted the second track! It went surprisingly well. This time I fitted it a little tighter, one or two links worth. I cannot imagine putting this thing into a diorama (If I finish this model, I will be so done with it), so the sloppy track will just have to stay that way. Two teeth came off as predicted, and I also dislodged two of the road wheels and had to reglue them. I also glued the exhaust deflector on, completing all the steps that I had started but not finished before setting the model aside. Pictures attached to prove my claim. Considering that this thing is a tank, it is amazingly fragile. I will also have a lot of touch-up edge painting to do.

At that point, the cat demanded that I sit on the couch so he could sit on my lap. It took the rest of the evening to figure out the next few steps anyhow. They are mostly front end details — the front tie down brackets, mud deflectors, and a couple of parts in the back that I don’t have a name for. There are some large raised side panels as well. The inboard tiedown brackets are thicker than the outboard ones for some mysterious reason — I looked at enough online Sherman images to be sure of this detail, but I don’t know why.

So I guess I can say that I am back “on track” with this model (pained, weak “ha ha” here).

[aansorge]

And quite a few of us are 'tracking' your progress.

[Don Boose]

Looks great to my eye. I credit the beneficent influence of the cat.

Don

[Kevin WS]

See - easy! Well done on tackling it!

[Amccombs3]

I’m now comfortably back in the groove, puttering along on various details. Easy quiz on the first photo: what did I forget to do before gluing things together? (Hint: scissors symbol). I’ve added the front tiedown brackets and mud deflectors (first photo); a couple of small horizontal bars in the back, function unknown to me — they look like where you’d mount the mud flaps if it had any (second photo); long strips that run the length of the hull, just above the tracks; and three large panels on the side of the hull (third and fourth photos). I’m not thrilled with the side panels. It took me a while to figure out how they were supposed to fit — the cardboard that adds thickness seemed too big, and I scored along some lines that I should have left alone — but I did as well as my current skills allow, and with a little more fitting and touch up paint, they’ll be OK, I guess. I also managed to knock off another track tooth, the pintle hook (for the third time), and two of the teensy corrugation strips on the side of one of the bogies. I recovered one of the corrugations, but the other one disappeared, so I printed a replacement from a scan. All better now.

Several of the prominent unfinished white areas got their finishing details this week, so the model as a whole looks better. This week’s parts came out pretty well except for the three side panels, so over all, it was decent progress. I know that the next assembly is a small lamp and its protective cage just above the left front mud deflector. After that, time will tell.

[Don Boose]

Looks good to me, Anne (failure to cut out the space for the hull machine gun position notwithstanding, and certainly a trivial error that should have no impact on the construction). I'm glad to see you pressing on with this build. It's an inspiration. Especially since I have completed exactly zero paper models since I last saw you.

Don

[Amccombs3]

This is the definition of fiddly work, but I think the petals on this siren (or lamp, or whatever it is) came out all right. The first picture was taken before edge painting, to make the petals show up better. The second shows the assembly. I’ve seen this item broken off in online pictures of gate guard Shermans, so it’s fragile even in full scale. The protective cage, which it certainly needs, is next.

[Don Boose]

Excellent work on this quintessence of fiddlynicity.

I THINK it is a siren: https://www.heraldnet.com/life/sherm...cation-system/

Source for the image: "Transformé" tanks

Image caption: "From start to finish, Chrysler M4A4s, including the 1610 units remanufactured from December, 1943 though October, 1944, were built with a siren factory installed on the left front fender as shown in the upper left. The siren most commonly used on the M4A4 was the Federal Type 160 with the "V for victory" grill (1). Power was supplied by conduit, and the coupling (2) is often all that remains on many surviving Shermans. It is evident that the siren was relocated with the M4A4T conversion, since surviving examples show the siren mounted on a pad on the left front of the glacis plate just below the hull lifting ring. The sirens are long since gone on most of the extant M4A4Ts, but a mounting pad (3) remains. The presence of this pad on a surviving M4A4 is almost invariably a clue of a Transformé conversion. A siren guard (4) was fabricated, which on some hulls, is seen with wire mesh welded to its face. We would note in passing that a few M4A4Ts and other French rebuilt Shermans have a siren with stars around the faceplate (5)."

Don

[Damraska]

Yet more silly things you never thought you would learn about M4 tanks:

The side panels are armor plates added to protect the ammunition stores and indicate a dry stowage vehicle. They are quite thick with beefy welds attaching them to the hull. In battle, it was discovered that enemy shot penetrating the hull at certain positions would enter and ignite the ammunition stores, typically resulting in catastrophic loss of the vehicle. As an expedient temporary measure, armor depots were authorized to add those plates. Soon after, factories began including the extra armor as a standard feature. In later models, ammunition stowage was significantly revised. All rounds in the hull were moved to the floor, below the sponsons, and kept in a water bath. These later vehicles are known as wet stowage tanks and lack the extra armor plates (with a few exceptions).

The long strip running down the side of the hull on each side, at the base of the sponsons, just above the tracks, are connecting strips for track shields. The strips were spot welded to the hull and bored with screw holes at regular intervals. The sand shields screw directly into those strips.

The strips on either side of the rear hull serve two purposes. First, they act as trays for spare track holders. Second, rear mud flaps screw into them. In practice, rear mud flaps rarely appear on vehicles in service.

[Amccombs3]

Thanks to Damraska and Col. Boose for filling in some gaps in my almost complete ignorance about tanks in general, and the M4’s in particular. I had no idea that a tank would need a siren. It’s not like you’d fail to notice one sneaking up on you.

I’ve been puttering along adding all the oddments that go onto the glacis plate in front. I’ve built up and attached heavy wire loops, headlights, the siren, guards for the last two items, and the fork that would lock the gun barrel in position, which I will guess was used when the tank was moving on rough ground. I’m in trouble on the next step, which is the hull machine gun that peeks through the glacis plate. It took me three trips through the instructions to find the diagram for this assembly, and this particular diagram is more cryptic even than usual for this model. I’ve been cutting out parts, but it’s going to take some head scratching to figure out how the parts go together.

Greg or Kevin, if you happen to see this, I’d be grateful for hints or close-up photos of this machine gun assembly. Thanks in advance.