1/6 Sherman
Finally! With a handful of friends from IPMS Stockholm I finally can conclude this monster of a model to be done. It just took...a number of years...to finish. I first thought this beast to be an easy match as everything big must be simple to assemble. Wrong! All problems were scaled up. Look at any model in a microscope and you will see joints the size of trenches to fill with putty, mould lines to sand with a power tool and all sorts of problems. I used tie downs to secure front and rear sections to the hull before flowing liquid glue in all joints, ruining my floor in the process. After a week of curing time I dared to loosen the straps. That is what you have to deal with when scale and weight is working against you. My friends did the turret, boogies and tracks. When attaching the top to the bottom it took a number of people to do this and generous amounts of glue and screws holding it all together. At one point a whole sprue went missing and we had to scrounge a new one, not the easiest thing to do. Tamiya´s spray cans were used to get it in uniform and an hour of airbrushing broke up the uniformity of the shiny OD. Stars were airbrushed on using home made stencils.
I do not recommend this model to any one unless you are a full blown masochist or in bad need of a large scale Sherman.
The model was built for the Arsenalen military vehicle museum in Strängnäs, Sweden, and will be officially presented to the museum in a few days time. Why would a Swedish museum want a model of an American WW 2 era tank? Simply because there are a number of them in the museum collection. These tanks were brought over and used for tests right after the war. Now they rest in the care of the best armour museum in northern Europe.
8 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Greg Kittinger said on April 6, 2018
Man - massive - my wife would not have gone along with that for sure! That would be like me building a 1/24 B-52 or something...
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 6, 2018
Massive..indeed! It is a metre plus and takes up my whole kitchen table on the photo.
Craig Abrahamson said on April 6, 2018
Impressive...must be a monster - sure turned out nice, though.
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 6, 2018
It´s the size of a small caravan. Thanks for your comment.
George Johnson said on April 6, 2018
A very good looking monster. Who makes the kit?
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 6, 2018
Thanks, George. Dragon produces a number of 1/6 scale kits including this M4 105 mm howitzer.
paul teixeira said on April 6, 2018
great job!
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 6, 2018
Thanks, Paul! It was a group effort and I think we managed to pull it off.
Michel Verschuere said on April 6, 2018
Anyone asking questions about its size in your home, tell them it's a WWII cigarette lighter... Well done!
Jeff Bailey said on April 6, 2018
Stellen, you and your group have something to be proud of, for sure! Please pass along our congratulations to "the band!" (Well, ONE of your group probably plays some kind of musical instrument BESIDES the radio or the TV. Besides, calling the group "a band" looks better on your resume'.) HA!
Does The Sherm move? I assume the track works and the turret can traverse L or R and the gun will elevate & depress. Perhaps it has the capability of adding motors or even a small engine? It kinda looks like it has plastic or soft, shiny rubber track blocks.
No matter; you hated the build and are quite happy it's done, so I'm happy for YOU! And, it IS a fine looking M4 Sherman ! Sounds like a win - win ending to me! Thanks for sharing, Mr. Stellan Schroeder (Englund)!
Illigitimati Non Carborundum.
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 7, 2018
Thanks for your comment, Jeff! Band-of-worn-out-modelers might be an appropriate description for us...
In theory tracks can be moved but we had to glue them to the bogies as they are so heavy they will sag. The idler wheel in the back is actually movable to take up any track slack but it has to be glued firm to keep all in order. Sherman tracks were self tensioning as I understand it and would never look like on a Soviet tank, sagging in between the return rollers. As this is plastic it is quite impossible to get the tracks totally straight but we did what we could. Turret is traversable 360 but gun and mantlet is glued in a fixed position although it ought to be possible to make it work also. The entire kit is in styrene, even the tracks. They just got a coat of black spray paint. Making a 1/6 tank into a R/C model is popular and many go to town to fix all problems and cure any inaccuracies. We didn´t...
Tankum finitio thankgodium.
Jeff Bailey said on April 9, 2018
Tankum finitio thankgodium
:d
david leigh-smith said on April 6, 2018
And the prize for the most appropriate use of (dog) Latin in a modeler site goes to Mr Bailey.
Stellar, Stellan. Just stellar.
Jeff Bailey said on April 6, 2018
Doctor David, what does "dog Latin" mean? Does this refer to the fact that the phrase isn't exactly proper Latin? I had heard that the phrase isn't strictly correct in its translation. No matter. I like it and when I had the opportunity while I was in the Army, I had the phrase put on a name plate that sat on my desk. Gen. Bradley wasn't the ONLY soldier who (apparently) uses "dog Latin."
