Sherman Jumbo

Pithead recently brought out a Sherman Jumbo model - Pithead are 10mm models mostly in metal (a few trucks are resin or part resin). I have a lot of Pithead as they are nice models and great value, but also are a reasonably large 10mm so they fit in with 1/144 scale pretty well even for the larger tanks.

I have been after the Sherman Jumbo for a while as I already have models for the other variants I want to use. I did get some Pendraken models a while back, plus I did an earlier post on them, but they are noticeably small compared to 1/144 Shermans and although the detailing was nice I still wanted a model more in keeping with my other models (particularly for something with 'jumbo' in the name).

First some pictures of the completed models and then some size comparisons including a look back at the Pendraken version. I have also included at the end a brief overview of some of the things I did making the tanks.

This one includes stowage from the stowage and crew set you can buy with a tank (as an add on extra not to be bought separately). I did not add the crew figure as it comes with open hatches moulded on and it is the wrong sort of hatch for the Jumbo and I will be using him on M4A3 Shermans.

Now comparing to a Takara M4A3 Sherman. On height the Pithead model compares well and is just slightly narrower and slightly shorter. On single dimensions the differences are not large but the overall effect is less bulk to the vehicles but unless they are sat right next to each other it is not at all noticeable for gaming.

Comparing to the Arrowhead 1/144 Easy Eight it again matches up well with the main difference here being on the width.

A quick reminder of the Pendraken model and a comparison with a Takara M4A3. I no longer have the model so can't directly compare with the Pithead version but you can see pretty easily that it is much smaller.

I don't normally discuss making Pithead models but I just wanted to cover a couple of things. First the turrets. The turret is hollowed out inside and has a pin to sit in the hull that does not project far beyond the turret bottom so it sits loosely on top of the hull.

Sorry about the terrible photo but I hope it is at least clear that from a rear view you can see daylight from the front of the turret because of the hollowing out given the rear of the turret slopes up.

I cut off the pin and filled the inside of the turrets with milliput.

I then drilled a hole and glued in a piece of brass rod.

My favourite Jumbo is actually one that came with the wrong hull - an M4A3 hull. I added the extra side armour by cutting out and gluing on some thin plasticard. I added the girder piece across the bottom of the front glacis from some Takara bits. The MG was a stump so I drilled out and added a new one cut from a pin and finally added some stowage from the Pithead stowage set.

So it is quite easy to convert a hull for a Jumbo but the turret is a different matter!


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