Codename: Sherman 2016 - 3pc Differential Housing Conversion 210122

[ripley]

Looks great . That should keep the early war US modelers  happy

[Tracks]

Still very much a WIP for the M4A1 decal sheet, this is NOT FINAL!
The printer might not like it because they are tightly packed, might need to take away some for printing.
Tried something new to include "boxes" to group things together for single-vehicle (historical-wise) use.

Understood.

What do you think?

Its a beautiful thing.

[ultravanillasmurf]

Looks nice, what about other users though?

[Rubicon Models]

The printer replied about the "boxing" issue... cannot be done -AND- too crowded!  Now going back to the drawing board!

Looks nice, what about other users though?

Still needed to add Commonwealth and Allies onto the sheet... that portion had not been done yet.

[H0ffmn]

You could eliminate a few of the decals and still have a decent early war American decal sheet -
 1) The armored division signs, the red yellow blue triangles with associated numbers. I don't remember seeing too many pictures of those on vehicles in combat.
 2) The company decals, the yellow bar with small circle, 'A' thru 'I'
listed on your sheet,are all the same decals , just printed at different angles. You could just print ,for example, the decals 'D,E and F' ,and turn them at angles, or cut to make the ends shorter, if needed,
 to use on the kit for different companys.
 3) I've only seen pictures of the 'mailed fist with lightening bolts' insignia in color, not outlined in white.  You could include the outlined in white fist , but you only need one of each, as I've only seen pictures of  those painted on the upper hull, and have never seen more than one per tank.
  Since you have to go back to the beginning on the sheet, could you make the names on Wardaddy, Honky Tonk and Dixie Bell in yellow instead of white? The 1/35th decal sets and color profiles that I have seen of M4A1's in North Africa are in yellow. Also,please add a yellow stripe to go around the turrets in the same yellow as the star insignia. Yellow decal sheets aren't always the same tint of yellow from different decal  manufacturers. The yellow stars and stripes would probably have painted at the same time, from the same can of paint, so it would be nice if they were the same tint of yellow.
     Thanks

[Rubicon Models]

Thanks Hoffmn, will look into that after the M4A4/Firefly VC decal sheet is done.

[Rubicon Models]

Preliminary design of the decal sheet for M4A4 / Firefly VC had been completed.

Had included 6 to 7 individual tanks from UK and NZ, plus a Chinese M4A4. 

Should cover most divisions with M4A4 or Firefly for UK, Canada, NZ, North Africa and Poland.  Comments?



Enjoy!

[Tracks]

If the other decal sheet got tagged "boxing" issue... cannot be done -AND- too crowded because of crowding, I have a strong feeling that this one may suffer some similar issues. But it looks good.

[Rubicon Models]

If the other decal sheet got tagged "boxing" issue... cannot be done -AND- too crowded because of crowding, I have a strong feeling that this one may suffer some similar issues. But it looks good.

The "boxing" issue was that the ink will not stay (dry) on the backing paper.  To do so, we need those lines to be treated like any other decals.

As for spacing between decals, as long as we keep the standard that the printer agreed, we should be okay.

[Eclaireur]

That decal sheet looks great!
A few thoughts about the British tactical signs ...

1. You have the red and white 7th Armoured Division desert rat, but the 1944 NWE armoured brigade regiment numbers (50,51, 52, 53. That's a problem because the armoured regiments of that division used Cromwells not Shermans during that campaign. There were a few Shermans in 7th Armd during that campaign but they were things like artillery observation tanks with dummy guns and Royal Artillery regiment numbers (not those white on red armoured regiment ones). 7th Armd did use Shermans in North Africa and Italy but you would have different regiment numbers for 1942-43: 40, 86 and 67 (also in white on a red background) for back then.

2. Of course the numbers 50, 51, 52, and 53 work for the 11th Armoured and Guards Armoured Division during the NWE campaign, since their armoured regiments were equipped with Shermans. But the 40, 86, and 67 would still be useful for people modelling Sherman equipped armoured divisions in North Africa and Italy. 

3. I'm not sure the 45 on green over blue is of any use. That's the armoured recce regiment of an armoured division from 1944 onwards, since the 7th, 11th, and Guards armoured divisions ALL had Cromwells in that role not Shermans. I don't think the 45 was used for that role 1943/4 in Italy but would have to double check. It's niche even if it was!   

[Rubicon Models]

Thanks, Eclaireur.  We will look into this and might make some changes if needed.  With the extra numbers, we might have to take away some other designs.  Being that said, we just try to make this sheet as generic as possible with a few specific tank designs.

[Eclaireur]

With the extra numbers, we might have to take away some other designs

yes indeed - understand completely. hence I was nominating the 45 for the chop, since I'm not sure it's usable on a Sherman. I would argue also that the 40 (an HQ tac sign) is probably superfluous. I'm not sure what formation sign the yellow triangle is, and maybe a Canadian brigade sign too many?
That would make room for the 40, 86, and 67 which were pretty widely used in North Africa and early days of Italy. Almost all decal sheets seem to have the 50-53 numbers which are correct if you're doing D-Day onwards but then inevitably appear on people's 1943 or 1942 models, for which they are not correct. Or to put it another way ... if you don't put those other tac signs on you're not really giving people the option of accurately decorating a pre-DDay tank from a British armoured division.
EC

[Eclaireur]

p.s.
the 40, 86 and 67 tactical signs are correct between the autumn of 1942 and the conclusion of the north African campaign. However I think a different numbering scheme may have been used for armoured regiments in armoured divisions in Italy. Will look into it.
EC

[Rubicon Models]

Revised decal for M4A1... now double-size our normal decal sheet.

Still a WIP with some minor changes that we would like to amend, but we like the current selections.

Will probably remove the scorpions and replace them with some British vehicle numbers. 

With this sheet, we will have US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Free French, and Polish.

What do you think?

PS: Going to keep the tank "names" white and not yellow as all the reference illustrations from our books are white.



Enjoy!

[H0ffmn]

PS: Going to keep the tank "names" white and not yellow as all the reference illustrations from our books are white.

While there are very few books on markings for M4A1 tanks in North Africa, Under the Gun 2 'First Blood, US 1st Armored Division in Tunisia' from Firefly Collection by the Oliver Publishing Group show the tank names of 'War Daddy II', 'Dixie Belle' and 'Honky Tank' as being in Yellow, not White.

The Star decal 1/35 sheet also shows 'War Daddy II' in Yellow as well. I did not say 'all' tank names were in Yellow, just those three that you show on your upcoming Sherman decal sheet from the US 1st Armored Division, 1st Armored Regiment.

'Elowee',  'Hannible' 'Eternity'and 'Electric'  are all in White.