Easy Money

Easy money - ain't it hard to find?

- D. Peverett


In World War 2, the U.S. Army's main battle tank was known as the "Sherman" or M4 series. Throughout the war more than 50,000 M4s were manufactured, and the series was updated continuously during its production run. One of the most well-liked variants in the M4 series was the M4A3E8. This upgrade came rather late in the war and involved a major change in the suspension system. This gave the tank a much smoother ride and better traction in loose ground. The E8 variant had the nickname of "easy eight". It was so well-liked that the United States Army decided to keep this version after the war ended, and up-gunned versions were used by the army in the Korean conflict. Some were also sold to other countries, like Israel.

Dragon is a model-manufacturing company based in Singapore (so I've been told). They make good plastic kits of WW2 subjects in the scale that I build in. Recently, I acquired their M4A3E8 kit; it's a scale copy of the tank used by Major Albin F. Irzyk of the 4th Armored Division in 1944. I liked the subject, but I didn't want to build this exact machine. I figured I would just change the unit designation for a more "generic" vehicle. This is the story of that build.

Straight out of the box, this is a pretty good kit. It's mostly plastic but has some nice doo-dads in brass and included a turned aluminum barrel and a metal tow cable. I didn't like the tracks that were included with the kit, as they were not quite the type I wanted to model - according to my sources. I wasn't sure, but I think the kit tracks are for a post-war version. I replaced them with metal track links that were more appropriate for 1944. I also replaced the decals (there weren't many) with dry transfers. This allowed me to model a different vehicle than Maj. Irzyk's.

Building the kit went well. Fit everywhere was very good, with the only exception being the upper and lower halves of the hull gapping at the left side of the front seam. This posed somewhat of a problem, as I figured I would assemble as much as possible, paint, and then add some interior doo-dads, and then put the hull halves together. To solve the gap, I used some spare stock plastic and created an extra glue lip on the inside of the hull halves and used a lot of glue. Then I clamped the gap together. As it is, I still have my fingers crossed that the gap hasn't popped open.

The first photo shows the kit ready for base-paint; a nice standard olive drab.

This is the hull and turret after base-paint and dry transfer application. I have a set of vehicle "names" in dry transfers, and I decided to use one of them here. "Hitler's hearse" looks cool, I think.

This is the view after I applied a black and then dark brown oil-based "wash" over the base-paint. I do this to give the appearance of generic road dirt and grease marks, plus exhaust soot. This also brings out textured weld seams and adds "depth" to small features, making them more noticeable. This looks overdone here, but it gets toned down a bit when I spray on the clear flat overcoat.

This is the view after applying pastel chalks and then overspraying with a clear flat. Making the tank dirty is very important - during the time these machines were in service they got dirty. The key is shooting for realism. Personally, I think that I overdid some of the pastel highlights a little here. Overall, the effect is good though. I can nitpick myself to death sometimes. :)

After painting, I added the suspension and the doo-dads. This is the kit almost finished, I only need to add the drive sprockets and tracks at this point.

The rest of these photos are of the completed kit. They show a good all-around perspective. Overall, I think it turned out pretty good. However, like the SdKfz 251 halftrack I built earlier, I think that I could have done a better job with some things. I did enjoy building this kit, and I would build another if/when given the chance.

I figure that this vehicle would easily fit into a scenario involving the 4th AD in early 1945; perhaps something like a street scene in a Ruhr city in March or April.

I hope that you all enjoyed the story of me building my little "toys". I wrote before that I have a keen interest in WW2, and these provide me with ways of actually getting into the history that I study. Some people might think that I'm a warmonger, but I'm not. What better way to avoid war than to study it? I don't build to "glorify" war, either. What happened in 1939 through 1945 happened, and there is no way I can change that - one way or another. I'm only trying to show others the things that I'm interested in, and I think that this is a good way to do that.

Please, feel free to let me know what you think, about either my attitude or a critique of the build. One of the reasons that I have this blog is to hear from others. 'Till next time. . . . :)