BlrwestSiR

Ok, so I'm planning to do a Firefly from the Governor General Horse Guards, 5 Canadian Armoured Division. Say that 5 times fast. Anyways, the big reason is that the Division's tanks seems to pretty much be covered in spare track links as applique armour. And they're Canadian. One result of the extra track is the increased weight of the tanks. To alleviate this, they mostly had the extended end links or duckbills fitted. This helped reduce the ground pressure of the tank. Upon closer inspection of the duckbills, I found there are two styles. One is flat and the other is curly. I've got plenty of the flat ones. The curly ones I have from an old Dragon kit but they're a bit thick. Bronco makes a set but I'm not sure they're compatible with the kit tracks. Which brings up another potential issue. Shermans have a crazy number of different types of tracks. The kit tracks are T62 ones. Although not wrong for a Firefly, it looks like I need T54E1 tracks for my tank. Fortunately (or not as we shall see) I have a couple sets of those. Modelkasten makes some of the most detailed track links you'll find in plastic. The unfortunate bit is the number of pieces each link is. Here's the sprues to make up 4 links. Yup, 9 parts per link. But they have enough articulation to make a yoga master cry "Uncle!". The kit ones are 4 parts per link and RFM gives you a jig to do 6 links at a time. To either, I'd have to add the duckbills. I'm thinking I'll get the Bronco duckbills, thankfully they're in stock at a nearby shop. If they work on the kit tracks, I'll use them there. If not, 9 X 82 links per side X 2 tracks per tank = ugh....

Well, in the original series the SBY Yamato is built within the wreck of the IJN one. So there are some visual similarities above the waterline. Fujimi has been releasing various kits of the Yamato superstructure in 1/200. They have a turret too with the full magazine storage below it. I wonder if they could be used to update the old Nichimo kit?

Thanks @mark31. They're doing some nice modern kits of popular subjects and filling in some blanks too. Thanks @DocRob! No, I should have called it Step 0.1!

Thanks @Kaireckstadt! So far it's goes together really well, very similar to an Asuka/Tasca Sherman kit. I've built a number of those already. I wanted to get the Fehrmann Tiger kit but built the Dragon one a couple years ago. Here's a link that may be helpful for you. It's a correction list for the kit. http://tiger1.info/models/products-page/RM5005 I'm mostly model at night. The boys are in bed then and I usually have a few hours to myself then. Thanks @Bomber_County! It's only the idler wheels that have separate rims. So the bogies themselves will still need masking and painting.

Here you go Phil.

Bogie nights. RFM makes the bogies so they work. That complicated things a bit as they have you use a pair of small springs inside the volute springs. I promptly launched a pair into the ether... I decided to replace the two missing ones with some spacers made from sprue. Installed into the spring housings. Here's the first three done. The odd one out is due to each sprue having only enough to make two for each side. The bogie wheels are two piece. The face is a bit of a tight fit so a light sanding around their edge made the fit easier .

The rear hull was then completed. The PE bits are included in the kit. One thing I may have missed in the instructions is where it tells you to drill the holes for the smoke generators. I managed to do this after the fact without too much trouble. One causality was the handle on the door so I made a replacement from soft wire. Here's the towing shackle. You have to add the bolt heads to it by shaving them off the sprue and then gluing them in place.

So far I've actually managed to follow the instructions. Horror of horrors I know. Step 1. Open the box. Step 2. Assemble the lower hull. RFM has gone with the flat pack style and it looks like they may be planning an full interior version later on. One reason j think that is the outdrive housings have internal detail moulded into them. I found the idler wheels to be an interesting assembly with inner and outer lips with separate faces. So far the fit has been good. Some tolerances are a bit tight but a light sanding helps.

Ok, I hadn't planned to start this but things happen. This is my first RFM build. I have a couple more of their kits in the stash. This will be mostly an OOB box build except for the additional tracks that Firefly crews were known to add as applique armour.

Cees, I have spare canopy parts so let me know if you need them. Edit: I've found the clear part, two of them in fact. Just looking for the frame. Carl

Better, Firefly!

I shouldn't have but couldn't resist.

And folks say Chinese is hard to write!

Very nice work on the cockpit.

What Harv said! Very impressive.

Very nice work on the Corsair Kai. I like the weathering you did on the wing roots. It looks very much like the real thing. Carl

Me too!

Looks good to me Harv.

Still looks like a lot!

Nice start on the fairings. Throw some paint on it and you'll be caught to me.

Congratulations Jerry!

One thing I've noticed with PCM and Fly kits. You can often put the cockpit in after the fuselage is assembled through the lower wing opening. I find this can help determining how much needs to be shaved/added.

I've that before. If you catch it quick enough and pour off any excess you can usually get away with a minimum of damage. And fighting the urge to wipe it off isn't easy I know. It's almost second nature.

Using the sprue glue, it's hard to tell where the crack was since it's the same colour as the plastic. Which I guess means the fix is going well.

I use Hasegawa Mirror Finish. It's a very thin self adhesive mylar so it has a bit of stretch to it. https://www.hlj.com/mirror-finish-hsgtf1 I wonder if the chrome vinyl Krow suggested would be similar.