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”Fury”………. 1/35 Tamiya Sherman and DML / Dragon Tiger I

Started by Louis Gardner · 74 ≡ · ↻ 4 years ago

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Chuck A. Villanueva said 5 years, 7 months ago:

Seeing you get some assembly done, tells me that Tamiya definitely new tooled the Easy 8 kit and not just added parts and wheels to update it. It is all new. The older E3 versions have a 1 piece lower hull and then assemble the wheel assemblies. Your kit is a multi piece lower hull. So totally new tool kit. Your off to a good start,
Louis Gardner said 5 years, 7 months ago:

Hello Chuck, @uscusn
Yes this one is definitely a completely new kit from the ground up. I think the only thing carried over was the .050 caliber "ma deuce" plastic sprue. Everything else without a doubt is brand new...

This one builds up more like a "Dragon" or DML kit as far as how the hull gets assembled. However, the fit and the engineering is more precise. So far everything fits like a glove.

Over the past few days I have made some considerable progress on both of the "Easy 8" kits on the work bench... Please follow along and I'll explain in the next posting.
Louis Gardner said 5 years, 7 months ago:

Starting with the hull... the front slope to be more exact.
The front tow hooks / cable attachment points are a multi part affair. These parts are very small, but well detailed. Be careful with these or you will be feeding the carpet monster !

Here's how they look once installed. This next photo shows the hooks from the underside.

and from the more "normal" orientation... right side up.

I zoomed in from the front here. If you're building one of these, the parts align very precise. The parts are even "keyed" so that you can't install the right side parts on the left side, and vice versa...

There are a total of 6 parts here, that make up the hooks.

Next up are the rear of the hull and exhaust. I didn't take any "in progress" pictures. However, this will serve as a good example of how things should look once assembled.

One of these pats is for "Fury", while the other is for the Korean War Sherman. There is a difference. The Korean War Sherman has two small holes that have to be drilled out before the parts are installed.

If you happen to forget to drill the holes, it can be done... Don't ask... just trust me on that... I made an oops and had to drill the holes later.

These next pictures will show you how the rear of the hull looks once this part is installed.

I made sure to paint and weather the exhaust pipes... but these parts will be very hard to see later.

The tow pintle and cable hooks are multi part assemblies, very similar to those on the front slope.

I left the track tension idler off on purpose. I will use it to tighten up the tracks later, since the Sherman didn't run the tracks very loose. If you see a picture of a Sherman and the track is loose, the crew hasn't had time to properly adjust the tension...

By this time I had both of the hulls completed to the same point of assembly. These next pictures will show the various angles and details.

to be continued...
Louis Gardner said 5 years, 7 months ago:

Following along with some more progress.

The WW2 "European Theater" Sherman has an exhaust deflector. This part is made up of 6 different pieces.

It actually pivots, and gets mounted to the rear of the hull like so.

I believe this part also acted as a shot trap on the real tank. It could have deflected incoming small arms fire and protected the exhaust and the rear of the hull from smaller incoming rounds.

A German 88MM would punch through here like a hot knife through butter. So would the 75 MM 7.5 cm KwK 42 L/70 that was used on the Panther and other German Armored vehicles.

The Korean War "Easy 8" has a different arrangement back here... More on that in a later installment.
Louis Gardner said 5 years, 7 months ago:
Then it was time to start building up the suspension. This is what made the "Easy 8" different from the earlier Sherman's.

Here are the majority of the parts assembled for one tank. You will see a total of 6 six truck assemblies. These were interchangeable between sides on the real tank, so are the kit parts.
In the lower portion of the next picture, you will also see the two sprockets, and compensating idler wheels.
1. Sprocket

2. HVSS suspension truck

3. Compensating idler wheel
The sprockets.

The compensating idler wheels.

Here's a close up of the truck assembly.

Inside here is a spring that was called a "Volute" because it was wound steel and looked like a snail. This spring was mounted horizontally inside the large round chamber. This is also why the "E-8" is often called a HVSS suspension system.
1. Shock absorber
A shock absorber was mounted on top of the truck to dampen vibrations, and to help keep the road wheel in contact with the track.
1. Volute Spring. It's mounted horizontally.

2. Truck pivot
There is an inner and an outer "Volute Spring".

These next photos will show you some of the suspension parts that are installed. You will notice the rear compensating idler wheel has been left off.

I did this on purpose so that I can adjust the track tension later...

The support rollers are also not installed yet. They still need a little work and some painting prior to installation, since they will not turn once glued in place.
1. The track tension is adjusted by moving the idler arm here.

2. The track support rollers mount here above the suspension trucks.
One little trick I use to make sure the road wheels are all level is this: I place the chassis on a piece of glass and simply roll the tank model. While I'm rolling the model, I'm watching the road wheels to make sure they are all turning. If they are, then I know the suspension is true.

If I have one (or more) not making contact with the flat glass surface, the wheel will not turn. Then it's usually a matter of adjusting the pressure on the "truck assembly" while the glue is still wet.

These last two pictures will show you how wide the tank is starting to look now that the suspension is taking shape.
1. I drilled out these two spots for a tow cable mounting fixture. "FURY" had this, but the part is not shown on the instructions.
1. A poly cap is inside here. This round thing holds the upper hull to the lower section.

