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ATENÇÃO:
A publicação de qualquer imagem ou informação referentes ao nazismo, fascismo ou quaisquer outros regimes totalitários deve ser entendida como reprodução do rigor histórico e não como apologia a estes regimes, líderes ou símbolos.

M4 (75) DV Sherman medium tank (direct vision) - early - case report

Tankers!!
      Finally lets see one the most emblematic of Allied tanks, the Sherman M4 medium tank. The objective of this topic is to know the early version of this brave tank, with direct vision slots.

LST-77 off-loading M4 Sherman tanks (DV)  at Anzio, Italy, May 1944
History:
      The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most numerous battle tank used by the United States and some other Western Allies in World War II. It proved to be reliable and mobile. In spite of being outclassed by German medium and heavy tanks late in the war, the M4 Sherman was cheaper to produce and available in greater numbers.
M4 Sherman tank covering men of US 60th Infantry Regiment,
Belgium, 9 Sep 1944
     Thousands were distributed through the Lend-Lease program to the British Commonwealth and Soviet Union. The tank was named after the American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman by the British.
British Sherman tank of XIII Corps, Eighth Army
in the streets of Francofonte, Sicily, 13-14 Jul 1943
      The M4 Sherman evolved from the interim M3 Medium Tank which had its main armament in a side sponson mount. The M4 retained much of the previous mechanical design but put the main 75 mm gun in a fully traversing turret. One controversial feature, a one-axis gyrostabilizer was not precise enough to allow firing when moving but did help keep the reticle on-target, so that when the tank did stop to fire, the gun would be aimed in roughly the right direction.
      The designers stressed mechanical reliability, ease of production and maintenance, durability, standardization of parts and ammunition in a limited number of variants, and moderate size and weight. These factors combined with M4 Sherman's then-superior armor and armament outclassed German light and medium tanks of 1939-41. The M4 went on to be produced in large numbers. It spearheaded many offensives by the Western Allies after 1942.
Crew of M4A1 Sherman tank 'Eternity' (DV) checking
the tank after landing at Red Beach 2, Sicily, 10 Jul 1943
      When the M4 tank arrived in North Africa in 1942, it was superior to the lighter German long-barrel 50 mm-gunned Panzer III and short-barrel 75 mm-gunned Panzer IV. For this reason, the US Army believed the M4 would be adequate to win the war, and no pressure was exerted for further tank development. Logistical and transport restrictions, such as limitations imposed by roads, ports, and bridges, also complicated the introduction of a more capable but heavier tank.
      Tank destroyer battalions using vehicles built on the M4 hull and chassis, but with open-topped turrets and more potent high-velocity guns, also entered widespread use in the American army. Even by 1944, most M4 Shermans kept their dual purpose 75 mm M3. By 1944 and 1945, the M4 was inferior to German heavy tanks but was able to fight on with support from growing numbers of fighter-bombers and artillery pieces.
M4 Sherman DV - Notice the VVSS heavy duty suspension,
3 piece front transmission cover and direct vision slots
Rome, April, 1944.
     The relative ease of production allowed huge numbers of the M4 to be manufactured, and significant investment in tank recovery and repair units allowed disabled vehicles being repaired and returned to service. These factors combined to give the Americans numerical superiority in most battles.
M4 Sherman tanks somewhere in Europe, circa 1944-1945
The direct-vision version:
      In early M4 series production tanks, the driver and assistant driver (MG hull gunner) had emergency direct vision slots protected by armored flaps.
      Due to production tolerances, which resulted in very small gaps between the hull and the direct-vision armored flaps hinges, firing tests demonstrated that bullet splash could enter the front hull compartment and cause serious injury to the driver and assistant driver. 
A very easy explanation about the differences
between the DV and Periscope glacis
as published in Armorama, in 2009.
      To overcome the bullet splash problem, the Ordnance Department originally decided to weld 3/8-inch steel armored plates to the inside of the hull-around the handles used for opening the armored flaps that covered the direct-vision slots. However, with a subsequent 2-inch-long increase of the driver and assistant driver's hatch periscope mounts, it proved almost impossible for them to make use of the direct-vision slots.
      With the non-use of direct-vision slots, so emergency measures taken to strengthen the hulls ever built, how to weld armored covers directly over the slots and apply additional armor plates on the slots.
The DV cover welded in the slots (left) and additional armor plate (right)
font: Sherman Minutia

      The Ordnance Department then took the next logical step and dropped the direct-vision slots from the M4 series design. In their place appeared a set of fixed over-head auxiliary periscopes directly in front of the hatch periscopes.
font: Sherman Minutia
      Their inclusion also eliminated the ballistics weak spot presented by the direct-vision slots in the tank's front hull.

