I had a thread on her before, IIRC, but due to life I took about a 4 year tank modeling hiatus, and it fell into the archives.

I started working on it in February 2018, after receiving Brad Pitt as a Valentine's Day gift.


The lower hull and suspension are from Tamiya, the upper hull is from Taigen, the turret is a blend of 3 different turrets.







As she sits today.






Screen accurate serial number made with 1mm brass numbers.


More in progress pics when I can find them.

I was going for screen accurate, not historically accurate. Therefore, Fury had to be converted from a M4A3E8, to a M4A2E8. This involved replacing the exhaust and engine deck. The original plan was that the stowage would hide the engine deck, so I left it as is. And of course,  now I discover that the A2 deck is visible on screen. So I have a replacement deck coming from Shapeways. And since I'm going for screen accurate,  the TCB has the sounds of the M4A3 GAA engine instead of the A2s diesel.

First, the tracks. Fury had rubber T84 tracks, which weren't in use until post war. These were one of the most difficult parts of the build. The company that made them, Impact, stopped. Luckily, they still had sets using the same track pad, but for the M26 Pershing. This meant the guide horns and end connectors wouldn't work on the Sherman sprocket and road wheels.

Out came the pliers. I disassembled both the aftermarket tracks and the kit tracks. I used only the track pads, and after cleaning up horrible flash, reassembled one set using the Impact track pads with the kit guide horns and end connectors.


My hands hurt for days.


Pershing tracks on top, my custom track in the middle, and the kit track on bottom

The middle right bogey on Fury had skeletonized arms. I used the Dremel, followed by hand files to open up the kit arms. I only opened up the top section, since the other isn't visible, and I wanted to make sure I didn't weaken the suspension too much.



All the kit Philips screws were replaced with tiny hex bolts.

Amazing

Yep.  Not much else to say.

You've got incredible skills OP.

Awesome job!

Wow!  That is seriously impressive work, OP.  I used to build models but as a kid, just did the regular painting and building, long before I saw how people did weathering to make the kits look "used" and more real world.  

Very Nice

Outstanding attention to detail.

The .50 cal.
Barrel, Tamiya base, with Aber brass upgrades and Live Resin ammo belt.

Impressive.

Beauty..!!!

The detail on that is amazing.  That machine gun looks really good.  Makes me want to watch the movie again.

Awesome!

New, correct engine deck arrived yesterday.

I have to change this


To this, stupid tiny pic.


Hard to see, but the engine doors are different,  and there are more filler caps on the A2 deck.

Yeah, definitely a different style to the doors.  How many hours do you have in this so far, do you know?  This makes me want to build something, but my attention span is for shit any more.  

I've got a Battlestar Galactica Viper kit from the newer series that I'd like to get a light kit for to illuminate the dash and engines.  One that is out there has a "flicker" effect wired in to the engine LED's so they look like a jet engine burn.  Need to look online for it again.

I've never tracked hours. Probably 3-4 a day, not counting waiting for bits and bobs to arrive, about 150 to 200 so far. A lot was correcting things I'd already done, but had to take an educated guess about, only to, of course, find a clear image of whatever it was soon after I'd done it.

Got the rest of the stash out of storage today. This is the Tub O' Shermans. It "should" have enough to build 5 full tanks.


The cardboard boxes are all conversion kits to make various M4 versions. The original plan was to build the entire platoon frum Fury, including the lieutenant's tank, Matador. However only one or two of the tanks were actually models used by the US in the ETO, and I prefer historical accuracy, and Fury itself is as far as I'm willing to go with the inaccuracies,  so that plan is gone, and they'll be finished as historically accurate tanks. But I am thinking about getting the Tamiya Tiger I, and building it as Tiger 131, painted as it was for Fury.


ETA:
There's a King Tiger in the wooden crate.

Damn, you DO have a lot of kits and parts!  lol  

We don't have any model kit places where I live, the nearest is in Jefferson City, MO, and is a Hobby Lobby.  Stopped in there a couple of months back to look around and they've got a halfway decent model aisle.  Looks like one is coming to my area too.  Hope so!

I've decided that when the fictional, historically inaccurate, Fury is complete,  I'll build one of the two known actual Fury tanks, which was (most probably) an early small hatch M4, seen here during the Normandy campaign, during Operation Cobra.