Sherman Easy 8 arrives

[Tom Miller]

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BREAKING NEWS

Latest Allied armor arrives just in time to stop the Wehrmacht advance into small village in Oregon.
Stay tuned for more details.....

[Erik Dries]

You know one box is missing in the picture?

[Tom Miller]

Yes, UPS has lost the 3rd box. Central command is sending reinforcements. I hope we can hold out till the box arrives....

[GlenStenhouse]

Exactly the same thing has happened to me. 2 boxes arrived this morning (in New Zealand). Third box is still in Australia.

[Erik Dries]

Looks I was lucky then, three boxes at the same time.

[jwwirds]

Only two here too. Third box is coming today. Christmas in the summer!

[Jerry Carducci]

Hmmm. UPS status originally first said mine would arrive 2 boxes on day and the third on the following; then it reversed only to have them all show up at the same time this past Tuesday afternoon...

The UPS man was quite pleased when I strode out to his van with a handtruck; I try to make it easy for them so they won't groan when they see these coming!

Jerry

[jwwirds]

Third box came today. This is going to be a lot of fun. I can’t get over how big it’s going to be. The kit is such good quality!

[Tom Miller]

Hi Everyone,
Since no one is posting progress pictures of their Sherman project I thought I would post a few shots of mine. Not much to show yet. I have been painting and assembling the main bogies. Once I get the springs and shocks painted I can fully assemble the complete bogies.

The third box finally arrived five days after the first two

Mocked up the hull parts to get a since of size

Road wheels painted olive drab ready for tires

The little holes I drilled in one end of the spring caps is to allow for hanging by a wire while painting. They will not be seen when assembled.

Bogie frames masked primed and ready for olive drab

The last picture is of the fixings for the Sherman. Armortek has changed the way they ship these parts. Nuts and bolts are all mixed together in larger bags not in individual bags as in the past. I like to open the individual bags and pour the parts into these convenient boxes with labeled dividers. Makes the parts much easier to find. Sooooo I had to dump the fixings into a pile and sort them into the box. Took most of a day. PLEASE Armortek go back packaging the fixings in individual bags.

[Andy Walker]

Hi Tom,
just wondered what make/type of paint you use for the top coat?

You are a bit ahead of me on construction of the Sherman.....I am still in the process of etch coating and undercoating the few bogies I have assembled so far. I encountered one problem where I possibly didn't clean up the threads properly and completely jammed the axle shaft part way into the main suspension arm . No amount of force will move it I have emailed Monique at Armortek to see if I can purchase these 2 replacement parts. Oh well .....these things were sent to try us

[Stephen White]

Andy, some judicious application of heat to the suspension arm might free up the axle.

[Andy Walker]

Andy, some judicious application of heat to the suspension arm might free up the axle.

I've tried that already Stephen with no luck. The 2 parts are well and truly jammed.

[Tom Miller]

Hi Andy,
Look on line for a product called KROIL. I use it to break loose rusted and jammed bolts. The stuff is amazing.
The paint products I use are made by PPG. I use a two part epoxy primer called OMNI. The primer # is MP170 and the catalyst is # MP175. The great part is you do not need to use an etching primer first. The finish paint is PPG ESSENTIAL. It is a poly urethane. I use omni to prime because is is thinner than essential and use essential for finish because it has more body than omni. The PPG supplier I use has a spectrometer so I buy the colors I want from MIG. Spray them on a piece of photo paper and the store can make a perfect match paint. I then use PPG flattener, PPG activator and hardener in the final mix. The ratio is 6/6/1/1. 6 parts paint, 6 parts flattener, one part activator, one part hardener. I use syringe's to draw the paint is small quantities, mix it in small paint cups and spray it with an air brush. It is not as complicated as it sounds once you do it a few times. My wife says I look like a mad chemist when I am mixing and painting.
Tom

[GlenStenhouse]

The last picture is of the fixings for the Sherman. Armortek has changed the way they ship these parts. Nuts and bolts are all mixed together in larger bags not in individual bags as in the past. I like to open the individual bags and pour the parts into these convenient boxes with labeled dividers. Makes the parts much easier to find. Sooooo I had to dump the fixings into a pile and sort them into the box. Took most of a day. PLEASE Armortek go back packaging the fixings in individual bags.

I quite like the packaging as it seems to be instruction page / task specific so you open the bag relating to the segment you're working on. I've poured each bag into a slightly larger container still mixed.

[GlenStenhouse]

Nice progress. I have some build pictures here;

https://www.instagram.com/humboldt.engineering/