RichJohnson

Years ago back in 99 I bought the DMD Sherman when it was released, without options. Then I saw the DAK guys Full option tanks 5 or 6 years ago at a Military Vehicle collector meet in Phoenix, (I go every year as I have a willys and dodge army vehicle)
I found out about custom building and the battle options and everything and I got started on this by buying a T-23 turret and deck kit to build an EZ8. But I didn't know what to do for all the option stuff. I bought a whole Full option Sherman kit from evilbay and it never arrived and the seller happily refunded my money. At that point life passed this hobby by. Lately I its been staring at me and I have a kid now so hopefully when he is a little older we can share this hobby.

So I went to AAF and ordered a new upper hull, two machine gun sets, I am going to put an operating one in the mantle, all the dmd stuff accept the light kit, and the recoil parts from the super Sherman, so here are some photos of what I have done just tonight since I got my early Christmas present in the mail today.


The first pic is how my EZ8 has been for over 5 years now. And yes, every now and then I ran it around like this. Turret just sat on top the old hull.

Tonight I aligned and fitted the rotation ring and stay parts in the Nick Aguilar T-23 turret casting along with mounting the rollers and gear box. This was kind of a pain, even though the slots are molded for the stay bracket you have to chisel them to fit the bracket flush, and then drill out the mount holes. I used a pin vise and was able to drill one through a hatch hole, it was slightly off but I moved the hole as I expanded it to proper dia and then counter sunk it. The other hole I missed by 32nd of an inch or so and had to re drill it and hit it right on.

Of note, I did not order the screw bags from the Sherman kit, I have lots of metric screws and parts from many years ago I stripped two copy machines for all their screws, gears wire harnesses and shafts and bearings to use in my HO scale battle ship. Turns out, all those metric screws I still have fit perectly on the Tamiya kit. It was a good bet to save a few bucks.

As I go forward with the build, I will post more pictures. I plan to use all ETO metal details on the hull and turret as I can since over the years of carrying my howitzer predecessor around the details broke off easy.

For electronics, I might try out putting an RX-18 and DBC into it to see if the stuff with hook up to the Tamiya components until some day when I can find the pershing TO and MF electronics.

Next project is installing the correct engine deck and grills.

YHR

Getting a Benedini to go with the DBC3 will round out the electronic package. I have a few Ford V8 sound files for Shermans.

I am about to start on my own Fury, and like the recent Cromwell it will have servo recoil, and elevation. I am also using the Tamiya Hul and, gears, but am going with the Mato T-23 turret. Mato sells the metal grills and hinges as well if you are looking for any,

RichJohnson

Tonight I hacked out the Tamiya hull and fit in the urethane casting of the A3 rear deck with photo etched grills. I don't remember where I got them its been so long now. I don't think they were made by Nick, the quality was kinda poor and I realized it was out of square when I was fitting it in the hull. The holes for the bolt down bolts aren't even straight. Gonna have to fill them and redrill when I put hex screws in. Its also a different urethane than what nick uses on his turrets and stuff. I will need to do some filling with red putty and then groove the parting lines between the panels back in.

In hind sight, I would have rather just used the top half of the rear deck casting and cut off the Tamiya engine hatch and then cut out the grill hole myself and shim an interior ridge to hold the grill. I think it would have been less work and looked better.

edoubleaz

My Feedback: (1)

Don't forget for a real Easy Eight you need to kick out the rear plate a few degrees…. And lose the grousers on the back deck. I included a link from an old project of mine for hints...

http://www.desertarmor.com/DAK_PROJECTS/JUMBO.html#21

RichJohnson

Oh yea, I forgot about those. Geez, I remember noting that back 5 years ago when I did all my research to convert the Tamiya. Lost all that on an old pc. I think I had decided to put a shim at the bottom of the rear slope sheet and then overlay it with a lower plate to also mount the vent radiator casting I have.
Thanks, I would have forgot until it was too late.

fynsdad

If you get a Heng long hull, it saves a lot of work....

RichJohnson

Didn't ever think of that. Do they fit on a Tamiya? How about the turret rotation equipment etc?

edoubleaz

My Feedback: (1)

Henglong has slightly different dimensions but is not terribly difficult to mod but you will have to add fenders. If you follow my jumbo build you will see the changes I made for the heng long traverse.

