Sherman III & Firefly IC

[Ballardian]

 Having picked up a copy of TFL's 'What a Tanker' at Salute this year (lots of fun) I had to go about producing some suitable tanks - my collection to date has been tilted towards weird war, so Comets & Centurions for the Brits & assorted weirdness for the Germans.
 I picked up the usual suspects, WG's Cromwell (a decent kit, unlike their plastic Panther, which I had the considerable displeasure of assembling & painting three of for a friend recently), Rubicon's M4A2 & M4A1 (assembled as a Firefly Ic). I'm a little late to the Rubicon Shermans, but what fantastic kits! Genuinely a pleasure to put together - the parts fit is truly excellent. It's still awaiting its TC - in this case a WG pewter figure & is made up in the markings for the Irish Guards.
 

 


Given the large number of spare parts that these kits come with, I couldn't resist seeing if I could knock up a spare 75mm turret (for when the Firefly isn't required) - the gun mount was adapted from the F18 mounting (the ends were trimmed off & the beading added with some plastic rod). The cupola required a simple GS press mold & came out reasonably well & the aerial is a nylon bristle from a brush - here it is primed, next to the Firefly turret.

[ultravanillasmurf]

Looking good.

[ripley]

Nice work with the green stuff , looks great

[Pinky]

I really like the paintjob on your Sherman III.  I assume that the Firefly turret is for either the M4 or M4 Composite (Rubicon haven't released their M4A1 kit yet).  Judging by the photos I've seen, Ic Fireflies don't seem to have had the applique armour on the turret (although I'm sure a couple did).

[Tracks]

Your Sherman III of C Squadron looks good.

[Ballardian]

 Many thanks for the kind words all, Pinky - yes, it's the Sherman IC kit, (clearly I had a hard of thinking moment there) - I also think you're correct about the cheek applique armour. While the kit's instructions do use it, I've not subsequently been able to find images of IC's with it - I thought it might have been because they all seemed to be early Fireflys in Italy (2nd & 4th Polish Armoured Regiments in Loreto & the 2nd New Zealand Division in Trieste) - but then an example from the 27th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Sherbrooke Fusiliers) in the Netherlands in '45 turned up. I guess I'll have to put that one down to experience...
 I suppose the image in my head of the Firefly is the VC, which do tend to have the cheek armour - that's my excuse & I'm sticking to it 
 There's another question that's occurred to me while looking at reference images, what's with the British Armoured Corps attachment to giant toolboxes? There are many pics of vehicles mounting a toolbox so large that it would surely be a two man job to move it:



I'd like to think that there would have been an Australian crew member, who, upon looking pityingly at a US or German vehicle & saying (in his best strine) "That's not a toolbox mate, this is a toolbox."

[ripley]

That's not a tool box , its a stowage box for crew kit  that was usually attached across the rear hull plate on Brit Shermans . I think they moved it to the front as extra protection from Panzerfausts , it would cause them to explode  ( spaced armor ) a foot away from the hull , burning your greatcoat and blanket , not your knees . Some tanks had one front and rear , never enough space for crew gear in a tank

[Ballardian]

 Ah, of course! Thanks for that Ripley

[Pinky]

That big storage box was a feature of Sherman Vcs.  It seems to have been part of the Firefly conversion.  Although they found their way onto other vehicles.

[Ballardian]

 Here's the Firefly IC promised previously, Have I said I love these kits?
 I forgot to mention before that I used the Vallejo AFV Painting System UK Bronze Green set, great paint in really annoying tiny bottles (only 8ml), plus an assortment of Mig weathering products.

[ripley]

Fantastic

[Rubicon Models]

Nicely done, you should post them on our FB community page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/RubiconModelsCommunity) and share with others outside of this forum! 

[ultravanillasmurf]

Very nice paint job.

[Pinky]

This is a wonderful paint job.  It really bring the model to life.  Could you put up some photos under stronger light, without the bits and pieces behind it?  I'd like to see more!

[Ballardian]

 Many thanks all, Pinky, I'll endeavor to take some (hopefully) better pics without the background clutter, may be able to do so this evening.
 Next up will be a CMP with the well known 'cloud/mickey-mouse ear' camo (though there are a couple of things in the hobby queue that I'll have to deal with first).