Firefly on Patrol:
Building the DML Sherman Firefly
in 1/35th scale

By Tony Edwards

Background

The Sherman M4 series of medium tank entered allied service in March 1942 and saw first service with the British forces in North Africa. Its debut highlighted the deficiency of its 75mm main armament. Against the older German panzers, it was adequate, however the 75mm could not penetrate the heavier armour of the newest panzers, namely the Tiger. This deficiency was rectified somewhat in January 1944 with the arming of the M4A1 and M4A3 with the 76mm cannon, giving it at least a fighting chance of penetrating the armour of the Tiger and Panther tanks without having to get within a couple of hundred yards.

Meanwhile, the British, whose armour doctrine did not frown upon Tank Vs Tank duels, went about trying to find a way to allow the Sherman to be up-gunned. After numerous trials, it was found that the 17pdr anti-tank gun could be made to fit into the almost totally unmodified turret. Under British designations, this was the third non-standard armament type to be classified, and hence given the 'c' suffix to its mark numeral.

The modifications that were carried out to Shermans undergoing conversion to Firefly were hardly extensive. The turret layout was unchanged except in details, only necessitating that the radio be moved. An armoured box was consequently welded to the rear of the turret to carry it, with another box added on, in turn, to it, providing some storage space. The co-driver's position was deleted, and the .30 cal mount also deleted to make way for additional storage space of the large 17pdr ammunition. Additional detail changes were also performed, including the addition of two fire extinguishers on the rear superstructure corners. Additional stowage boxes were also added to a variety of locations on the upper hull, most common being the long box on the upper tail-plate, although there are many photographs of Fireflys with the same pattern box fitted to the glacis.

The most numerously produced type of Firefly was based on the M4A4 (General Sherman, Mark V). The Vc Firefly was deployed into the British squadrons at a rate of one Firefly per troop, normally the commander's vehicle. The massive overhang of the 17pdr's barrel was an instant recognition feature, and consequently, became a priority target of the German panzers on sight.

First Looks

Upon opening the box, you are confronted by DML's customary light grey plastic. While going through the obligatory 'fondling' stage, the observant modeler will notice the exquisitely executed armour detail on the hull front, the built-up nature of the glacis has been captured to a 'T', with the different textures reflected by the careful application of detail. The model also features the casting numbers in all the relevant locations (nose transmission cover, turret and engine deck), however some are just a little too subtle, and care will be needed to avoid losing them under the paint.

True to style, the box contains enough parts to provide a decent start to any new parts box. With additional sets of wheels, spoked and stamped types, (including idlers), hatches, detail parts, the rockets and rails from DML's Sherman with 60-lb rockets and even contains additional suspension units, with some of the nicest casting number detail I've yet seen.

The box contains three largish sprues carrying the three part track links (shoe and two end connectors), of the British steel cleat type. Also included, is the standard PE fret, consisting of the head and tail light's brush guards, screens for the rear superstructure intake bulges, loader's hatch hatch-stop and aerial guard.

Four decal options are provided, covering four different users. The first being the 3rd Troop, A Squadron of the Northamptonshire Yeomanry, in France, 1944. The second option a Polish tank of the 1st Krechowiecki Armoured Regiment, Lancers of the 2nd Warsawska Armoured Division in Italy, 1945. The third is a Canadian tank of the 27th Canadian Armoured Regiment, 2nd Armoured Brigade Buron, France, 1944 with the Fourth option being a captured Firefly with a mass of Balkenkreuz serving on the Western Front in 1944.

Construction

Construction starts, naturally enough, with the bogie units, I however left these off so as to make painting the wheels easier later. One point worth mentioning, is that the bogies can be constructed so as to remain articulated, as my sample here shows, allowing extreme scope for diorama work. For those who like to change detail features such as wheels etc., bear in mind that most, if not all, Fireflys were fitted with the stamped road-wheels and the open sprockets, however, check references, as no doubt some vehicles must have deviated from the norm.

