M4A1 76W with add on armor

Looks great. With all the extra miles you went with detailing and scratch building, I would recommend getting rid of the bed rolls and replacing them with higher quality ones. Unless you going to cover them with a trap.

Can't wait to see it again finished!

Looking great!!

Terry

Great project!

It's kind of hard to see from my cell phone, but it does look like the original has patches of black camouflage with a layer of dust.

That is awesome work

Erik! There are the boxing gloves. Two of them made by one of mine friends, and two are made by myself. I had a year break in my modelling life because of my family (baby borned) and a new workplace. But I'm on the board again, and want to finish this A1. 

Looking good, Antal! With the two-round-hatch configuration, a star on the turret roof was unlikely. It would probably have been placed on the engine deck instead. This one is going to look great when done; add-on armor on a cast hull is really unusual.

Antal, all wet-stowage M4A1s were built by Pressed Steel Car, with castings by General Steel or Continental Steel foundries. They differ in the shape of the driver's hoods, which is irrelevant to your build because of the additional armor. Your turret has the ventilator on the back, which places it's production in the second quarter of 1944. The tank itself was likely built in the summer of '44, on one of several contracts issued to PSC. This is a guess, but likely registration number ranges are:

3084447-3085277
30123680-30127006
30135486-30135598
30140226-30140250

The earliest sequence is not listed; there were 126 tanks and all would have had the early turrets with no rear ventilator. Figure the first couple of hundred numbers of the first sequence above also had that. IMO, the middle two sequences are most likely but if you find legible registrations from other tanks in the unit then that will narrow it down. Whole battalions drew new equipment all at once, so sequential serials were likely.

Some progress shots. Any suggestions?

Beekster, You founded the week point of the project. I positioned the hole for the MG a bit low, and the clapms too. I hesitated to remove the added armor, but decided, don't think will to do that.

More images from the front, please! The side view of the revised armor layout looks perfect; the bow MG is nicely centered in the hole. Personally, I'm glad you decided to take the time to rework the applique armor. I've done similar things myself, leaving something alone that wasn't quite right. And I always end up regretting it, and sometimes putting the project aside for a while. And then I get back to it and do whatever is required to make it right. It's going to be a stunning model.

You didn't happen to draw up a template for that armor, did you? Or write down some measurements? I'm sure several of us would like to tackle this or a similar project in the future.

This is a very interesting project as any Sherman tank is a favorite of mine.  I've always wondered why no one (model companies) has released this version as the photo is so familiar in almost all the Sherman books.

It's on the back burner but I wouldn't mind building one too!


Keep up the great work!



Jeff