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Sherman Firefly...with Hessian Tape!

iambrb

Well-known member
I have been wanting to do this kit for the longest....why not now!

NOTE: This is a a Placeholder only at this point!

Tamiya British Firefly in 1/48:

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And the Black Dog Hessian Tape:

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It will be a while before we get started, have enough irons in the fire...but this is what I wanna do!
 
Ok so the kit FINALLY came in! I should have just ordered this from Sprue Brothers, but Noooooo....I had to go and buy this thing 'on the cheap' from Flea-bay, and after the auction, I noticed it was in JAPAN. I do not know about y'all, but let me tell you, it takes significantly longer to get ANYTHING from Japan! I mean, I got the NVA stuff cast and mailed from Vietnam in less than 2 weeks...yet this took nearly 5 to get here! Lesson is this...just buy from Sprue Bros. for like $5 more at most, and be done with it.

I MUST finish the T-54 before I start on this, but I thought I would share some pics and a few initial impressions of the kit and the resin:

The kit is pretty nice, typical Tamiya, but one thing I did not care for was the lack of detail in the kink-n-length tracks. I think I may try to "whittle" out the missing center bit that separated the two track pads, note that they are continuous here (please let me know if the kit is correct like this)

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Also the tools are already attached to the hull, which is not my bag, but I think I can deal with it pretty easily...it's just not my bag. Note that typical tamiya, it is PERFECTLY cast (I put a box of milliput in there for size comparison)

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The Blackdog update kit is well cast, but I think the thin side-bits may a slight warp, but nothing I cannot deal with easily. Also, although there will be a tiny bit of trimming neccessary, the hessian netter at the front appears to inter lock tightly, once properly fitted. I'll show a pic of that later


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The hessian tape detail is, I think, quite good! Here is a pic of the turret as it comes, along with a comparison shot of the kit part. Note that the casting sprue still attached, along with another pic of the attachment point of the barrel (The resin barrel is notably quite straight and not warped at all):

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Lastly is the stowage in the back. I am not too sure about this. I kind of doubt that it was just piled on like this. I may use it, but right now am not too sure...whadda you-guys think?:


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Other than the aforementioned issue of ‘a bit too much kit’ I think it looks really great! I will be jumping right on it, once the T-54 is ‘done & dusted!’



So I am posting this only as a link for me really, so I can remember the colors for the netting when it comes time:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/47208/thread/1318250823/Hessian+Tape+Colours
 
You whittle out much of anything on those tracks you'll weaken them. Besides, not sure you can be that consistent whittling that many times, I know I cant. Not sure what center part you talking about, the gap between the track links?
 
You whittle out much of anything on those tracks you'll weaken them. Besides, not sure you can be that consistent whittling that many times, I know I cant. Not sure what center part you talking about, the gap between the track links?

no-no, I am referring to the gap between the track pads that runs paralel to the track. However, in looking at this further, it appears this IS correct! Whew! one less thang to worry about!!!

Hey Bob...shouldn't you be driving about now????
 
Ok so my company closed this week for Good Friday...so I FINALLY got around to getting this rolling! What you see here is a just a few hours of work. it's a typical Tamiya kit, it just falls right together!

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Note that I left an X-Acto knife laying there for size reference. Note also that the Black Dog (a bit of a Dawg though, so using that moving forward) Dawg Hessian tape conversion uses a supplied turret. The method for attaching the barrel was very poor. This was the start of some real problems with this resin, as we shall see. In one of my earlier pics, you can see a small 'key-way' used to locate the barrel to the turret, but trust, me, that does not even come close to fitting up, and even if it did, the join there would be pretty weak, so I used an old paperclip and my ebay-supplied micro drills, to make a much sturdier rod to mount this on (see MP's gun truck build, that is where the idea came from).

The next part was the Hessian tape for the front of the kit looks really good (press fit only here), when viewed from the front

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but it was again not even close to fitting properly, and I spent a fair bit of time on the porch, in the cold, with the Harbor Freight/Dremel tool routing it out. I should have gotten a before pic,

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but this gives you a pretty good idea of how much had to be shaved away in order to get it to sit properly on the kit. Even after all that, there is still a BIG gap in the top of the Hessian tape I will have to contend with:

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Lastly, I have here where I am holding in place the side skirt, which has some gaps where it meets the front as well, but nothing a bit of putty cannot fix

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So Black Dawg is letting me down a bit on this one. I am thinking I am going to have to use putty or something on the top of that, not too sure what. So there are a few challenges ahead but hey...that's what makes it fun, right?
 
Ok, so I decided to go ahead and assemble this and then paint it, very different from my norm! It's due to the Hessian tape and I figured it would be easier to picture in my head as I went...we'll see! So here it is at present:

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and how most Wehrmacht of the time would have preferred to see it:

;)

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and here is where I ran into my first big stumbling block...the Hessian tape leaves a giant gap at the front!


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there is a gap on the other side too, but not nearly as big, and I was able to putty in a good bit of it:

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I had hoped to start painting this today, but instead am going to have to fix this. I have an idea I am going to try for the filling in the missing Hessian tape today....wish me luck!
 
so I decided that I could "make" my own tape to fit the humongous gap, albeit with a bit of effort:

I 1st used some good ol' putty to fill it partly in:

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then, using some very thin plastic sheet, I started cutting strips, and using Plaststruct Plastic Weld, I softened them, sometimes using toothpick to get them to conform, like this:


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Here is the end result, I was quite satisfied with how it turned out!


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So NOW she is ready for paint! I had intended to paint it today, but having to correct the resin cost me one day's 'production'......not too bad!
Hey here is how she looks now, ready to go hunt a big cat:

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OK so one last thing. From the front, doesn't this look a bit like a sheepdog?

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"Hessian Tape" was a type of netting which was very popular with Commonwealth armies during W.W.II. It had attached to the net many strips of material which hang down, looking like strips of tape.

Used by the British, British armor during and right after Normandy have this netting. The most popular uses for this netting was wrapped around the turret, and draped over the gun barrel and front hull. However, other combinations and additions can be found also, depending on the crew of the vehicle.
 
OK here is where we currently are. Managed to get some paint on it, but had to know off early on the Hessian tape. Am going to go to a lighter tan color next, and after painting those, I can see how it looks along with the green.

Still alot of work ahead of me, but is looking pretty good though


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