Construction continues through the lower hull and construction of the tail plate. In this step, I removed the molded detail for the handle on the engine access doors and replaced it with a fuse-wire one - I should have realized that the towing mount would completely cover it, and saved myself the effort - but at least I know it's there. When I got to the idler wheels, I decided that as they protrude out behind the hull and are visible, that I'd cannibalize the spare idlers and add a rear face to them. To do this, I mounted the spares in a power drill, and turned off the rim with files and sandpaper (be careful here, if you choose to do this, as files are hardened steel, and may shatter if you exert too much force, so eye protection is more than advisable, it's essential). After I'd removed the rim, but left the stamped spoke detail, I drilled out the centre section large enough to pass over the other wheel's 'axles', cemented them in place and painted on some thinned out Squadron White putty to blend them in. A side note, for those who are unaware that body-putty can be thinned and painted on, you can thin it with some of that acetone you keep handy for CA glue clean up (you mean you don't?).

Now we move on to the upper hull. After agonizing for the better part of 15 minutes over how to remove the ridge around the .30 cal mount, I opted to leave it there, as replacing all that wonderful detail I waxed lyrical over before, would be nigh on impossible, and decided that the ridge would be less noticeable than the lack of detail. Something to remember while placing all the tools in place is to add the retaining straps - unfortunately, I didn't, so my Firefly is suffering from a bad case of 'Magic Tools'. All the grab handles were replaced with fuse wire ones as the molded on ones are just lines of plastic, and the appearance is improved if you can see under them.

While working with the upper decks, it's apparent that all the raised areas around the turret race, ventilators and the filler caps are molded solid. On the real vehicles, they have holes drilled to allow water/oil/fuel to drain away at their lowest points. I drilled these through, though check your references for the locations of these drain holes, as their exact placements would be almost impossible to describe here. I also added a cable to the headlight.

When the instruction set calls out in step 6 to add the gun's travel lock, either get an old Sherman turret, or wait till you have at least partially built the Firefly turret, and use the line of the barrel to place the lock on the deck, it looks pretty silly if it couldn't swing up to hold the barrel. In step 9, when you need to build up the transmission cover, if you have the skill, don't forget to add the parting line on the flanges (parts C11 and C27), as the cover is in three parts, and does actually bolt up along the flanges.

When you come to place the drive sprocket in place, think hard if you want to glue it permanently before the tracks are in place. I did and wound up having to break them free in order to get the tracks on. I build tracks into one long run before I fit them to the running gear, personally I think it's much easier to judge any required track sag if it's all in place. I know that most people prefer to build into either short runs of say 10-20 links or into 2 runs (top and bottom), but I've never had much luck that way, however, as always, no construction technique that works can ever be 'wrong', just different, so go with whatever works for you.

Be careful when bending the PE, I think it's either stainless steel or nickel-silver (I lean towards it being stainless), and will break if you either bend it to far or need to straighten and re-bend it more than a couple of times.

I built the turret almost completely as called out in the instructions, adding only the drainage hole to the ventilator and drilling out the MG in the mantlet. Once you have the top and bottom halves of the turret in place, there is a large and very visible join, so take pains to remove it. When I came to bend the aerial guard, I sized various pieces of sprues and plastic tube by the diagram in the instructions, CAed one end to the tube and bent it around. Simple, and you can finish the bend in one operation. The loader's hatch stop looks the part, however make sure you put the rivet detail so that it's closest to the top, it looks symmetrical, but (at least in mine) it's not. The 17pdr barrel was nice and straight, and went together with only the smallest of joint line, which was easily removed by buffing it with 2400 grit wet and dry sandpaper.

