USMC Sherman on Saipan

[AgentG]

This is a replica of an M4A2 from the battle of Saipan. "King Kong" is well documented on several web sites. The tank commander painted the unique camo on the turret to make his tank more recognizable . All the wood planking and plywood sheet was added to thwart magnetic anti tank mines.

The lower hull is from Tamiya. The upper hull and turret are resin pieces from Verlinden. Details were taken from my large box of Dragon spare parts.

I scratchbuilt all the wood add on armor from sheet stock. The water tank was scratched from a plastic pen body and various bits and pieces. I scratch built the wadting trunks from sheet as well.

Paint is Tamiya OD faded and weathered with enamel, oil and pigments. Camo and wood grain is painted in Vallejo.















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[mincemeat]

Very nice effect and work with the wood planking and the all the scratch building.

[kpisnuts]

Great job there. I know nothing about armour(apart from having built a couple of tanks) did they really use wood for protection, I wouldn't have thought it was very effective against armour piercing bullets and stuff.

[AgentG]

Thank you gents.

KP it's no protection against those at all. It's there to prevent two things, magnetic anti tank mines and hollow charge anti tank grenades.
The Japanese had a powerful anti tank mine with strong magnets used to affix the mine to the hull of the tank. No steel, no stick. They also used a pretty good hollow charge device mounted on a lance. A soldier charged the tank from the side in an attempt to strike the hull. The wood planking, usually backed by a layer of concrete, deflected the blast and resultant penetrator.

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[Gav0909]

Cracking mate. A very nice representation of an unusual Sherman. There are some great modelling opportunities with Pacific Theatre Shermans due to their use of odd camo patterns and 'anything to hand' extra armour.

[AgentG]

Thank you sir!

The Pacific Theatre was so different from the conflict in Europe as to be another war entirely. Not until Okinawa did the Marines and Army experience a campaign even remotely similar to their brethren in France and Germany.
Island campaigns were short, sharp and dynamic. If you examine photos of the tank battalions on Iwo Jima, you will see that the tanks were modified again and again. The entire fight there was three months in length and the surviving tanks looked nothing like they did on D-1.
Then too you see the progression of modifications made based on previous experiences. An M4 at Tarawa bears no resembelence to an M4 on Okinawa.

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[corpsman23k2]

Great build how did you make the wood effect

[AgentG]

Thanks doc,

That side armor is a sheet of .020 styrene cut to fit the shape of the hull. I measured, then scribed, the planks into the sheet. After that I took my razor saw and just scraped it sideways across the surface. After a few passes I just concentreated on the edges and individual boards. After all that I used a foam nail sanding block to rub down the burrs and finish it off.

The plywood is just .010 sheet with the pattern painted on using various Vallejo colors.

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[Nige99]

Great looking build you've done a fantastic job of the wood armour and research!!
Well done Sir.

[AgentG]

Thank you sir!

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[hansolo]

Very very nice!

cheers

[Tiger131]

Loops superb love how they bolted stuff on in the Pacific tanks..

Top marks on your cracking build

[AgentG]

Thank you gentlemen!

[OliveDrab]

That's one fantastic Sherman, superb scratch-building too