eoyguy

Hopefully we'll see some earlier 231/232's as well.

You might consider looking into Starlink for your internet needs. Where we live, the best we can do is DSL, which allows one device to stream a video in standard def, and MAYBE allow a computer to browse the internet, and that's about it. On a good day. Its like 1999 high speed internet... My neighbor got Starlink and it allowed them to get rid of their DSL and do everything with it, and they have 3 kids on Youtube, web browsing and they can stream anything they like. Ithink he said the startup cost was $600 and he pays $100 a month.

My first compressor, still works. Badger 80-2 from Feb 1992, the first gift my wife gave me our first Christmas together. Diaphragm compressor, no tank, so it just goes BRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPP the entire time I use it, and as I recall, it would overheat if I didn't put a fan on it to give it some cool air.

I haven't done 1/35th in years, but damn, this could convince me to try one. Great thing is, I think an aluminum baseball bat would work great as a gun barrel...

I would think it more likely that he sat on the seat until contact with the enemy was expected, then keeled on it to use the weapon?

The seat springs would best be done in an easily malleable metal like copper or aluminum, no need for them to actually be "springy" and make the job more difficult. The peg method would work well with copper wire.

If you can use winterketten instead of Ostketten, they are available separately from DW as well

No doubt. just get some .040 Evergreen sheet for $4 and a set of nuts and bolts off e-bay and you save about $100.

I hope for the sake of Andy and the continued release of 1/16 armor that these are bigger sellers than I can see them being. A misstep in this scale with the kind of investment he must have to make to get these made doesn't leave a lot of room for less than stellar sales. That's why its a bit surprising to me he went with these, when there are so many other subjects that he could have went with that would be pretty much assured successes, many of which have already been mentioned and wished for in previous posts. Maybe the Achilles, with VVSS suspension and 17lb gun, gives hope of a Firefly on down the line, and perhaps the M10 the same for VVSS Shermans. I look on the bright side, this leaves me money to buy either or both of the SdKfz 251's coming out from Das Werk and Trumpeter

For me, very disappointing. No interest in either one.

Andy said it wouldn't be a Sherman

As I recall, he said the next 2 would be Brit and American. Can't recall if he specified WWII or not. I hoping for a Cromwell. The US tank? Well, he said no Shermans, but if its not WWII, then who knows? An M24 or an M48??? M113? Could be an early M3 Stuart, which could have lots of schemes. Could be an M3 Lee/Grant. We shall see tomorrow

All but the earliest mids had zimmerit, its far harder to find a pic of a mid WITHOUT it than with. Some good info here: https://mikesresearch.com/2022/06/26/tigers-in-italy-1944-45/ Google Tiger I mid Normandy or Italy, and many of what you will see are mids with Zimmerit, as such:

I am pretty sure King Tiger wheels won't work, they are arranged differently. Same wheels, but not interleaved the same as the Tiger I. KT wheels are arranged in closely spaced pairs, whereas on the Tiger i you would have a widely spaced pair with a narrow spaced pair in between, rinse and repeat. KingTiger spacing: Tiger I You might be able to make them work with some effort. I would wait, I would be willing to bet Andy will release other versions.Its too popular of a subject, and too much money invested, to only release the early version. As for the version, you need to pick a time frame or specific vehicle if you want to be 100 percent accurate. As you note, they were constantly undergoing changes, both big and small. This should help http://www.alanhamby.com/changes.shtml

With enough engineering, grinding, sanding and putty, pretty much anything is possible! I was kindly gifted an M4A1 upper hull, produced by Max Trax. If you aren't familiar with them, they were some of the first large scale resin armor kits in the 1990's. Lets just say their casting and detailing isn't what you would call state of the art. But...I have managed to smooth out, slightly lengthen, add detail to and pretty much take it back to a shape with hatch openings, and it fits the "I love Kit"...kit lower hull pretty well. It looks very similar externally to the Nick Aguilars stuff, but a bit less refined. Overall they used the Tamiya hull as a guide, so the hatches are a little on the small side, I had re-contour it to better match the cast hull shape, sand off the molded on "cast texture" that looked like 5 layers of peeling paint on a museum display, sand down the turret ring on the ILK turret a bit for better fit, and either due to resin shrinkage or mis-measurement, I had to lengthen the hull around a 1/4 inch for better dimensional accuracy. About that time Trumpeter announced they will be releasing an M4A1 in their line. I should have known, since some of the parts in their M4A3 kit are M4/M4A1 specific (air cleaners). But, I am too far along on my M51 conversion to stop now, I have done too much work, and I WILL NOT BE SIDETRACKED....had to get that out of my system. Anyhow, I plan on finishing this as an M51 using a converted Andys turret (done), Max Trax hull and ILK lower hull and tracks. What a Frankenstein... Oh, I used on of Nicks turrets and M4 hulls to convert it to an Israeli M50 that just needs mated to a lower hull. I got sidetracked on that one when I discovered that the SOL Sherman kit I planned on using is a little off dimensionally on the bogie placement/hull length, and I couldn't deal with it.

