World War II Project - Trenchworx M4A1 76mm Sherman

As Reaper Con continues to loom larger in the sites I decided that I would like to have at least two armor entries. I was going to bring the MadBob German armor that I finished some time ago but I think I can do better. For this effort I'm going to paint up the Trenchworx M4A1 76mm Sherman and the M18 Hellcat. I figured I could do these at the same time without much of a problem. While I know I just received a Company B M4A3 Sherman, I decided I should opt for a Trenchworx kit as I think its a better casting.

The resin casting on the Trenchworx kit is really superb, although I can still see the 3D printing bands from the master model. They are pretty fine though so I'm confident that the primer and subsequent paint work will make them disappear. The casting lines on these are pretty much non-existent and the method used to cast the tracks means there are no mold lines going right down the middle of the tracks. There is one channel mark and it was easily dealt with.

The white metal parts are, for the most part, very crisp and well cast. I did have issues with the .30 cal MG, which looks like it slipped in the mold. I cleaned it up but I really should contact Trenchworx about a replacement, I'm just not sure there is time for that so I'm going with what I got. Also the driver side front fender didn't cast well, it almost looked like it cracked while it cooled. I'm going to go ahead and break it off before I prime as damage to these fenders was pretty common. Since this part of the fender is pewter you could easily thin it out and bend it if you like.

During the assembly I found that the driver's hatch might be a little small and the radio operator's hatch is a little big, that one took a little work to get a nice fit. Other than that it went together quite easily. At this point it is by far the best resin tank kit I have assembled. 

So here is where today's work progressed:

The parts straight from the bag, look pretty darn good at this point. Just a little flash on the inside of the tracks, easily dealt with using a nice sharp knife.

Dry fitting, always dry fit first!

Some really nice detail on the back of the hull

The white metal parts all cleaned up

Starting the assembly. You have to glue on the front fenders before you glue the tracks in place. You can get them in there after gluing the tracks in but I found a needed to make a couple of small adjustments for a good fit so this was much easier to do before the tracks were attached.

Here you can make out the crack in the fender casting

Turret all assembled. I have a Company B commander to go in the open hatch

Rare earth magnets to help hold the turret in place. Got the polarity right the first time!

All ready for some primer. I'll build up the M18 before I do that though.