I’m going to do my first Sherman. And what better choice than a Tasca kit?

I bought this kit a while back and I had it in my hands many times but somehow there were always other build that got in front. This time is for real.

I have all the bits and pieces needed for the build including an Armorscale barrel, Bison decals en Panda Plastic tracks.

This version was the most powerful Sherman of WWII and resulted from the installation of the British 17 pounder gun. It had enough punch to knock out the German Tiger unlike other versions of the Sherman that needed to hit that tank on the least armored angles, namely the rear.

The problem was that while they were trying to do that, the 88mm gun of the Tiger would blow them away easily. It’s not by chance that they compared the Sherman to a Zippo. It lights at first time, every time. Not a good thing for the crews…

The Kit

The Tasca kit is a small wonder. Their quality is absolutely the best surpassing even Dragon in many respects. And now that the price on Dragon kits has rocketed, there’s no reason for not having the Tasca kits.

From the versions included with the kit I could not choose one and I always like to have a different model. I ordered a set of decals from Bison and I chose the tank I’m going to build.

Luckily on a 100 page special of Military Modelling there was an article dedicated to the unit and a very good picture of the tank can be seen. Immediately I understood that the tracks that the decal instructions indicate are wrong. From the picture above we can see that the tank is using the T62 track  instead of the T54E1 that the decal instructions indicate.

Nice catch, and even better because I had a set of Panda tracks waiting to be used on some model and they were precisely T62 tracks. This is a good omen (lol) being lucky twice in the same day is not very likely.

This particular tank has a storage box behind the armored radio box on the turret and I found two possibilities for getting this box. Formations makes a set in resin and Voyager makes a PE set that includes the boxes and a lot of PE for the tank. I decided to get the Voyager set also because I’ve heard good things from them but till now I just used Eduard and Aber sets and I was wanting to try other reputable brands.

Building

Price
Accuracy/Detail
Build
Extras
Instructions

The best example of that is the lower hull composed of 6 pieces that assembles like if it was a single piece of plastic. Nothing falls out of place, there is no need for adjustments and the final result is perfect.

The same thing with the engine deck panels that in spite of being 3 assemble with total perfection.

I have the turret ready and found out that the Armorscale mantlet and gun support are smaller than they should to fit the Tasca turret. I had to discard the beautiful resin parts from the Armorscale barrel and use the kit parts instead. I wonder in which kit are those parts supposed to fit. Dragon?

Those parts are awesome but the cast texture on the resin parts was clearly better.

The gun itself is very good and the muzzle is made of 4 parts that I assembled by soldering. The final result is perfect (no seams on the muzzle).

After fitting the barrel on the plastic parts I noticed how big this 17 pounder gun was. That thing was BIG.

The tracks from Panda plastics are also an excellent example of how a link by link track shoud be. They have very good detail and they assemble perfectly. The only problem is the amount of work needed to remove the sprue attachments from the smaller track connectors. And they are plenty..

The Voyager PE set

One of the reasons why this kit is taking so long is the excellent PE set from Voyager. At every step I decide not getting into trouble doing the boxes or the box locks. But then I can’t resist. So box after box I managed to do them all with the respective locks but at a very slow pace. Judge for yourselves.

There’s not much left to do (OE wise) so I’m planning painting very soon.

I must confess that I’m not the biggest fan of allied armor. When I have to decide to buy a new kit, my choices lie with the Axis AFV’s.

However there are some examples that are so significant from the historical point of view, that it’s impossible to pass by them. When Bronco released the Staghound, it was followed closely by Italeri with his rendition of the very same AFV.

In one of my typical excursions to the LHS I found the Italeri kit on the shelves (Bronco is near to impossible to find there) and after reading a couple of reviews I decided that this was the one to buy (mainly because there was nothing more interesting or that I don’t have yet) I really liked the box art and that reference booklet included with the kit.

That’s what I call a bright idea.

Instead of leaving the builder to it’s own devices finding pictures around, Italeri includes an excellent set of pictures on the booklet, that will be very helpful in assembling the kit. A+ on this one

When I opened the box I found what we can consider a very good kit in terms of detail. The turret in particular is a very fine rendition of the cast turret on the original. The subtle irregularity of the surface is particularly well done.