I contacted him In January asking about Sherman stuff, he told me he wasn't doing it, at least for a while, due to health issues. firenick1265@yahoo.com

That looks good. I like the fact that its a bit less complicated than the Das Werk version, though its likely I will get both. Das Werk is including a lot of detail that wouldn't bee seen unless its run over a landmine...

I guess we all have out favorites. I think the Sherman was a pretty good jack of all trades but master of none. The early Shermans used by the British in North Africa were superior to the Panzer III's and IV's they faced. The upgrades to the Sherman mentioned (M51, Jumbo) were ad hoc and stressed out the basic chassis. The Israeli's basically stripped the chassis down to its components and rebuilt them to get the M51, and did that only because its what they could gets lots of and get in service. The tall height, the Continental engine in the M4's/M4A1's thin armor and limitations of the turret ring were all negatives. The US quickly replaced it post war as a front line tank, and the M26 (not the Sherman) soon became the seed that would produce the Patton line up to the M60. All the tanks mentioned had their strengths and weaknesses. The Sherman's strength was reliability, numbers and ergonomics. The 76mm was an improvement, but even then, was inferior to the German long 75 and 88, and the L48 75 on the Panzer iv was about equal. It was a worse infantry support weapon since the 76mm HE shell was less powerful than the 75mm it replaced. It was fairly effective if given the HVAP ammo. The T-34 in the 85mm version had much better ergo's than the 76mm version, and with proper ammo,a gun that stood a good chance of knocking out German Panthers and Tigers at range. On the downside, it was built roughly, its components were made to last 10's of hours before needing maintenance or replacement, and a sledge hammer was apparently a needed tool for shifting gears on the beast. The transmission was pretty crude to start with and built by peasant labor. Strengths were well sloped armor, effective gun, Diesel engine and great mobility. And numbers. LOTS of T-34's. The Panther was the opposite of Sherman. Great gun and armor, decent ergo's for the crew, and abysmal reliability. The Panzer IV was another jack of all trades, but by 1944. even with the longer 75mm, was needing replacement. Its reliability, ergos and armor were just OK,its mobility, like the Sherman,limited by narrow tracks. In the end, I think people confuse "best" tank with "most important". Were I a tanker looking at being involved in one on one tank combat, I would want to be in the Panther. The T-34 to me was most important as it was involved in far more tank on tank action than the Sherman, and fought all the way to Berlin. I think it can share the title of most important with the Sherman. But one on one, give me that great sloped armor and long 75mm of the Panther,and I'll pray hard the transmission doesn't self destruct.

I say this with all due respect to Jeff and as someone that has bought a number of his figs. His guys can be a bit hit and miss, especially lately. Some rough sculpting and casting. Plus his breakdown of the figs can be infuriating, to include what looks like where he drilled holes to separate arms/legs into separate parts, and the mating surface is frequently rough and mismatched. Also, for the most part, his figs don't play well with other companies figs like Alpine. Jeff's are usually more on the true 120mm end of the spectrum so can look quite large in comparison to 1/16th listed figs.

Trumpeter has one listed in their 1/16 future releases with the Pak40

Yes, open top vehicles should show a lot of internal detail. I like it in this case as you can see everything without leaving large parts off or having a removable hull or turret. I had the Jim Shirley 251 and one of its downsides was the internal detail was a bit lacking, being scaled up from the 1/35 kit (as I recall). In the case of the 251 and other halftracks, they would also (usually) be crammed with personal gear.

Dang..!

This and if Andy's Sherman had cost $300, I would have zero of them. I still hold out hope for a Panther A in the $150 price range, no way I spring for a Trumpy kit for $300 and use about half the parts. I see a number of builds of kits with complete interiors that just sort of...stop, as the guys lose interest in assembling and painting all the fiddly bits. Not a unique occurrence to be sure, but one that an additional 500 parts doesn't help with.

Hoping someone releases a figure floating under a seat cushion so that this can be displayed in its natural environment...

Yeah, a Gnat in 1/32 with these markings...