Sherman III of 3 County of London Yeomanry, Sicily

[Jakko]

A kit that I've had in my stash for a number of years is a Sherman III by Asuka, and now that my British French tanks are close to being finished, I decided to start this one:



This kit includes decals for a tank named Churchill of 3 County of London Yeomanry, which is to say, this tank:

(source)
(source)

And as I have an edition of this kit that includes a Value Gear set with stowage for the rear deck, including "in" the racks that have been improvised from the rear sand shield sections, I intend to build this one from it. Not with the deep-wading gear that's on the tank in the photos, but as it might have looked slightly later during the fighting on Sicily.

I started with the underside of the hull:



Very little to report there, it's an Asuka hull so even though it's made up of flat plates, it all fits pretty much perfectly.

 

[BarleyBop]

this tank:

Those are exceptionally fine photographs.
I wonder if they were reprinted from the original negatives?!
Another cool subject!

 

[Jakko]

I wonder if they were reprinted from the original negatives?!

Probably scanned from original 1943 prints, as I got them from the site of the Imperial War Museum — see the "source" links

 

[Edbert]

They look like staged photos, the clarity is so high, not meaning the tank did not disembark there, but that the CO was posing in the commander's hatch while the press was present.

 

[Jakko]

Not sure, my guess is that he's out of his hatch and talking into his microphone to guide the driver, who only has a single periscope to look out of in both photos. That's probably also why the other man is sitting on the front of the turret.

 

[Jakko]

Looking at the pictures of the real Churchill, I noticed it had bogies without the riser between the return roller and its mount. Early Shermans didn't have those risers, but they were later installed in the factory and, IIRC, also sometimes in the field. Asuka gives you two parts for different bogies, but those are a flat mount with risers, and an angled mount (that was designed to remove the need for the risers). What to do?



After some thought and a quick trial, the solution was actually very simple.

1. First from left a part straight from the box (but green, because it's a leftover from another Sherman).
2. Second from left, I cut through the riser with a sharp knife, separating the axle for the return roller from the mount.
3. Third from left, I used the side of a file to make the "channel" in which the riser sits and used a knife and a file to remove the remains of the riser from the axle.
4. All the way at the right has the modified axle glued into the channel.

Here's a comparison with an unmodified part:



I don't intend to do this on the inner halves of the bogie — it's only visible on the outer parts, after all. On the inside, I'll just cut the axle off vertically and glue it back to the mount a little lower.

 

[Edbert]

Looking at the pictures of the real Churchill, I noticed it had bogies without the riser between the return roller and its mount.

Your attention to details like that, and your ability to execute on them never cease to amaze me!

 

[BarleyBop]

the clarity is so high,

Yup, at first I thought it was a composite dio with photo background!

 

[Jakko]

Your attention to details like that, and your ability to execute on them never cease to amaze me!

It helps that I'm aware that those riser blocks were introduced at some point, which means that I can look specifically for them on tanks that may be early enough to not have them. All of which, really, is to say that over the years I've built up a good amount of far more knowledge than is good for me about Shermans

As for making this correction, it turned out to be a lot easier than I had expected it to be. It was a little fiddly, especially trimming and filing the little bracket on the axle to fit in the slot in the bracket, but it was not actually difficult by looking and working carefully. I didn't even need to combine two parts like you often have to do with corrections like this. Of course, if I would have had to use two parts, Asuka Sherman kits are ideal for that because as I said, you get two bogie bodies: had it proved impossible to remove the axle without destroying it, I could just have taken the axles from the bogies with upswept roller mounts. Or from any of the dozens of bogies of both types I have in my Sherman spares box

 

[Jakko]

And that's the bogies done:



At the front of each, I drilled four holes using a jig I made years ago, and added a bolt on the top (there should be one on the other side too, but it's all but invisible when the bogies are on the tank). The idler wheels are 3D prints my brother made for me, from a file by Robert Lockie on Cults3D. I'm using this one mainly because the Asuka wheels don't have the inward-turned rim the real wheels do.

Onto the lower hull, I added the upper:



The green parts are because my kit is missing two sprues, with the D and G parts (that is, one sprue with both D and G parts, times two). Many of the parts on those, you usually don't all need, like fuel cap covers, periscope lids, etc. so I have plenty in my spares box. The hinges for the drivers' hatches are not something you usually have spare, but I did from my Sherman BARV. But even if I hadn't had them, they would have been very easy to make from some plastic card.

