Gonna be starting this next weekend! I have very little knowledge of US armor in ww2 so before i start i have a few questions…
Is this an easy 8?
What kind of aftermarket stowage should i get
What color paint/ paint set would be ideal
Thanks!
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Yes, that is an “easy eight”. Officially an M4A3E8. The E8 indicates the wide track HVSS suspension.
Paint: All M4 tanks were delivered in standard US Olive Drab. Some tanks were camouflaged with black paint or mud. If you are planning on putting it in a winter scene, you can add whitewash. This actually gives you a lot of options for painting. There have been tons of discussions about painting olive drab, you should look through some of the posts about it. Ask lots of questions.
My advise is to find one or more photos you like, and follow them. It doesn’t have to be an exact copy, just use the photo as a guide.
Ken
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Yes, this tank is known as an “Easy Eight” to some modelers, but nobody in the Army ever called it that. “Easy Eight” is one of those fictitious modeler’s creations that somehow got repeated enough by other modelers to enter the lexicon.
For stowage, your easiest and best option is to go on the Value Gear website and look at their Sherman sets. They have all you need to outfit your tank, just pick the stuff you like.
As Ken said, all US tanks were Olive Drab. Every paint company makes an olive drab, so it’s up to your preference in paint. Tamiya and AK Real Colors both make very good olive drabs, but everybody has their favorite.
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As I recall, the designation for this tank is M4A3 76mm (w)HVSS, but say “easy 8” to pretty much any armor person, they’ll know what you mean. There is a Sherman website that has just about anything you might want to know about them, the address escapes me, but search a bit, you’ll find it. As the fellow above says, OD has a lot of shades, go with what looks right to you.
As a kid in the 1950’s, we used to play in one. A local restaurant had one of these out front, and they didn’t put a lot of effort into chasing us away. To answer an often asked question, the interior was white, the underside of the hatches were OD.Tank is still on display in Wolcott CT if any readers live in NE USA.
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Only if you’re talking about the prototypes/trials vehicles.
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Yes, The Sherman Tank Site (clever name) is the one I was thinking of.
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Thanks everybody for the info! I completely forgot about value gear. I briefly checked out the website and it looks promising.
One more question… what shade/number olive drab is typically used? I didn’t know there were so many different types
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The Army Ground Forces color was OD No.9. OD 41, and OD ANA 613 are USAAC/USAAF colors. Any Federal Standard numbered shades of OD are post Korean War
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I thought the OD changed from the start to the end of the war?
The instructions say mig 926, which is equivalent to Atom - Olive Drab, Fs34087
….but how often to the instructions call out the right color?
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IIRC, there was a pre war shade of OD, but I don’t recall its’ number call out at the moment. The WWII color was one of a series of colors specified by the Army for painting of vehicles. Here is a copy of the chart paint chips that also has their closest match of post war Federal Standard Color numbers
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I finally decided on the paint colors! Now markings…. I was gonna do the 4th armored division which is Patton’s division i think, unfortunately i couldn’t find and decal sheets that i liked so im going with the 8th armored
Something about the big white star in the circle really gets my attention
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4th Armored Division was one of several armored divisions that served in Patton’s 3rd Army in Western Europe. 2nd Armored Division was in his 7th Army in Sicily.
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I really gotta do more research!
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French 2nd Armored Division also was part of Patton’s 3rd Army during the Liberation of Paris. They had some of the first M4A3 76’s and M4A3 75mm (wet) to see combat.
US Armies & Corps tended to exchange units during the Northwest European Campaign. Some stayed in a particular Army or Corps for the entire campaign, others did not.
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Unfortunately, the big white star also caught the attention of German anti tank gunners, so you see a lot of Shermans with the stars painted over or covered with mud. I’m not an expert, but the earliest photo I recall seeing an HVSS tank was captioned as December 1944. I’m sure there are readers who know the exact date and unit that received them.
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IIRC, the first ones to see combat were issued in Belgium as replacements during the Battle of the Bulge.
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Thanks! The tank in the hull down position is exactly the photo I was thinking of. I never noticed before that while the turret star has been overpainted, the hull star has not. Interesting.
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Also note about that photo that the tank still has a lot of par-al-ketone on it from shipping — those soft-edged black patches on the turret, mantlet and gun are not camouflage but PAK sprayed over the duck tape that sealed hatches, openings and all kinds of stuff. Which is also why there is a straight horizontal line under the cupola.
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That’s make complete sense why the newer versions of the m4 omitted them almost completely and instead of white stars, the painted black ones I’m assuming…. Right?
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