UVS models: Salute 2021 11/12/2020

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He was out to get a job done and to waste to much time worrying about the little things.

I have to admit to not knowing a great deal about the personalities, and having just finished Beevor's book on the Ardennes, they all seem to have had their "idiosyncrasies".

[ripley]

At heart Patton was a cavalry man , and he used his tanks like they were horses . Advance and kill the enemy , if you lose your mount ( horse or tank ) get a new one  and push on .  I always thought  his idea of getting the surrendering  Germans to join the US and push east into Russia and retake all the countries / land they " liberated "  was a crazy idea .Who knows might have worked and we wouldn't have had 50 years of a divided Europe .   

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Okay, it has been a while since I have posted any work here.

For those of a certain age, the GDW RPG "Twilight 2000" was an interesting starting point for World War III gaming.

Under Fire Miniatures have a range of Cold War white metal figures, including Soviet infantry. The NCO figure has been converted by changing the trousers and boots and replacing the head with an Empress Miniatures woolly hat. He has also got a Rubicon rucksack on his back (my excuse for posting it here).



One of the effects of throwing Instant Sunshine around is a requirement for new trousers.

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More use of items off the Allied Stowage sprue.

A Crooked Dice figure with a rucksack from the Allied Stowage sprue.

Slightly odd colour balance.

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Finally finished painting "Hercules" (last seen http://forum.rubiconmodels.com/index.php?topic=281.msg7823#msg7823).


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 track on the turret comes from the Rubicon Tiger kit, the rest of the track, including the Sherman track come from the respective Rubicon Stowage sets. The gun travel lock on the rear deck comes from the Rubicon Sherman 1 Hybrid kit.


There are four jerry cans on a shelf on the rear left of the hull, a British one, half the four can set and a German one.

[ripley]

Looks great . So you used the Tiger track from a kit ? Was it the top run of track hidden by the side skirts ? You really don't need to add that track

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Thanks.

So you used the Tiger track from a kit ? Was it the top run of track hidden by the side skirts ?

No, it was the spare links that go on the turret.

One of the problems with adding track armour to the Sherman turret is being able to get it to conform to the shape. The pieces for the Tiger turret are designed so you can bend them to fit.

The side and front armour is from the Stowage sets.

I hope that in their next stowage set, Rubicon do individual Sherman links (I know there are some in the A3 kit for the HVSS) as well as Churchill ones.

I think it is the British Tanks In Normandy book that has a Canadian Sherman wearing a side skirt of Sherman track links hanging down the sides (it might also be in the Osprey Firefly book). I will have to check.

[ripley]

Some Canadian units covered their Shermans with welded on track , I've got half a dozen pictures of different tanks saved ( somewhere ) . And yes some smaller lengths of track , both Allied and German would not go amiss . Really can't figure why Rubicon made the Panther track in the Stowage set so long , from pictures it was usually hung in 4 link sections on the turret side , and one or two links on the side stowage rack . I've managed to use / salvage track that was going to be hidden  behind the side skirts on both Panzer III / IV as well as a Warlord Panther . The problem is you don' get a full run with track teeth as they leave a flat spots  over the wheels .  Wonder why some of the other AM companies ( S&S , Company B ) haven't released track sets ( althougth Comp B has a few lengths  of Sherman track ) . From what I've read , ading track to the turret might have given you a little more protection , but the extra weight slowed the turret traverse down and if too heavy , damage it . That's why  Patton was said to be against adding track to the turret , plus it looked sloppy 

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I was reading about the Tiger II, and they found that adding track to certain areas of the turret reduced the overall protection while in other areas it increased it, hence the track links fore and aft on the turret.

Frankly I would fear for the hardness of the plate if some REME started applying a welding torch to it.

I forgot to mention adding three links (with or without a rack) for the front of Shermans.

[ripley]

That looks good . IRC those 3 link racks on the Sherman were for damage replacement not extra protection although they " might " help . Notice the mid / late Tiger I got rid of the spare track on the nose . IRC the Tiger track was for damage replacement as well , the Tiger II carried both left and right handed track as spares . If it was just for protection it wouldn't matter what track they carried . The word is ( WOT Chieftain , and various authors ) that the track somehow made the incoming round more libel to damage the hull than without the extra track . But as the Chieftain says, extra track as additional armor  made the crew feel safer , weather they were or not . And if you fell safer  , you might be more bold in taking the fight to the enemy . Most modern tanks don't use spare track as extra armor , they use wire mesh or slats to disrupt  RPG rounds by causing them to explode against the slats as opposed to the hull

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I have finally started on one of the Shermans from Salute.


I have still got to smooth off the join on the turret bustle before I add the rest of the fittings (including some lifting rings).

As is normal for Rubicon kits, I have left the hull and chassis separate to make it easier to paint.

Oh, and once again I initially put the transmission cover on upside down...

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So the tank is assembled.


I might have been a bit previous with the cheek armour.

You can see the added lift rings on the turret.


This tank is going to be painted as a member of 33rd Armoured Brigade, probably 144 Royal Armoured Corp - tactical sign 174.

[ripley]

Looking good .

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So the M4 is now painted, but sorely in need of weathering and some wear and tear on the decals (the white stripe at the top of the Diablo looks a bit thick).

The tank number is the wrong size and the wrong font (and probably the pistol port should be removed).

One of the photographs of a 144 RAC Shermans in the British Tanks In Normandy book is captioned saying there is a road wheel on the side of the turret.

It is pinned there, but I am not sure it does not need something more obvious holding it up.


I have added a tow cable to the right hand side of the deck, running from the glacis.

[ripley]

That looks really good . Nice work on the tow cable .  It really is tough to find the right font for some vehicle decals in this scale  , I just end up using what I've got , even sometimes using larger 1/48 or 1/35 if I have them , rather err on  size if it's a specific vehicle I'm modelling .
So for your spare wheel problem . You could strap it on using the footman loops which a lot of Brit tanks had added to turret sides for cammo net stowage

It might also be strapped / bolted to one of those spare track holder / mounts the Brit Shermans had on the turret , or you could add a welded on threaded rod and a cap or piece of bar and a large nut like these 2 command tanks have



Pictures are from an article on Missing Lynx discussing how individual British tank units can be identified by  spare wheel / track /and stowage box placement . Really helps if you can't see the tank's unit markings . Of course I saved a couple of pictures and forgot to make note of when the article was printed