The lifting eyes on the glacis are from Dragon. They're also on sprue D, but the ones in the kit are incorrect for this tank anyway: Churchill looks like it was made at Fisher Tank Arsenal, and those tanks all had lifting eyes on "pads", which the kit doesn't give you. Happily, I had some in my spares box, with putty added for the welds.

The grey parts on the back deck are from the Value Gear set that was in the box, but I had to adjust them to fit where they do now. They're made to fit further forward, so the cut-out for the fuel filler cap is too far back, which means it took some work to carve a new one in both parts.

 

[BarleyBop]

Nice!
...though I think I'd be afraid to know that much about a particular vehicle: I'd succumb to analysis paralysis in an instant!

 

[Jakko]

To me, figuring out the details of the particular vehicle in a photo is part of the fun For example: what is that thing that seems to be stuck to the left hull side, just visible to the right of the helmet of the man guiding the tank?



It seems to be some kind of bracket or handhold, but there's nothing below it to suggest it's either for stowing stuff or to help climbing onto the tank …

 

[Edbert]

I'd bet a dollar on the handhold idea. The maintenance boys at the field depot could knock those out in no time.

Other observations, that storage box (?) on the left front fender would obstruct driver's view at least to a degree. Either that negates the commenter opinion's that crews never did that, or it reinforces the (possible) staged nature of this landing scene.

 

[Jakko]

It's an ammunition box, model B166. Given all the other stuff on the front, I suspect it was welded to the mudguard, as you say for extra stowage. The driver would have a hard time seeing it, judging by placing one on the model and looking over it at the periscope — it probably blocked his view a little if the periscope was turned to the left front, but that seems to be it. That spare roadwheel likely was more of a hindrance, but mainly to the bow gunner.

 

[GCB]

Always so interesting to read your posts...

 

[Richard55]

Great work Jakko.As you know im very partial to Shermans mate.Havent made one for a long time.
Richard

 

[Jakko]

Always so interesting to read your posts...

Great to read that

As you know im very partial to Shermans mate.Havent made one for a long time.

Maybe it's time to rectify that

---

By now I've also started on the turret:



In the photo of the real Churchill after it had come ashore, you can just make out that it had the extra shield on the coaxial machine gun. For the 75 mm gun, I used the early barrel with a flared end instead of the later one that has a constant taper — you get both in the kit. Because Churchill's barrel had its muzzle taped up for wading, it's not clear which of the two it actually had, but based on the other early features (hull with direct-vision flaps, gunshield without "wings", bogies with skids that don't curve forward) it seems a logical assumption to me. In any case, you can barely tell the difference even when you know what to look for

 

[Richard55]

Great to read that


Maybe it's time to rectify that

---

By now I've also started on the turret:

View attachment 155101

In the photo of the real Churchill after it had come ashore, you can just make out that it had the extra shield on the coaxial machine gun. For the 75 mm gun, I used the early barrel with a flared end instead of the later one that has a constant taper — you get both in the kit. Because Churchill's barrel had its muzzle taped up for wading, it's not clear which of the two it actually had, but based on the other early features (hull with direct-vision flaps, gunshield without "wings", bogies with skids that don't curve forward) it seems a logical assumption to me. In any case, you can barely tell the difference even when you know what to look for

Sadly Jakko i culled much of my Sherman stash(Sin!!!!!),Think ive only got x2 Tamiya M4a3s,X2 Tamiya early M4,Some Tasca sprues,Resicast Sherman V direct vision conversion.I do regret the cull as i had 4 Tasca ones and Dragon,Im sure i will buy them again no doubt!!

 

[Jakko]

Sounds like you hung onto the worst of the bunch Though the Tamiya kits do build easily, of course.

 

[Richard55]

Sounds like you hung onto the worst of the bunch Though the Tamiya kits do build easily, of course.

Yes indeed.I thought id never build them and got a load of aircraft kits.One of the Tamiya A3s will become a Pacific one with nails on hatches.The earlier ones maybe just tinker around and change the hoods and aerial pot.Maybe a Sherman 1.Hoping that a Sherman V appears in DV!!! In plastic form