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Dragon M4A3E8 'Thunderbolt VII'
Teacher
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Posted: Thursday, September 14, 2006 - 10:26 PM UTC
Pat McGrath builds and paints the new Dragon M4A3E8 ''Thunderbolt VII'' and gives us the low down! Thanks Pat!

M4A3E8 'Thunderbolt VII' - Full Build



If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!
kevinb120
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Posted: Friday, September 15, 2006 - 07:35 AM UTC
It looks good! I have two questions though: is the .50 mounted correctly on the loaders coupola/hatch? I thought it was behind it. And from what I understand, the long stand-off of the hull side-armor was a unique feature of Thunderbolt 7, I have seen a couple albeit lousy pictures and have a color plate rendering with the armor even with the fender edges with all fender brackets hidden behind it, and other up-armored ones with the near-flush side armor with the cutouts for them, such as the artwork on the box that has it(with the incorrect oval hatch as well). Ironically the color plate has the proper armor types with the wrong hatch as well....

And I also did the barrel thing, gluing it into the mantlet first
exer
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Posted: Friday, September 15, 2006 - 02:17 PM UTC

Quoted Text

I have two questions though: is the .50 mounted correctly on the loaders coupola/hatch? I thought it was behind it. And from what I understand, the long stand-off of the hull side-armor was a unique feature of Thunderbolt 7, I have seen a couple albeit lousy pictures and have a color plate rendering with the armor even with the fender edges with all fender brackets hidden behind it, as well....



The Split hatch could revolve so the MG could be at the front too. I have a screen grab from a History Channel documentary that shows the .50 in this position which I can send you if you pm me your email.
It also shows the fender braces over then armour. The other references I used were the photos of Thunderbolt VII on page 59 of Sherman at War (2) one of which is taken from the rear and shows the side armour having about half the depth of the fender.
kevinb120
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Posted: Friday, September 15, 2006 - 09:56 PM UTC
That coupola makes sense. Then the mount could be swiveled around so the gun sits on its resting bracket like the kit shows. How the heck did you stand in the hatch and fire it without leaning as far back as possible? I did the amor as the kit has it. The refferences are so hard to come by for this tank and I am not really a Sherman fan so I have never bought any literature on it for the only one I'll probably build. After 7 Thunderbolts I guess Abrams never really felt the need to take a bunch of pictures of it I was going to trim the armor away from the braces like the box art but the colorplate showed otherwise.

I guess it will just stay as it is at this point. Even the typical refferences seemed to be at odds with each other I just gave up and started building for the Aces campaign as I have bigger fish to fry and need this done asap.
AlanL
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Posted: Friday, September 15, 2006 - 10:31 PM UTC
Hi Pat,

Thanks for a very useful and indepth review.

Lovely build sir.

Cheers

Al
kevinb120
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Posted: Saturday, September 16, 2006 - 07:30 AM UTC
To not start another T7 thread-I am now finishing the tracks which are the all steel version from the kit. How rusty should these suckas be? They are in base coat gunmetal now. I was thinking only a minor mottling overcoat with rust, a black sludge wash, then steel drybrushing the contact points. The tank is going to be in pretty fair condition.

And thanks for the heads up Pat! Its a little late for me to alter anything, but the info you have is super helpful for anyone not started yet! I keep seing the mythbusters 'confirmed' armor 'plate' in my head now :-)
barron
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Posted: Saturday, September 16, 2006 - 05:32 PM UTC
Thanks for the review and the tips Pat.
exer
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Posted: Sunday, September 17, 2006 - 05:24 PM UTC

Quoted Text

To not start another T7 thread-I am now finishing the tracks which are the all steel version from the kit. How rusty should these suckas be? They are in base coat gunmetal now. I was thinking only a minor mottling overcoat with rust, a black sludge wash, then steel drybrushing the contact points. The tank is going to be in pretty fair condition.


How much rust?
Oh no I don't want the anti rust police after me. :-)
It's up to you and what surface your tank is on. On a hard surface like a paved road in dry weather not much rust, in a wet field then sure rust and mud but how much is up to you.
armordreamer
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Posted: Saturday, September 30, 2006 - 03:29 AM UTC
Pat,
Thanks for your great work on the Thunderbolt.
I just want to ask. What references can I source out aside from S. Zaloga's M4 Sherman at war (2) to get more pics of the thunderbolt?
Also, are the added armor given the same color as the tank's body or are the weld cuts discoloration visible under the paint? Any take on that?
Thanks again.
Ed
exer
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Posted: Saturday, September 30, 2006 - 04:58 AM UTC
Hi Edmund
There is some footage of Thunderbolt VII in some of the History Channelo videos - sorry I don't know which ones.
I don't know of any other books containing different photos of Thunderbolt VII than the ones in Sherman at War (2)
If you click on the my photos button at the bottom of this post there are some screen grabs of Thunderbolt I was sent. I can't see any discolouration on the welds. My impression is that when the armour was added on the whole tank got a new coat of paint. I think they would have paid special attention to the welds as they rust very fast if not protected by paint.
jlmurc
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Posted: Saturday, September 30, 2006 - 05:23 AM UTC
Thanks Pat for a well written interesting log of your build as I dont know much about Shermans, I think that the final result is excellent.

John
armordreamer
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Posted: Saturday, September 30, 2006 - 08:02 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Edmund
There is some footage of Thunderbolt VII in some of the History Channelo videos - sorry I don't know which ones.
I don't know of any other books containing different photos of Thunderbolt VII than the ones in Sherman at War (2)
If you click on the my photos button at the bottom of this post there are some screen grabs of Thunderbolt I was sent. I can't see any discolouration on the welds. My impression is that when the armour was added on the whole tank got a new coat of paint. I think they would have paid special attention to the welds as they rust very fast if not protected by paint.


Thank very much Pat. I'll look for those videos and will check your screen grabs.
I already made one uparmored M4A3E8 modified from the DML 1/35 Korean War kit. I'll post it one of these days.
regards.
Edmund
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