Of course, I was only 36 or 37 years AFTER him using it! LoL! I wish I still had that desk name plate. It got lost during one of several subsequent PCS moves. (PCS = Permanent Change of Station, or reassignment. I moved units 5 times after that, so ...)
david leigh-smith said on April 6, 2018
Ha, our posts crossed in the ether, Jeff.
For three years I had this phrase embedded in my email signature before someone pointed it out! I had four years of Latin at high school, so I have something of a hate/hate relationship with the old mother tongue.
You could always have a new name plate made!
Jeff Bailey said on April 6, 2018
David, I could have another name plaque made, but I no longer need a desk. My modeling / reloading / repairing bench doesn't count. It's as far away from public view. There are multiple layers of junque there. At least, my wife THINKS it's junk, but I know different!
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 7, 2018
Thanks, David!
Jeff Bailey said on April 6, 2018
Illigitimati Non Carborundum: it means (roughly) "Don't Let the Bastards Grind You Down." Gen. Omar Bradley had an engraved name plate with his name and this phrase on it.
david leigh-smith said on April 6, 2018
Jeffrey Bailey, this is one of my favourite phrases; if one wanted to be terribly pedantic and use correct Latin it'd be 'Noli pati a scelestis opprimi' - but your version has added levels of pun and humor. You really made my night by adding this to your comment!
Jeff Bailey said on April 6, 2018
David, my friend - Thanks for the nice comments!
My foreign language is German. I'd love to know more about those "added levels of pun and humor." It seems that what I learned about the phrase isn't at all grammatically correct! Perhaps someday we'll discuss it in more depth. Over a pint. Or ... Dang, I'd love to go back over to Britain and meet you, Paul Nash, David Thomas and other of our British cousins. When I met my (then) future wife, Billie - we were at The Eagle Pub in Eastbourne, England and we were having a wonderful time! The US needs friendly pubs like that over here. Yes, I'm SURE there are numerous places if one knows where to look. However, the Scottish / English / Welsh / Irish Pubs always seemed so much friendlier than the "Bars" here in the Untied States. Many of the Germmerman "Gasthaus(es)" fit into those "friendly places to go" local type hangouts, too. I'm not very inclined to go down to a bar and have a brew, but I enjoyed popping into a great pub and having a "wee swalley" - or a pint - as my Scottish former Brother-in-law would say. Ahhhh, those were fun times! And we could play darts - the RIGHT way - without the wussy "safety" rubber tips! A proper point is what I like! (Uh, I'm not very good at darts compared to many of y'all, but I enjoy playing.) I have a set of tungsten carbide darts (actually, 2 sets - both 23 g) that I can take to a pub, but that hasn't happened, Yet.
Sorry! This got a bit off topic, friends. I hope I can be forgiven. 😉
Jeff Bailey said on April 6, 2018
By the way, David, the correct spelling of my first name IS Jeffry. Mom & Dad had to be different! I prefer being called Jeff. However, you can call me ANYthing except late for dinner ! Besides, if YOU want to continue to call me Jeffrey, that's fine too, my good friend !
Ha!
david leigh-smith said on April 6, 2018
Jeff, I was just being a little 'proper' as we were talking about Latin. You are nothing other than a 'Jeff' my friend.
Jeff Bailey said on April 9, 2018
Thanks, Amigo! I'm a lot of things, but seldom proper ...
David A. Thomas said on April 6, 2018
Do mine eyes deceive me? Was I included in the august ranks of the UK iModelers?
Jeff, I'm thoroughly American. I live in Seattle. (Wait, that makes me...well, perhaps I'm American in spite of where I live.) My blood is profoundly Brit, Scot, and Irish (not to mention Welsh), but my forefathers were all American revolutionaries.
david leigh-smith said on April 6, 2018
I was going to comment on this, David, but thought I'd already ambushed Stellan's amazing Sherman quite enough.
And on the subject; Stellan, just HOW do you lose a whole sprue on a thing this size?
Louis Gardner said on April 6, 2018
David T., now that I hear your forefathers were Revolutionaries, we must somehow be related in some fashion. Many of my ancestors were too. One even raised his own Militia against the "red coats" and it is still a part of the US Army Infantry to this day.
Sorry David LS... (we can still be friends). 🙂
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 7, 2018
David, it just takes an extraordinary long build time , add a fair amount of shifting the model to a number of different locations, a handful of builders, confusion and a Freudian reluctance to actually complete the build... the sprue was the size of an A3 paper and had all central details on it. We had to contact all sorts of people around the globe to try locate a spare one.
Jeff Bailey said on April 9, 2018
Sorry, David! I thought you were from "over there!" You're a lot c;loser to my little Sister that David l-s. She lives between Portland & Eugene, OR.