M4 Sherman Production:
DesignationManufactureTotalDate
M4Pressed Steel Car Company
Baldwin Locomotive Works
American Locomotive Co.
Pullman-Standard Car Company
Detroit Tank Arsenal
6,784July 1942 – January 1944
M4(105)Detroit Tank Arsenal800February 1944 – March 1945
M4A1Lima Locomotive Works
Pressed Steel Car Company
Pacific Car and Foundry Company
6,281February 1942 – December 1943
M4A1(76)WPressed Steel Car Company3,246January 1944 – July 1945
M4A2Fisher Tank Arsenal
Pullman-Standard Car Company
American Locomotive Co.
Baldwin Locomotive Works
Federal Machine and Welder Co.
8,053April 1942 – May 1944
M4A2(76)WFisher Tank Arsenal
Pressed Steel Car Company
2,915April 1944 – May 1945
M4A3Ford Motor Company1,690June 1942 – September 1943
M4A3(105)Detroit Tank Arsenal500May 1944 – June 1945
M4A3(75)WFisher Tank Arsenal3,071February 1944 – March 1945
M4A3(76)WFisher Tank Arsenal
Detroit Tank Arsenal
9,924March 1944 – April 1945
M4A3E2Fisher Tank Arsenal254June 1944 – July 1944
M4A3E8 (76)Detroit Tank Arsenal
Fisher Tank Arsenal
3,142August 1944
M4A3E8 (105)Detroit Tank Arsenal2,539September 1944
M4A4Detroit Tank Arsenal7,499July 1942 – November 1943
M4A6Detroit Tank Arsenal75October 1943 – February 1944
Specs:

     Medium Tank, M4
TypeMedium tank
Place of origin                                                                            United States
   Service history
In service1942–1957 (United States)
Used by       United States and many others
        Production history
DesignerU.S. Army Ordnance Department
Designed1940
Manufacturer                                          
ProducedSeptember 1941 (prototype)
February 1942 – July 1945
No. built49,234, excluding prototype
VariantsSee U.S. variants and 
foreign variants
Specifications
Mass30.3 - 38.1 ton dep. variant
Length5.84 - 6.27m depe. variant
Width2.62m - 3.00m dep. variant
Height2.74 - 2.97m depending variant
Crew5 (commander, gunner, loader, driver, assistant driver/bow gunner)

Armor12.7 to 177.8mm depending on location and variant
Main
armament
75mm gun M3 (90–104 rounds) or
76mm gun M1A1, M1A1C, or M1A2 (71 rounds) or
105mm howitzer M4 (66 rounds)
Secondary
armament
.50 caliber Browning M2HB
machine gun (300–600 rounds),
.30 caliber Browning M1919A4 
machine guns (6,000–6,750 rounds)
EngineM4 and M4A1 model:

Continental R975-C1 or -C4 

9 cylinder radial gasoline

350 or 400 hp at 2,400 rpm

M4A2 model: General Motors 6046 twin inline

diesel; 375 hp at 2,100 rpm

M4A3 model: Ford GAA V8 gasoline; 450 hp at 2,600 rpm

M4A4 model: Chrysler A57 multibank gasoline; 370 hp at 2,400 rpm

M4A6 model: Caterpillar D-200A(Wright RD-1820)
9 cylinder radial diesel engine; 450 hp at 2,400 rpm
Power/weight10.5–13.5 hp/ton 

TransmissionSpicer manual synchromesh 
transmission, 5 forward and
1 reverse gears
SuspensionVertical volute spring suspension (VVSS) or horizontal volute spring suspension (HVSS)
Fuel capacity520–660 liters 
Operational
range
160–240 km on road 
Maximum speed          35–48 km/h on road

The kits:
      For this project, I used two olds kits stocked in my catacomb of kits: a M4 Sherman Tamiya #35190 and a TWS M4 Early welded Sherman hull #350076 resin conversion kit:
M4 Sherman Tamiya #35190
The Tamiya chassis...
...and the TWS upper hull.I decided to make some modifications in the upper hull: I´ll change the pattern of weld lines (green arrow) and modify the antenna base to the Pullman Standard for Baldwin (red) and and removing the rim of the machine gun cover (blue). See below:

surgeries in the hull
Using Tamiya parts in the TWS upper hull...
The plasticard strips will be the future welding lines
Making welding markings with soldering iron
Done..
      Continuing the building...Tamiya and TWS parts...

Adding lifting rings in the mantlet (red) and
removing the mortar aperture in the turret (green)
Metal gun barrel from RB Models.(#35B03)
      Primer...

      And Olive drab:







Tonal variations on the base color ...


Tamiya decal HURRICANE becoming ERICA
Decals with Future (or Pledge)



Clay made with pigment and gypsum (testing...)





       M4 Sherman medium tank - DV (early) ERICA - U.S. Fifth Army (VI Corps), unidentified unit - Anzio, Italy, 1944.
M4 Sherman medium tank - DV (early) - ERICA
unidentified unit - Italy, 1944.
M4 Sherman medium tank - DV (early) - left side


M4 Sherman medium tank - DV (early) - right side


M4 Sherman medium tank - DV (early) - ERICA
unidentified unit - Italy, 1944.
Stay tuned on our Bunker !!!

3 comentários:

  1. Hi Marcos. Again a very nice kit and a very good job on this Sherman but I have a little question : where are Kojak and Rover ???

    ResponderExcluir
  2. Hi, Alain...I´m in vacation, in Spain...and I am publishing old cases in the Bunker.
    At this time, Kojak was in "plastic surgery" ... and Rover had not yet arrived.
    As soon as I return to workbench, Kojak and Rover reappear ...
    Big hug, my friend !!!

    ResponderExcluir
  3. Love the site Marcos!
    I'm adding you to my links!

    ResponderExcluir