I recently completed this 1/72 scale World War II British Sherman Firefly VC tank, which represents the vehicle of British tank ace Douglas Kay. The build started with a resin base kit from Xingchuan Studio, augmented with a 3D-printed tank commander figure and extensive resin stowage sets produced by Black Dog.
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Fantastic model.Really great for 1.72nd scale.Well done indeed.
Richard
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That’s badass!!!
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Thank you, Richard50.
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Appreciate it! I’ve been practicing.
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Incredible model! This piece blows my mind. 1\72 periscope guards? Amazing. The finish of the tank and stowage is just outstanding. Your attention to detail and faithfulness to the photo are excellent. Fantastic job.
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Great job!
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Excellent rendering of one of the older Dragon 1/72’s, and nice subtle weathering. I just might criticize the helmets - it appears you have added Brodie Mk ll helmets when the Armoured Corps helmet (which closely resembled the Paratrooper helmet) was more common in Normandy, although, having said that, someone will undoubtedly post a pic proving me wrong! Also, the stowage, although believable, would easily fall of if it were not tied on with a rope, or netting. Aside from my nit-picking, very nice model.
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Thank you for your reply, Biggles50. Although it bears resemblance to Dragon’s model kit, this is actually a high-quality new resin model produced by a small-scale studio.
Regarding the helmet issue, I completely agree with your observation. The challenge is that I would need to purchase specialized 3D-printed British armored crew helmet components. Since I happened to have a set of 1/72 Black Dog’s WWII British resin accessory supplements, I opted to repurpose them through creative adaptation—even though this approach somewhat compromises historical accuracy. Additionally, all resin components (including the Brodie helmets) are temporarily secured with Blue Tack (a reusable adhesive compound), which allows them to be easily removed at any time. This is precisely why I didn’t add ropes to fasten them permanently.
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Thank you for your reply, SSGTOMS. The periscope guards are actually photo-etch parts – they do look incredibly realistic! The stowage items on the tank come from Black Dog’s excellent resin sets. Since they’re not permanently attached, I can freely reconfigure them however I like.
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Thank you, Dan.
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Sorry about my confusion. When I read Douglas Kay I jumped to the conclusion that it was Dragon’s, and didn’t read further. As for helmets, if I need specialized ones (ie. paratrooper, or armoured corps) they are available as soft plastic figures by Airfix/Heller, Revell/Italeri, Mars, etc. Just carefully slice off the helmets and you have plenty for a whole squadron of tanks.
Black Dog is a “one stop shopping” for stowage, but I find a lot of their sets are piles of unrealistically selected items. Value Gear Value Gear Details - 1/72 Universal/Generic Stowage Sets!
make some very good stowage sets and are cheaper than Black Dog.
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I notice the two hull ventilators are light colored - similar shade to the canvass mantlet cover. Have these been waterproofed, too, for the landings?
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Thank you for providing the precious historical photos, Jakko. Besides that, could you also help by providing more detailed images of the historical “Red 71” Firefly tank? Thank you very much! 
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Yes. They were sealed with fabric, after a length of “Cordtex” (in modern terminology: detonating cord) was taped over them. The following is from the Sherman III deep-wading instructions, but I doubt it was any different for the V:
The Cordtex was hooked up to a simple wiring harness with a plug at one end, which could be inserted into the socket in the driver’s dashboard. On coming ashore, the first thing the crew did was pull the handle to release the in- and outlet air ducts, and next they plugged in the wiring harness to detonate the Cordtex under all of the fabric covers.
“Red 71” is usually called “Carole” among modellers There is a long thread about this tank on Missing-Lynx, which contains a great deal of information about it as well as photographs.
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That’s a really good suggestion to get the helmet from plastic military model figures. By the way, I’ve worked on some clutter and debris models from this brand before.
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Thank you 
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All this detail (and research) applied to 1/72 scale. Amazing 
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My aging eyes (and hands) barely manage 1/35.
Well done and gorgeous model!!
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