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RFM Sherman Firefly


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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.

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This will be mostly an OOB box build except for the additional tracks that Firefly crews were known to add as applique armour. 

 

 

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So far I've actually managed to follow the instructions. Horror of horrors I know. 

Step 1. Open the box. 

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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. 

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One reason j think that is the outdrive housings have internal detail moulded into them. 

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I found the idler wheels to be an interesting assembly with inner and outer lips with separate faces. 

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So far the fit has been good. Some tolerances are a bit tight but a light sanding helps. 

 

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The rear hull was then completed. 

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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. 

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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. 

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Bogie nights. 

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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. 

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Installed into the spring housings. 

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Here's the first three done. The odd one out is due to each sprue having only enough to make two for each side. 

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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  .

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9 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Bogie nights. 

PXL_20210130_034403215.thumb.jpg.c8a91e2b9e8c5def9c695e87a05f27f8.jpg

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. 

PXL_20210130_165524851.thumb.jpg.343dfd495728e55f6e1e0e0bb44752d5.jpg

 

PXL_20210130_165533149.thumb.jpg.6c5ea89c06fdcaa30356d9571a6e8da0.jpg

Installed into the spring housings. 

PXL_20210130_165824263.thumb.jpg.70c334601e70721866fb92f0b1c515ee.jpg

Here's the first three done. The odd one out is due to each sprue having only enough to make two for each side. 

PXL_20210130_232105593.thumb.jpg.505f5d281cfa10e7fc6f11d295af8ea8.jpg

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  .

PXL_20210130_232120673.thumb.jpg.ab9b47bbf67ec38830253f02a58e56a3.jpg

Is this a quick build? Your speed is remarkable! So much progress in so less time! Looks really great to me(but I‘m no tank expert).

Makes me take out the Tiger I Gruppe Fehrmann out of my stash (yes, I also have a tank!). It‘s also from Rye Field Models.

BTW: You seem to model at nights? That’s funny: me too...

 

 

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12 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

So far I've actually managed to follow the instructions. Horror of horrors I know. 

Step 1. Open the box. 

Was Step 1  a part of the instructions :D?
Your progress on the Firefly is looking good. It seems to be a nicely detailed kit.

Cheers Rob
 

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5 hours ago, Kaireckstadt said:

Is this a quick build? Your speed is remarkable! So much progress in so less time! Looks really great to me(but I‘m no tank expert).

Makes me take out the Tiger I Gruppe Fehrmann out of my stash (yes, I also have a tank!). It‘s also from Rye Field Models.

BTW: You seem to model at nights? That’s funny: me too...

 

 

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. 

4 hours ago, Bomber_County said:

Carl, the detail looks really nice on this. The Dragon Easy 8 had similar bogie build up, the springs can be mischievous......looking good.........I like the tyres separate would make painting easier........

Thanks @Bomber_County! It's only the idler wheels that have separate rims. So the bogies themselves will still need masking and painting. 

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4 hours ago, mark31 said:

looks like a very nice kit.

i whas planning to buy a rfm model but put it back

will try to follow

 

Mark

Thanks @mark31. They're doing some nice modern kits of popular subjects and filling in some blanks too.

3 hours ago, DocRob said:

Was Step 1  a part of the instructions :D?
Your progress on the Firefly is looking good. It seems to be a nicely detailed kit.

Cheers Rob
 

Thanks @DocRob! No, I should have called it Step 0.1! :lol:

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2 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

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. 

Thanks for the link with the Tiger correction info! Highly appreciated! 

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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. 

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Yup, 9 parts per link.  But they have enough articulation to make a yoga master cry "Uncle!".

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The kit ones are 4 parts per link and RFM gives you a jig to do 6 links at a time. 

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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....

 

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Life’s for living and putting track links together.......:D........does this come with a metal barrel, I added one to mine albeit a Asuka Firefly..........I did some research on what Sherman crews added to their mounts, basically anything went including different type road wheels, storage, extra armour, stores etc etc.....plenty of scope......

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I got a bit more done. The bogies are now completed.

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I also checked my reference photos to determine the correct drive sprocket. RFM gives you three options. 

I then started on the tracks for the hull. I'm using the Dragon ones as I have more than enough of them and they have to be glued together anyways. 

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There's a total of 37 links per side for the applique armour not including the front hull. So this could take a bit. 

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I've been adding the hull details to the kit over the last couple of days. 

But first, I attached the bogies to the lower hull. After I joined the upper and lower hulls. 

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I then took out the '59 Caddy and after some sanding on the body, I put that back.

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The instructions tell you to mount the front fenders to the upper hull before you join them together. Don't. They overlap the lower hull and with the way the upper and lower halves join, you'll have interference. Of course the instructions tell you to mount all the upper hull details first before joining them which I properly ignored. 

The rear deck was next. 

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Followed by the storage box and miscellaneous hull details. 

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