But there’s always that little detail that needs some "changes". The parts have good detail, maybe too subtle in some cases, but perfectly adequate for most people. The dark green plastic is of an adequate consistency, not too brittle not to soft.

I had some trouble making the new Tamiya Light activated putty adhere to the surface, but soon I found I could do it. Just remove the oily residue with fine sand paper and you’re done. In this kit the weakest point is the gun barrel. It just didn’t seem correct. I didn’t need to go too far.

The excellent booklet included with the kit contains a lot of reference pictures and plans from the original tank manual. On the first page there it was the proof that the barrel was incorrect. It’s a shame because it’s a fine example of a metal barrel included on the kit that could have been excellent. The other weak point is the instruction sheet. Photos instead of drawings. Inconsistencies in some of them. But that faithful reference booklet could solve any doubts about parts placement. Not all is lost.

The kit also includes a small PE fret (more than adequate for the needs. So much that this time I’m not going to spend any more in after market PE for this kit

Building starts

19-01-2008

It’s clear that Italeri is not Tasca or Dragon when it comes to moulds. There is some flash, nothing big, but enough to attract you attention in every part you assemble. Some fitting problems exist on the hull, but again, nothing that can’t be cured with a little filler.

And with this kit I used the Tamiya Light activated body putty. I think it’s excellent. The way it hardens when exposed to light is one of the benefits of the space age polymers and it’s really cool. Apply it, expose it to a fluorescent light for 2 minutes and start filing. It’s bright yellow color and the smell does not make it the most attractive filler, but the convenience is too good to be true.

The wheels assemble really well and there’s no way you can miss the pattern alignment. Two pins on each half take care of that. The assembly steps are very simple and the kit assembles really fast. From the sprues to the final product ready for painting maybe just a matter of hours. Not in my case because I do a little bit every day, but just a little bit.

There are several versions you can do and I chose the 7th Armoured Division of the British Army in France 1944.

The pictures you can see here show the rear suspension.

The result is very good in spite of the reduced number of parts. The representation of the leaf springs and transmission shafts are totally acceptable.

I would prefer the possibility of assembling the kit with wheels turned. I even considered doing it with some cutting and gluing, but it was to disruptive to do, so I decided to build it with the front wheels straight.

The hull goes together very fast and if you apply some pressure while the glue dries, there’s no need to use much filler. And that’s good because you would need to remove it and some of the welds would have to be redone. The only case where I added some detail was on the turret. The cast turret seam was too subtle. After looking at the reference pictures where this seam was very apparent I tried to reproduce it with the help of some evergreen plastic strip and liquid glue. The front headlights were hollowed out with a Dremel because I’m going to use Resicast lenses for them.

If anyone else wants to use the same method, both the headlight lenses and the turret searchlight use 3mm lenses. It didn’t seem acceptable anymore to just paint them silver.

I’ll have to apply a coat of primer to see how believable the effect is, but it looks quite good already.

One other thing you can see in the pictures is the Stowage set for the Staghound from Blast Models. The set includes 8 parts with exquisite detail for placing on the fenders and turret. The rear box (provided in PE with the kit) is also in the Blast Models set with ammo boxes inside and I decided to replace the original for this one.

One of the parts can be used to replace one of the fuel tanks, because it’s a pile of "stuff" to put on top of the stowage box. I’ll leave that out as I decided to do the kit with the two fuel tanks installed. As always Blast Models flawless service sent my order in 5 days.

In that package was the new Tiger II Porsche turret Zimmerit version from Dragon that’ll be the subject of another little review if time allows. It won’t take long to painting because I’m just waiting for an Armorscale barrel, so be tuned.

Assembly complete

31-01-2008

The assembly is finished. I’m just waiting for the replacement barrel to start painting the model. The coat of Tamiya primer gives me an idea on how good the surface and detailing is.

No doubt this kit is quite good in terms of detail. One can add a little more with the help of after market PE sets or in my case with the stowage set from Blast Models, but if the kit is built strictly from the box it will be an excellent model no matter what.

This one is going to be my first Olive Drab model. Normally with one tone vehicles we have to avoid monotony and to create a believable effect. Pre shading is normally used to highlight the differences between panels and I’m going to try that. I’ll be posting pictures of the painting process as soon as the barrel arrives in the mail

Ready!!