A note about the .50cal, once I'd replaced the cocking lever with a piece of brass rod, it's one of the nicest plastic .50cals I've ever had the pleasure to use. The barrel cooling jacket, once painted and buffed, has the rounded interior that you'd expect with the barrel under there, the sights aren't too heavy, and more importantly, once the fore sight is drilled out, are accurate. Care needs to be exercised removing the grips from the sprue, but also, once fitted, looks the part.

The figures are taken from Tamiya's Churchill VII and their Bren Carrier: European Theatre, although the driver and loader aren't as supplied, I've changed arms and legs around, then converted the resulting figures. All in all, the kit builds up into one of the most accurate Shermans out of the box that I've ever seen. Simply wonderful.

Painting

One of the hardest colours to duplicate is the Bronze Green colour that the British used late in the war. There simply is no colour straight from the bottle that matches perfectly. So I airbrushed on a primer coat of automotive primer (sprayed into a jar, thinned further and applied), followed by a coat of Tamiya Khaki. I use the khaki, not as a pre-shading colour, but to subtly alter the colours that go over it.

Once the khaki was dry, I airbrushed thin coats of Testors Model Master II Imperial Japanese Army Green. This colour is a pretty good match for the examples I've seen of Bronze Green, although a little short of a brownish tint, hence the khaki undercoat. Providing it's airbrushed over lightly, the tint adds into the following colour.

Over the base coat of IJA Green, I sprayed very light strokes downwards of a lightened mixture of the green, to break up the monotony of the single colour, as single colour schemes themselves rarely are.

The tyres on the wheels and return rollers were brush painted with Testors Model Master Flat black, as the more normal Aeromaster tyre black (a dark grey) would not have provided enough contrast. I washed the entire vehicle with a Tamiya Smoke wash, and once dry, I applied very thin light washes of burnt sienna oils to the areas where I'd added drainage holes. I also added a mucky black oil wash consisting of black, green and red oils to the same areas and also to the grille on the engine deck. Once thoroughly dry (two days) I drybrushed the appropriate lighter colours over the entire tank.

I then sprayed it all over with Testors Gloss lacquer, and applied the decals. I chose the Northamptonshire Yeomanry, as a relative served with them during WW II. I used Testors Decal Set to get the decals to bite down, and once dry, and not a hint of silvering anywhere, I gave it a coat of Testors Dullcote to matte it out.

As is my usual habit, the figures are painted entirely with oils, dark green uniforms (although for some reason, they show up as a dark greyish colour in the photos), with their belts picked out in a khaki drab, and the loader is holding a dark reddish brown canteen.

Weathering:

Once I'd added the decals and running gear, I reapplied the muck and rust washes, leaving them to dry overnight, no flat coat was applied afterwards, as the burnt sienna dried flat (somehow) and the muck semi gloss, just like oil. The tank then received a light misted coat of Tamiya Flat Earth over it's lower hull, running gear and up the tail plate to represent dust. I followed this up with a couple of different brown pastels, so as to suggest heavier dust, with a red brown pastel over it all to suggest travel through some of the clay soils of central Europe. I then took a household water spray bottle and gave the model a thorough soaking, to depict a recent rainfall. This water washed all the pastel dust from the high points, and deposited it in the low points and streaks.

Diorama

I wanted to depict a relatively new vehicle on a short patrol run, so I did not tack on the normal amount of stowage that you'd expect to see a Sherman with. The base is a simple MDF board piece, with Celluclay groundwork applied over wooden formers. The landscaping is a mix of different static-grasses from a range of manufacturers, and some Woodland Scenics shredded foam Turf 'Soil' added for the cart track. Due to deadline, I didn't get my two trees or my hedge in place, but even as it is, I feel that it's at the very least, adequate.

Conclusions

This model was amongst the best models I've ever built out-of-box, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I can recommend this kit to any modeler that has some experience at least in individual link tracks, as Sherman tracks are a little tricky to work with.

Thanks go to GreatModels web store for providing the review sample, and anyone looking for one could do a lot worse than going there, with the MSRP being $20.98 USD.