I'd STILL like to have a pint with you, Doc David and some of the others like the Tank Monster builder band starring Stellan plus our favorite iModeler staff folks. And everyone else who could make it!
david leigh-smith said on April 9, 2018
Stellan, don't get me started on Freud.
"Let us consider a man (to be said in an Austrian accent) who builds by far the biggest gun barrel that has been seen on iModeler. What is he truly trying to say? This is known as 'displacement'; where one takes a socially unacceptable urge and converts it into a more palatable manifestation such as building a submarine or a very, very, very large tank".
...or a Howitzer is just a Howitzer...
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 9, 2018
You better shuffle your way over here then.
Howitzer-envy, anyone?
david leigh-smith said on April 9, 2018
"Howitzer envy". Genius.
Jeff Bailey said on April 6, 2018
More ether crossovers, possibly!
Louis Gardner said on April 6, 2018
Very nice brute of a Sherman ! Do the tracks assemble like the real one, and is the suspension articulated too ? I'll bet this was a very interesting build. You could probably locate a few 1/6 scale GI figures to make it look even more realistic. I especially like how you painted the OVM tools the same color OD green. When I was a tank crewman in the US Army, we had to occasionally paint ours like that too. Believe it or not, that's when I found out there were many variations of "OD" Green...
I had a friend (many years ago) who had a RC Sherman AND a RC Tiger... They were very cool indeed to operate.
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 7, 2018
Thanks, Louis. The tracks are made up of a number of pieces. Two for the main bit, and end connectors. The connectors are pushed to the self locking pins on the main bits. This makes the track workable but I wouldn´t dare to play around for long with it before bits would go everywhere.
Bernard E. Hackett, Jr. said on April 6, 2018
Jeff was speaking plat latin. Latin "tags" are fun! Res ipsa loquitur being a favorite. I used that in my claims adjusting career. Jeffs' phrase was the war cry of adjusters everywhere.
The Sherman turned out well! Learning experience, huh? Anything that doesn't kill us makes us stronger.
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 7, 2018
Thanks, Bernard! Many things that doesn´t kill us put us off, though. Glad to have it out of my life.
Robert Royes said on April 6, 2018
A great build !
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 7, 2018
On behalf of the "band" i sincerely thank you.
Morne Meyer said on April 7, 2018
This is a real MONSTER. Amazing build!
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 7, 2018
Thanks, Morne! Monster it is. It took up all of my kitchen table as you may make out of the photo.
Rob Anderson said on April 7, 2018
That is very cool!
Editor said on April 7, 2018
I liked it, too 🙂 but it’s absolutely huge!
1 additional image. Click to enlarge.
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 7, 2018
Hi Martin, good it got to the 08 Open Model expo in Stockholm in one piece.
Rob Pollock said on April 7, 2018
Anyone with a “bad need of a large scale Sherman” please make yourself known to the hospital staff...
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 7, 2018
Hahahahaha, yeah, next time I feel like do something like this I´ll get help from professionals.
david leigh-smith said on April 7, 2018
Right here, Rob. This looks a bad case of Post Traumatic Sherman Disorder. Stellan, the good news is it CAN be cured. The bad news is the treatment means building a huge Tiger...or Dragon do a nice 1/6 Panzer II...
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 7, 2018
So you mean I´ll never get passed this experience? Who thought I´d get PTSD. Oh dear me...
Thanks for your comment, David.
david leigh-smith said on April 7, 2018
No problem, Stellan. And more dog Latin - Tankum finitio thankgodium - brilliant. So tell me, what's going to be the first step in the rehab? Nice 1/72 aircraft? Revell 'SnapTite' kit'?
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 7, 2018
How bout a four-piece jig saw puzzle? Actually I´m rather busy at the moment but I´ll try finish a third Skyraider in a bit. Just a few details and some weathering left to do.
david leigh-smith said on April 7, 2018
How about this one...
Well done to you and the guys for an amazing project!
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 7, 2018
Super illustration for the PTSD remedy! Did a couple of 1000 pieces-puzzles just after Christmas...maybe I should go back to less mind numbing activities.
david leigh-smith said on April 7, 2018
It was good enough for Albert Einstein; he sometimes worked at repetitive boring tasks to allow his genius to percolate up to the surface.
Robert Royes said on April 7, 2018
Sorry to stray off topic, but I new I'd seen that 'dog' Latin phrase some where.
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 7, 2018
Stray off topic? You´re not alone 🙂 Thanks for illustrated evidence of the Canine Lingo phrase.
david leigh-smith said on April 7, 2018
Bene factum, Robert. Bene factum.
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on April 8, 2018
David, I go for very long walks to get the repetitiveness and clear my head for more constructive thoughts.