Tasca Sherman Firefly Mk VC

[Adam Durrant]

Needed to start a new project as was going a bit stir crazy on the Tiran build. Wanted to build some thing straight OOTB and grabbed a Tasca kit I have had for a while. Opened the box to realise I had also purchased an Aber barrel for it, a stowage set from Black Dog and a set of Indi links from Modelkasten. The tracks have 8 parts per link, so my plans for a fast build have somewhat gone out the window



I started building over the weekend. First impressions are pretty good, the fit is superb and the detail crisp. The instructions have very little english and this poses a problem as they are fairly generic for a Tasca Sherman, with an extra sheet of equally confusing instructions to indicate changes to the build to make a British Firefly.

The running gear are very nice, cutting bits of foam rubber to make them "springy" is an interesting approach. I have elected not to make up a jig to drill the 4 bolt holes in the bogies as I just can't be arsed at present.

Here's where I am so far, hoping to have most of the build done over the next few weeks, suspect the track build will take a bit longer

[Bryan Krueger]

Looking forward to your progress. I really like Shermans, though I have yet to build one.

[Adam Durrant]

Looking forward to your progress. I really like Shermans, though I have yet to build one.

Likewise, I’ve never built one either. I have a bunch in the stash, but there was always something else to build!

[Philipp Gross]

Nice start Adam! I couldn't think of anything better for your first Sherman

Be warned, they're addictive

Philipp

[Adam Durrant]

So far the build is sweet. The quality of the kit is great, no flash, very little in the way of mold lines. The plastic is a bit brittle but that would be my only complaint. The fit tolerances are really tight. Tamiya has some real competition if Asuka/Taska chose to put out a wider range of AFV kits.

[Mark Aldrich]

Adam,
Great first project and I personally believe Tasca/Asuka Sherman's are the best on the market. The only downside (personal opinion) is the periscope guards which on most are PE. Even their track rocks. Couple of things. Formations made a resin alternate option to replace the cut and paste bogie cushions but cutting them from strip styrene is just as easy. Also shapeways has a drilling jig which is a nice little tool to have around when you need or care to drill.

https://www.shapeways.com/product/EPJAX ... arketplace

[Shawn Ramsey]

Adam

I am certainly following for sure. I have only built one Sherman and that was a Tamiya kit. I have several others in the stash including a Tasca one. I have been wanting to build another one, but have been kind of waiting for someone to produce one with a full interior. I'm surprised no one has done one yet. There are so many manufactures out there producing kits with full interiors, but no one is doing a Sherman.

Shawn

[Adam Durrant]

Bought one of the jigs from shapeways Mark, suspect it won’t be here in time for this build, but a nice item to have.

I was like you Shawn, waiting for an interior kit. However, the desire to do a “quick” build has brought the Firefly out of the stash.

Tracks took up a chunk of a wet weekend, 80 links per side, 8 parts per link and all fiddly to assemble to keep them workable. I’ve done one complete run and most of the other.

Hull is complete, but quite a few welds I want to add, and I’m trialling an acrylic product from AK that enhances the cast appearance. Was using thinned Tamiya putty up until now but clean up was messy. I’ll let you know how it pans out

[Adam Durrant]

Quick question for the Sherman experts, did all Fireflys have brush guards over the vision blocks/periscopes? My instructions, all in Japanese, are not that clear, and I can’t see them on all my reference pics.

[Philipp Gross]

The brush guards were introduced some time in late 1943 when production of the M4A4 was ending, so the vast majority wouldn't have them fitted.

Philipp