Step by step: Converting a Sherman IC Firefly
This conversion is done with the Italeri/ESCI M4A1 Sherman kit and the ARMO Sherman IC Firefly conversion it.
There are a variety of plastic and resin 1:76 scale Firefly tank kits. However, noone makes a 1:72 scale Sherman Firefly tank. ARMO, however sells two varieties of Sherman Firefly conversion kits for the Italeri/ESCI Sherman M4A1 kit. One for the Sherman IC, and one for the Sherman IC Hybrid with the composite hull.
The Sherman VC Firefly is the most common of the tanks, however, noone makes an M4A4 Sherman tank, so the next most common Sherman IC is my natural choice.
The ARMO kit contains six resin pieces. The M4 superstructure, the 17 pounder gun and mantlet, the hull MG cover, the "round nose" hull, and two halves of the Firefly turret.
It also includes 2 frets of PART photoetch. One specifically for the Firefly and one for early Sherman tanks.
The casting for the resin parts are quite good. However, there are mould lines and messy sculpting here and there. Nothing a bit of sandpaper and a set of files could not solve. My biggest problem is with the "round nose" hull front piece. It is very difficult to remove from its sprue, and I broke mine in the process.
The fitting is quite good. The turret is moulded from the Italeri/ESCI plastic kit. The telltale sign is in the plastic injection moulding ejection pin in the interior of the turret pieces. I have no problem with them moulding the Italeri/ESCI kit, it allows for perfect fitting.
There were two exceptions, though. I had to trim to top off the rear plate of the hull to accomodate the superstructure. Since the rear plate is hidden, there is no problems. The barrel was a little warped, so I heated it with a hair dryer and bent it back into shape. Easy.
The real challenge came when I proceeded to using the photoetch. Whoever designed this kit is a masochist. The counterweight and stowage bin could easily be moulded in resin.
I left off some of the smaller and fiddler pieces of photoetch as this model is meant for wargaming and delicate pieces would not survive the handling. I spent at least three hours on the photoetch alone. Not so easy.
The silhouette of the Firefly is my favourite of all the Shermans.
The Italeri/ESCI kit has a very accurate looking VVSS suspension. However, the original superstructure was too short. The ARMO resin superstructure has corrected that problem.
I found out that many of the Sherman IC had applique armour, while the Sherman VC did not. I will add applique armour with plasticard to my model later.
Here's the top view with a better view of the loaders hatch.
The ARMO set comes with a resin "round nose" hull, but unfortunately, I broke it while cutting it off the sprue. So I used the Italeri/ESCI kit's "sharp nose" hull instead.
The headlights were moulded together with thick plastic light guards. I had to trip them off and carefully glue on the photoetch light guards. A lot of superglue was used, and they had to be sanded away after I was done.
The spare track rack is quite lovely but very fiddly to assemble. The lift rings are folded over and quite sturdy.
I wanted to use as many plastic parts as possible, so I used the plastic bottom half of the turret instead of the resin one. They were identical.
ARMO moulded the Italeri/ESCI turret and made some corrections. They removed the loaders hatch and the mounting for the AA .50 calibre machine gun. They are too difficult to remove, so I used the resin top half of the turret.
They could have easily made the counterweight out of resin but chose to use the PART photoetch counterweight instead.
The inner mantlet is from the plastic kit. Instead of gluing the barrel down as I usually do with my tank kits, I decided to allow the 17 pounder barrel to elevate freely. Because resin is quite brittle, I hope that allowing it to elevate will prevent unnecessary breakage. I glue a piece of copper wire under the mantlet so that the 17 pounder gun will not droop.
I glued on the searchlight because the Firefly at the Bovington museum had one.
A better view of the counterweight. The exterior stowage bin is also pretty.
I used a mixture of photoetch and plastic tools, as the photoetch tools were a bit fiddly to construct. The lift rings are double folded and quite sturdy.
All in all quite satisfying. After this ardous process, I have started to think about an easier and cheaper way to make a Sherman IC in 1:72 scale. Using the HaT Armourfast Sherman M4, the PART Sherman Firefly photoetch fret, and an Airfix Panzer IV muzzle break.
Photos of the painted vehicle can be seen at Articles - Sherman Firefly IC.
© 2004-2006 Michael Sng Woei Shyong. All Rights Reserved.