Another Tamiya hull build I did. http://www.desertarmor.com/DAK_PROJE...Hull.html#grid

RichJohnson

So today I focused on extending the rear slant of the hull and getting the vent fixed in place. Ive heard this is a radiator or an exhaust, not sure which, if its a radiator, I wonder where the exhaust is...
I referenced several rear photos of M4A3E8 tanks on the internet to get this grill and slant right.


The rear vent was square cornered on the bottom and the photos I had of it close up showed it was curved so I put it on the belt sander and replicated the curve.
If you look closely, you will see the new rear slope sheet is not glued on the sides, there is a gap from my spacers, I am marinading styrene bits in glue to make a solvent putty glue to fill the gap with before I attempt to bondo it.
I also cut out one hatch by scribing an exacto blade backwards through the seam around the hatch. To get around the hinge, I used the string method. Second time I used it, worked better for me this time than last. I filled the hatch hole with a sheet of styrene and then cut it out to leave flange for the hatch to sit on. I also got the rear deck puttied up around my engine cover install and where I removed the vents.

Tomorrow will be the drivers hatch and sanding and probably more bondo along with the glue putty.

RichJohnson

When I filled in the gap between the green tamiya hull and the new rear slope sheet with my thick home made green styrene glue the rear corners shriveled and deformed. Sadly, I hoped this wouldnt happen but it did. I also had pushed as much thick home made glue through the two mount holes for the cargo frame as i could get, which caused two big holes to sink and recess on the rear panel.
I bondoed these bad spots up after letting the plastic sit for two days to let it harden up.

Panther F

If all else fails you can STILL use the HL upper hull by building the Albin F. Irzyk Dragon M4A3E8 which does NOT have the fender extensions.






Some info on it as there is much debate of it actually using T-66 tracks.

http://www.dragon-models.com/d-m-item.asp?pid=DRA6283

http://www.usarmymodels.com/MANUFACT...L/dml6283.html


HTH



Jeff

RichJohnson

I started the fabrication of the trurret equipment. I have the recoil unit from the super Sherman and the stay bracket. Had to adapt them to the T23 turret Mantel. John Ackerman helped me out with the barrel bracket from a pershing to attach the recoil to the barrel but I was not able to use it do to length issues.

After all the fabrication I have run into a problem with the elevation arm of the recoil stay bracket hitting the cross bar of the turret that holds the rotation gear. Take a look at the pictures and tell me if you think I set it up wrong or just finding interference from adaptations

Ex_Pat_Tanker

The Super Sherman has a bigger diameter turret ring gear to avoid this problem - there is no cross member, the gear fits direct to the turret base. This requires the Super Sherman upper hull, with its wider spaced turret ring roller mounting posts. (I found this out the hard way while trying to fit a Tamiya Turret to one of Nick's M4A1 cast upper hulls... )

I've bolted the recoil directly to the cross member in most of mine, and learned to live with the small amount of barrel movement you get when elevating the gun. The drawback of doing this is that you have to be careful that the barrel does not hit the recoil unit as it moves, and this requires making a custom linkage from wire or brass strip - fiddly but it'll get you there.

http://s1013.photobucket.com/user/Ex...?sort=3&page=1

http://s1013.photobucket.com/user/Ex...?sort=3&page=1

ausf

It's hard to tell how much space you have from the photos, but I had to notch out a bit of the cross member to accomodate the elev arm when I used the M4 turret ring in the Trumpeter T-34/76. If isn't an amount that woud compromise the structure, you can grind a channel in the cross member and/or a bit off the elev arm too. The spring is to hold simple tension to alleviate play as the tank bounces along, you can reroute it to another spot if necessary.

RichJohnson

Ex Pat, I reviewed your photos. I saw you used the urethane cast arm on the mantle, I cut mine off and used the super Sherman bracket. That's where my problems lie. I love that dark OD you painted your EZ8. That is FS24087 semi gloss OD post WWII. That is the color both of my real Military vehicles are, (Willys and Dodge) I don't care for WWII OD much, which is a lot lighter in shade, but that is what I am going to use to paint my tank. Testors sells a color called 34087 which should be flat (the 3) post WWII dark OD, but its not the color for the Fed Standard number. Its WWII OD, which is a different number, I just don't remember the number. I find that irritating as a guy that has restored several real military vehicles and knows the Fed standard color system.

In pictures 4 and 5 its pretty clear that the vertical elevation arm is stuck right against the rotation bracket. They are tight together not allowing any movement. I don't thin I can file or grind away enough material to allow movement, but I can try. I think I am eventually going to have to just cut it and solder on or screw a new elevation arm in a different spot to make this work.

ausf

It's clear where it's making contact, what I meant was it's hard to tell how much has to be removed to facilitate movement or where the arc falls, but whatever...

