"Firefly" Topic

A Firely with some varied stowage.

The kit is a PSC one in 20mm

20mm! I thought it was 1/35th. Impressive.

Masterfully rendered…..

The extra provisions really top the model nicely……and that one rack of Calvados?, the crew should cast their wary eye to such precious cargo…..the turret rotation might send those crushing rearward, or even overboard.

Very nice indeed.

Yes, very well done! And I second the comment about the calvados. I'd store something that valuable inside the vehicle.

Jim

Lovely job, stowage looks fantastic.

I agree, that most definitely looks the part!

One of my late uncles was commander of a Sherman in 19 Armoured Regt (NZ). When they started out in Italy any "goodies" they collected were kept on the deck of the tank or tied to the turret (there wasn't enough room to keep much extra inside). They planned on having a big party when they got some free time out of the battlezone. Until they were stonked by mortars – they lost most of what they had got. From then on in they just ate/drank when they got it so no more got wasted.

kiwimole, I've read similar accounts to your Uncles experience, when the hatches went down the deck was full of 'aquired goodies'/kit and when they were opened again the entire deck stripped by blast.

Oh theres two more crates inside………….lol
L

Great work – and my uncle (an infantry squaddie) had similar observations about passing armoured vehicles that looked more like gypsy caravans than main battle tanks

!

Beautiful work!

Excellent work, Leon!

As usual, excellent work. Always look forward to your posts. :-)

Not a criticism of the modelling, but a question of the history --

I see this Firefly is modeled with a .50cal on the TC's hatch on the roof.

My impression was that the British were not much interested in roof-mounted AAMGs, and in particular tended to remove the .50cal from Shermans they received.

Was this related more to the North Africa campaign, and less common in Europe? Did Fireflies, which lost their bow MG, tend to keep their TC's HMG more often?

I've not seen (or not noticed) TC's .50cals on Fireflies before…

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Believe related more to the North African campaign. Look through Concords Armor at War Series #7062 "British Sherman Tanks" and you will not see the guns on tanks in North Africa but a surprising number of 50cals on 75mm Shermans in the European theater. They seem to be rather rare on the Firefly however. One of the pictures in the book does show a Firefly with a 30cal mounted on the roof. And I may be mistaken but looks like that is the gun mounted on this Firefly?

Mark 1, its a .30 cal not a .50 cal.
It seems the fireflys didnt worry too much about a hatch MG, they were a bit further back in most situations and concentrating on their 'covering ' role.It was the ordinary Shermans that needed the extra .50 cal firepower for rousting out infantry etc.
L

Thank you Marc and Leon for the replies. Interesting stuff. And nicely modeled too.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

I love to see details added as here. The 30 has its rear handles hollowed out. The ammo boxes either side behind the turret bustle are exactly like the 40mm Bofors ones I tried to make for my French GMC A/A truck. The crate of booze, great netting nad even some cauliflowers.

The MG topic was covered here very recently;

TMP link

Do tell how you get the cast look for the turret? Awesome.

historygamer,
An old trick, lightly scrore the surface with the edge of a fairly coarse file in a swirling pattern, lightly do the same with med grit sand paper ( the decorating type), then brush over with liquid Poly ( Tamiya one is good has biult in brush) and then dab with the snadpaper before it dries.
When dry ( very dry) lightly sand again. You can go in with the edge of a fine file if more tidying/texture needed.
Process takes less time than it took me to describe it.
Thanks
L

Outstanding. Thanks for sharing.

Superb work leon.