Sherman Tank Hunter
1/35 Tamiya Sherman with HVSS kit conversion.
Masterbox Harley Davidson motorcycle
Alpine figures
Converted and painted in 2019
Now that I’ve started this website, which seemed a good idea at the time, and I hope that you’re enjoying, there have been a few problems thrown up.
I stopped writing articles when Military Modelling Magazine closed it’s doors in 2016, thinking I’d probably not write articles anymore,
I know, sad, but true.
There was one change, in that I could try and attack the grey army kit stash that I had bought over the years, not feeling that I had to make figures, but could branch out and make cars, AFV’s and even aircraft. And I must stress at this point, no one at Mil Mod had EVER said I just had to make and paint figure kits, it was just that I focused on that, whilst still buying other items of interest…..
So I began looking at these other kits and seeing what I’d like to make a start on.
Of course I follow many people on Facebook, plus other items of interest pop up now and again, and I’d seen a Sherman hull made into a tank hunter along the lines of a Hetzer some time back.
Forgive me, I can’t put a name to the person that made the conversion, but there was logic to how the gun was placed within the hull, and behind the reason for it being altered in that manner. The kit the chap made was / is produced as a conversion set by Stalhelm models and is available to buy at stalhelmmodels.com
Having visited the Overloon Military Museum some time ago, I was struck by how big, and in particular how tall a Sherman tank was, Taller than a Panther tank hat was in the same museum, and a lot taller than the Hetzer. The thought stuck with me, and when I saw the conversion online, the logic being used seemed all the more fitting.
Hopefully folk will see copying an idea in this case as a form of flattery, although I went about the installation of the main armament in a slightly different way, but all the same, I was borrowing the idea, just using different parts to interpret it.
But problems occured, and not just with this kit.
As I’ve started putting this website together, I realise that several things have hampered me in adding articles.
One is that I don’t have text files for the very old articles from 1996 – 1999, although I do have the magazines, so in theory could retype them ( time consuming, but possible ), and in the case of newer models, I didn’t think I’d be writing an article about them, so missed or lost some of the digital photos I took, hence some articles like this don’t have construction pictures to go with them.
So, talking about this model, and what I decided to do.
To lower the silhouette I needed to get rid of the turret and install the main gun in the hull. The easiest way to do this was to establish the angle of the glacis plate armour, transfer that to the sides of the turret and cut along that line to remove the gun, part of the front of the turret and the gun housing.Although this would limit the effectiveness of the gun in that it would have no way of traversing, Someone had the same idea with the Swedish S Tank, and at least this could raise and lower the barrel.
I’d chosen the HVSS suspension version of the Sherman, as I like the wheel layout better, and after all, wouldn’t you use a newer, better armoured vehicle, not to mention the angular construction would be easier for engineers to convert…. I think.
The driver’s position is going to be more confined, and I’m not too sure how the transmission elements would be affected with the positioning of the breech, but referring again to the German Hetzer, that vehicle managed OK.
To fill in the gaping hole left by the turret’s removal, I used a set of compass cutters to make a circular section of plasticard for a blanking plate, trimming the undersides of the turret hatches to fit on it, and cutting out a section so that the main hatch could be opened and not show the blanking plate. Lifting eyes were added so that any maintenance on the breech, drive train etc could possibly be done, and then the rest of the hull assembled as per the instructions.
The results of this can be seen in the photos, although everything is pretty much hidden or blended in with the paint coverage.
When it came to painting, I was sooooo tempted to try a camouflage scheme, but logic saved the day. The Americans have not really got much of a record for using camo schemes on their vehicles unless deployed in the desert, so really there wasn’t much in the way of choice because this vehicle would be of little tactical advantage in a setting devoid of things like vegetation and buildings to hide behind.
Green then, and an olive shade at that, was selected from my store of Tamiya paints, spraying that over a coat of Halfords Grey primer. I opted for no paint degradation – no scuffing or chipping, hinting at this being a relatively new vehicle to the field of battle, and just dust and some rusting to the tracks being the only weathering needed.
Why rusty tracks ?
Well, this is a converted vehicle, based on an existing tank. So whilst there would be a new paintjob to cover up the cutting and welding on the hull, plus covering up the new plating, the tracks would be from the existing donor vehicle…. See where I’m going with this ?
Obviously prior to any weathering I added the decals, and for some silly reason chose black stars for the sides. This was my thinking that white stars on an ambush vehicle would show up too much, so logic would dictate the use of the dark colour option, as it was the weathering almost completely covered them anyway, so kind of undermined the issue.
So, a nice clean looking green vehicle, with a coating of dust.
I got hold of these steel etch dust stencils some time back and have used them on a few AFV’s now. They come in various types, some with very large holes, and some that have much finer perforations.
Using an airbrush to spray dust effects through them, and starting with the one with the largest holes in it, and gradually working through them to the finer perforations. Whilst that gives a random effect anyway, holding them close to the surface of the vehicle and moving them about between bursts of spray gives a very uneven and natural effect.
I do advise you to wear a nitryl glove on the hand holding the mask if you’re trying this, because otherwise you’ll end up with spray paint all over your fingers.
Having put a lot of thought into this, it occurred to me that maybe spotters would be needed for this vehicle to be even more effective, kind of like the spotters that support a sniper ?
You wouldn’t use foot soldiers though, but what about one or two outriders on motorcycles, maybe they could move about easily and faster than the tank hunter itself, establish enemy positions, and search for good ambush sites ?
So the addition of a motorbike and it’s rider would be cool, and Italeri make a nice set of two Harley Davidson’s in 1/35th scale , one of which would fit the bill in a most excellent way.
The scene then shows an outrider off his Harley, radioing a second rider or home base maybe ? and the tank crew looking on whilst topping up the fuel tank from a jerry can.
The figures are from the excellent Alpine range with heads replaced from the Hornet Heads sets that I had in the bits box.
Final thoughts ?
I know this is a completely spurious vehicle, it’s not even something that was a paper project, never even considered, and is really just a touch of madness from a terribly silly mind ( in my case, not anyone else’s ), but I love the idea, the logic and the look of the finished kit.
It wasn’t difficult to make, and used the Tamiya HVSS Sherman kit as a donor, some plasticard and some imagination. I could possibly have gone to town with additional conversion sets for brass etch fittings, new tracks, the whole caboodle, but that wasn’t the purpose of this build, the purpose was to have fun with an idea and see if I could alter something.
I had fun, and learned a few things whilst making this, so consider it a “win”.
And it led on to making the WWI German Armoured motorcycle that’s already here and from that to butchering an Abrams….. That one will be along at some point too.
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