26-05-2008

After 4 months standing on the bench waiting for the finishing touches, I decided it was time to do the very final details on the Staghound. I tried new techniques in painting, in weathering and a lot of very small things that I will use on other kits. Using satin varnish over the base coat and decals was one of them. Why? Well, because I saw a video  with Miguel Jimenez (the famous MIG) in which he explained that tanks are satin, and we can use the contrast between matt, satin and gloss to enhance the final look of a model.

His theory is that gloss "brings" details closer because you are attracted to things that reflect the light with more intensity. The contrast between a satin tank and the matt of weathering also directs the look of the viewer to that contrast creating points of interest that will make the model appear more "real". And it works. It’s not by chance that he’s one of the world’s best modeler. I applied the pigments and then I used a wet brush to create the typical streaks you can see on dirt vehicle after rain falls.

This create a random pattern that again enhances the visual appeal of the model.

The camouflage net was another challenge. After the base color, I applied a heavy pin wash with turpentine and black oil into all the small recesses.

This immediately changed it from a mass of resin strips to a real net with tissue strips attached to it. I was not planning to use it on the model, but after seeing the result I had to. Another pin wash (more diluted) with raw umber and finally highlighting with light olive drab. The net looks good!! The antenna is made of the ever present stretched plastic sprue. Some light scratches were made with a technique I love.

First a lighter olive drab than the base, and over it but not completely covering it, a small scratch with a graphite pencil or with dark metal paint. It looks like the scratch exposed the coat of paint that was underneath and went down to the metal.

In some of them a thin line of burnt sienna to simulate rust and it’s done.

Pros

• Excellent reference photos booklet
• Good quality plastic. Easy to work on
• Nice cast turret surface. Very realistic
• Fine detail all-round. Delicate parts are well molded
• Photo etched parts included on the kit

Cons

• Instructions are the photo type and not theexploded view type. Some details are not at all clear in the instructions.
• Flash in almost every part, although not critical. Attention to  removing flash has to be taken with each and every part
• Inaccurate barrels. The plastic and the metal gun barrels are inaccurate in shape. This is very noticeable as soon as you look at them

Materials and parts used in this kit

Armorscale barrel for M8 Greyhound
Armorscale MG .30 barrel
Blast Models Staghound Stowage set
Vallejo Acrylic Colors
MIG and CMK pigments

Related Sites

Blast Models
Armorscale
Vallejo
MIG Productions

History

For a strange twist of fate, the T17E1 Staghound was never operated by its intended user, the U.S.Army. Nevertheless, between 2,600 and 2,900 vehicles were produced, and took part in World War II wearing the colors of several Commonwealth armies. After the war, Staghounds were supplied to Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Egypt, Honduras, India, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Switzerland.

The requirement which led to the Staghound was issued by the U.S.Army in June, 1941, several months before the United States entered World War II. The Ford Motor Company quickly built a 6×6 prototype (the T17), while Chevrolet offered a 4×4 vehicle which was named T17E1; the armament was the same in both cases, with a turret-mounted 37mm gun and two 7.62mm machine guns.

Production started in 1942, but the U.S.Army had already opted for the lighter M8 Greyhound; so in October that year the Staghound was authorized for Defense Aid (Lend-Lease) to the British Army. The first vehicles (out of an order for 300 units) were named Staghounds Mk.l, and reached their units by the end of the year, getting the baptism of fire in Italy in 1943. The Staghound soon proved successful in operation, and as production continued new variants were developed.

These included the Staghound Mk.1I with its 3" howitzer for close support, and the Mk.1I1 which was equipped with the whole turret from the Crusader tank, including the 75mm gun (but with no co-axial machine gun).

Specifications

• Weight 14 t
• Length 5.49 m
• Width 2.69 m
• Height 2.36 m
• Crew 5
• Armor 9 to 44 mm
• Primary armament 37 mm M6
• Secondary armament 2 or 3 x .30 (7.62 mm) machine guns
• Engine 2 x GMC 270 2 x 97 hp / 2 x 72 kW
• Power/weight 13.9 hp/tonne
• Suspension wheels, 4 x 4
• Operational range 450 miles / 724 km
• Speed 55 mph / 89 km/h