2. Here's the exhaust deflector. It pivots and can be adjusted to different angles.
Calling it a night,

as usual, comments are encouraged.
1 additional image. Click to enlarge.
1. Shock absorber

2. Inner road wheel

3. Outer road wheel
Louis Gardner said 5 years, 6 months ago:
Over the weekend I did some more work on both the Korean War Easy 8, and "FURY"... Here are a few photos to show how they look at the moment.
1. Don't forget to drill out these holes.......... They are clearly marked from the inside.
The suspension parts have all been completed and installed.
1. The suspension is done !!!! Yippee !!!!!!
The upper hull has been "snapped" into position. They are removable due to the poly caps and plastic clip that has been installed on the inside, under the front slope.
1. The vertical armor plate on the rear of the hull is different between the two kits. They are a different part number and located on a separate plastic parts tree.
Making some decent progress...

as usual,
Comments are encouraged.
Louis Gardner said 5 years, 6 months ago:

I just finished mixing up some "Dark Olive Drab" for FURY... Here's what I used to make it and the end results.

Tamiya has molded the plastic in an Olive Drab color. It would normally be good to use as a base color for a typical WW2 build as is. But close inspection of the pictures of the movie tank "FURY" shows a much darker color was used. This photo was shared with me by David and it shows the darker Olive very well.

Thanks David ! @dirtylittlefokker

I picked up these smaller Testors bottles of enamel paint at a craft store. The colors used were "Flat Black" part number 1149-RM11491-0611

"Flat Rubber" part number 1183-RM11831-0611

and "Flat Olive" part number 1165-RM11651-0611

Here's a closer look at the bottom of the bottles to give you a general idea of the colors used.

Almost equal amounts of paint were eventually used. I started slowly adding black and then brown to the mix until I was happy. I ended up going back and adding a little more green to it, as the color initially appeared too brown once it dried.

Here's a close up showing the final paint mix in the larger Tamiya 3/4 ounce bottle.

I brushed a little inside the hull to see if I got it right...

I'm happy with the results. One step closer... This last picture shows the dark olive drab very well too...

I hope to get more work done on this one soon.

Thanks for stopping by !

as usual, comments are encouraged.
david leigh-smith said 5 years, 6 months ago:

Comments encouraged...

I really enjoy reading WiP threads where it’s clear the modeler a/ knows a lot about the subject, b/ clearly loves what he’s doing, and c/ actually writes the thread as something of a guide for others.

The photography is great also, which is another point. Something I keep meaning to improve on my posts but just don’t have the time or motivation to deliver on.

It’s also a terrific subject.

All brought together by a great guy. What more could you want? Well, you could have TWO tanks.

Bring it on, Lou. Bring it on.
Michael E Rieth said 5 years, 6 months ago:

I'm not a tank guy, but I'm learning a lot from your photos with notes. Thanks for taking the extra time to explain beyond the kit build.
David Mills said 5 years, 6 months ago:

Yes, I agree with Mark !
Great to know what all these bits of suspension actually do!
Robert Royes said 5 years, 6 months ago:

I barley can manage one build at a time, looking good, Louis! This may inspire me to do the Monogram/Aurora 1/48 Sherman I've got in my stash.
Louis Gardner said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Hello again everyone.

Tonight I made some good progress with the turrets for “FURY”, and for the Korean War Sherman on the bench.

Please follow along and I’ll explain.

I assembled the basic turret. There’s an upper and a lower half to the main structure. Once it’s glued together it leaves a seam that has to be dealt with.

It’s actually a very simple fix. That’s the nice thing about building Armor, especially when you’re building up a tank that had cast armor, like the Sherman and the T-34.

I started out by sanding the seam down until it was no longer visible.

Once this was done I started brushing on some liquid plastic glue. I made sure that the seam was covered well, and applied some glue over the entire area that was sanded.

In this next picture you can see where the plastic has been partially brushed with glue. Where the glue is, the plastic is shiny. The sanded area that has yet to be covered with glue is still dull and flat.

Now things are looking nice, even and a little shiny after the glue dried.

The joint still looks very noticeable at this point. No need to worry though ...

I went back and dipped the tip of the glue brush into the glue bottle. Then I simply used the very end of the brush and dabbled the end where it was too shiny. I continued to stipple the end of the brush in the same area until the glue started to set up and dry.

It only takes a few seconds before this process starts happening. As the glue is almost dry, the plastic surface gets very tacky and it leaves brush marks into the plastic.

Then I continue the process until the seam is no longer visible. It only took me about 15 minutes and it was done...

If you’re building up a Sherman like this one, do yourself a big favor and leave the empty shell casing / pistol port hatch off until after the seam is taken care of. It will make things that much easier for you when you are sanding down the seam.

Here’s how it looks after the entire seam has been “dabbled” with the tip of the glue brush.

It will disappear completely under the OD Green paint...

The best part is that no filler is needed and the seam becomes invisible under the paint.

This technique can be used for any cast surface texture.

As always
Comments are encouraged.

I’m calling it a night. Thanks for stopping by ...
James B Robinson said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Brilliant step Louis. I'm taking notes with an Easy 8 waiting in my stash.
Rick Wilkes said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Hi Louis are you going to do the OD & Black disruptive scheme? It’s hard to see under all the grim but it’s there. You can see the green on the mantlet around the gunner’s sight in the still you posted. I’m using NATO Black for the base color on mine. Now if my model godmother would get all that stowage finished up...,,
Louis Gardner said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Hello James,
@jamesb
Thanks for the compliment. I read about this process a while ago, and wanted to share this tip with others who might be using this journal as a build reference too. It works pretty good... Good to hear from you... Happy Father's Day weekend.

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”Fury”………. 1/35 Tamiya Sherman and DML / Dragon Tiger I