"M4A2 Brive la Gaillarde" Topic

Just more "Work in Progress" and a sorry tale to follow. This is now my fourth Heller M4A2 and I have seven more M4 variants whether from UM, Dragon or Trumpeter. So I should now by now that, before I spray with Vallejo Olive Drab I need to mask off the attaching points for the bogies as glue does not stick to glue too well. So what did I forget to do just ten minutes ago (sob)? Much paint removal now needed.

This is yet another of 2e DB's M4A2s (Brive la Gaillarde of 12th Cuirassiers). Crew and much baggage will be added, once I get the bogies secured, of course. The light guards are from Dan Taylor, the rest is just scrap plastic and brass.

Nice work – looking forward to seeing more!

Nice customization.

Thanks.

It is a brilliant model kit to start with. Heller really did get it right with this product, but I will bet you it goes out of their range soon. I have no idea why, but it seems a universal rule. As soon as it becomes a huge success, drop it. On line "Not in Stock" even though there is an image of the box top and an advert for it.

Try to find an Italeri M20 or M8 armoured car in 1/72 now, despite the rave reviews. The Dodge Weapons carrier. An HMC M8. The M4A4 from anyone.

You can get a King Tiger with any turret you want, but some of the most common Allied vehicles…..?

With my Free French tanks half the fun is researching the original photos. The tracks on the transmission housing are too horizontal, but they will be OK once the kit is added. The spare wheel should have been on the right for B la G but I cannot work out how they fitted it there. The 50 calibre could have been set differently but I need to fit in a commander figure. But I do have the mix of welded and cast wheels right…once they are stuck on that is!

Well I did get it done at last.

Only snag is there should be three little "ticks" on the tactical marking (3rd squadron of 12th Cuirassiers). Must fix that now!

The markings are largely those that came with the Heller model (no alternative). In the newer models the transfers are back in register, but the colours are a bit vibrant and I did raid my massive spares box!

Brilliant work as usual, you could teach a master class!

DH, this brilliant work at 1/35th scale, but in 1/72nd?……good gracious!

Thanks all. At least here I did not have to assemble the tracks one by one by one, as I did for 1/35th. Those AFV Club tracks are superb….once they are finished.

Even then, it awful what photos show up. That mould seam on the 50 calibre ammo box. The sink hole in the left door for the commander's hatch. I forgot to paint the silver and gloss varnish onto the lights! That I will fix however.

Great work, as usual.

Adding my voice to the choir of praise, really, this is astounding work! If I may ask, where do the crewmen come from? Excellent work on the tracks, I'm just back from following Leclerc's footsteps in Normandy, and here is this pic of "Valois" a 2e DB Sherman destroyed in the forest of Ecouves :

THe tracks are just like the ones you put on your model, with the rubber pads on the links. "Valois" was destroyed by a Pz IV, you can (hardly, my phone takes but crappy pics) a hole in the middle of the front slope, a bit above the rivets bar (driver and bow MG gunner were killed). The tank was hit driving southward (it has been moved to the crossrods from its original position)as it turned a bend at the Croix de Médavy. It was part of Putz's tactical command in that controversial flanling move that saw that part of the 2e DB hijack the US 5th Armored Division corridor at Sées (been there too, the streeyts are still quite narrow, and the traffic jam must have been mind boggling). NOt that I disagree with Leclerc's decision : the northward road from Alençon to Carrouge and its entrance into the forest are quite daunting (and Rouvillois, who made use of it) was understandably held there abd had no good option to overcome on his own.

Thanks both.

The rubber pads came both as the plain version and one with a chevron pattern. The M4A2s of 2e DB used both and many of the M10s had the chevron patterns fitted the wrong way around!

Valois I had not come across before and will now read up more on it. That sounds like a marvelous expedition you have enjoyed. I could only find one photo of it, landing on Utah beach;

The figures are a mixture. The commander map reading is from Dan Taylor Modelworks and is meant to be a British BEF figure, but in a forage cap he was just what I needed. Th driver and co-driver/MG gunner are Millicast resin figures but again with Dan Taylor heads (he does a great range and also super-detailing brass work for M4s)

Next project is another M4A3 76 but this time with the GAA engine exposed (well partly….it will have to be scratch built)

Excellent work, love all the stowage.

Thats handsome indeed :)
L

Shermans with colourful markings, crews in US uniforms but with a variety of French headgear, an elite unit, Paris in August, that tune from the film…….

It's a no brainer. You can't go wrong. Never felt quite the same about 1e or 5e DB. To this day neither do some of the French of course.

The real thing;