RichJohnson

After further looking the apparatus over as it is right now, the recoil unit is sitting flat on top of the rotation say bar. Set up this way, even if the elevation arm didn't bind with the rotation stay bracket, the recoil unit has no room to drop down allowing the barrel to elevate. I am going to have to rethink this replication of the stock install.

edoubleaz

My Feedback: (1)

My first Sherman Easy Eight has a similar setup and I seem to recall using a Pershing bracket and Recoil (recoil unit is the same as Super Sherman) and keeping the assembly closer to the mantlet solves the problem. I will add that I am using an older Back Yard Armor turret but I also have a Nick turret on the shelf that works. You can remove some of the stay if needed.

http://www.desertarmor.com/DAK_PROJE...na_Boy.html#33

RichJohnson

I was thinking of maybe fabricating a shorter stay bracket. I will look at the pershing one. If i do get a shorter stay bracket for the recoil, then i a. Going to have to cut the barrel breech down a bit for moving the recoil unit closer to the mantle.

RichJohnson

After much pondering and template making for a new rotation stay bracket, Gun tech and I came up with this. It works, its sturdy and has a hole large enough to clear the recoil mount and gear box.
Now, for some reason, the elevation motor arm is too close to the recoil bracket arm for the link. So I am making a new elevation arm for the motor that will not have a Z bar shape, just a straight bar and see if things will line up and work.

Rustytrax

The elevation arm i used. I made from the antenna bracket.
Hope that helps.

You will also notice that when assembled the turret will stick at 3 O clock. That is from the turret tabs that break easily. I created a 3 point frame from the runners and use a rubber band to gently pull the turret against the hull so the ring wont slip in the drive gear. This also helps in roll overs.

RichJohnson

Ok after months on the shelf while my Panzer 3 and M4A1 were being done. I got back to this project.
I was waiting mostly on getting a metal elevation arm from ETO. Then just busy. I have the elevation arm facing backwards and just a U shaped bent brass rod joining them. The brass rod seems like it will stay in place ok once I put a collar on the tail of the piece connected to the recoil mount. I will see once its all together and I shake it down.
Im not thrilled with how this project came together. In fact I really don't like working with the confines of the Tamiya parts, especially adapting them to fit into a different turret. I prefer servos so much more, my M4a1 build was fun and stimulating, this tamyia E8 build has been frustrating and a pain in the rear.

Im not happy with the range of motion on my elevation. The barrel does not go down low enough. Its not the elevation motor box, its where the mantle stops. The barrel is just a smidge down from level. No way to fight hull up at all. I am thinking about taking the whole gun mount out and start shaving the turret and mantle down to increase the down angle range.

Any way, its all in there now and it works. That's the important thing.

RichJohnson

Ok so I worked on my turret, I filed some more below the mantle to allow for a lower gun angle and had to cut off one screw that mounts the rotation ring, the one that sticks out. I added another screw somewhere else on the ring. Then I drilled another hole on the throw arm of the recoil bracket, right below the recoil bracket and put a set screw collar on the connecting bar link.

I am much happier with the range of motion I now have. I made a quick video for you guys.
Bad thing, I have a rotation glitch at 11 Oclock, just left of forward. I cant figure out why, the gear seems to have good teath and the rollers are all mating even. But nearly every time it stops and clicks a few times then picks back up and rotates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rS4VC01rrU
I have the commanders hatch sitting on opening to the rear. I thought that this might protect the hatch more during battles, especially rollovers, which I have done a few times, and a buddy did to my stock Tamiya M4 and broke the hatch off. What do you guys think?

Ex_Pat_Tanker

There is a precedent on the hatch, one unit in Italy did that to all of their Shermans (tho I forget the reason why).

Have you tried swapping the middle and end gears around in the rotation? - that moves the slipper gear closer to the motor and less likely to 'slip' at the slightest bump.

edoubleaz

My Feedback: (1)

You may have have to go back and check all the mating surfaces of the turret ring. Sometimes there is a rough patch or a tab slightly hitting a post. Tamiya provides those slip ring stickers but I have gone back and buffed all the turret surfaces before with fine sanding sticks and even polishing compound. Once I even gloss coated my turret ring.

Of course, gluing the slip gear and zip tying the traverse mechanism is my first mod.