More lockdown production, this time a Sherman Hybrid with a 17pdr gun that I thought was a Firefly, but isn’t. Well it’s gun is a Firefly 17 pdr gun but the actual tank is a regular Sherman. Another forum had to point it out to me. I was a bit surprised as I bought the kit to fit into my Firefly additions but I soon realized the hull is shorter than the PSC Fireflies I was building at the same time!
The kit is great. I really like Unimodel kits. More detail, some cool photo etch to mess around with and drop on the floor, and plenty of decals. The spares from this one I used on my PSC Fireflies (see previous post). All turrets can be modelled open so I included an AB commander in the turret hatch and decapitated two other plastic dudes for the hull hatches. Just their little scones sticking out catching a glimpse of what big cats were up ahead. The link and length tracks and bogey wheels are excellent. Even a bit of photo etch on the bogies. They are definitely more challenging than other kits and well worth it if you are looking for something more involved. I find buying direct from the Ukraine is far better value than any other hobby store.
Painted in olive drab with a dark wash is all you need to do. I do not bother with chips and scratches on dark green vehicles. Maybe i should try it. Next up I have three Esci Churchills ready to go, perhaps they will be more beaten up than this Sherman.
Colonel Mustard 
The IC was just as much a “firefly” as the VCs were. The nickname “firefly” was most commonly used for 17pdr M10s, and only occasionally used for Shermans (either IC or VC). It was never an official name for either version of the 17pdr Sherman, and the name wasn’t generally used by the crews.
So yes, it’s wrong to call a Sherman IC a “firefly”, but it’s just as wrong to call a VC a “firefly” too. The name “firefly” or “mayfly” was far more regularly used for refer to 17pdr tank destroyers, although even there it wasn’t official and seems to have mostly been used by infantrymen rather than the crews themselves. If anything the name “firefly” seems to have attached itself the 17pdr gun itself, not any one particular vehicle.
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Cool Andy so i am not wrong using my IC as the extra firepower to go with my cromwells then.
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Not 100% sure about that, but ICs were certainly used by some units in the late war. What armoured recce regiments had available varied widely from division to division.
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Very nice non-Firefly then! 🙂 Andy’s comments were all news to me as well, so it’s nice to learn a bit more!
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Yes i am always happy to learn! Good thing no one checks my decals as they are totally random and just what i think looks good! Unrelated to historical accuracy.
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Very nice tank you’ve got there.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Thanks Pete i have been in building mode and trying to get the pile of kits down. Have 4 Churchills coming up and 5 Cromwells (Revell, Armourfast, Esci and Airfix). Its a British Armour production line! Fighting Covid19 one tank at a time.
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That’s a nice looking model. I’m not expert, though I did march several miles in a parade once directly behind a Sherman tank once, and I see what you mean given the length of that barrel. No shortage of armored experts here though, so it is good that it got sorted out. 🙂
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Nice tank – and worth a look too.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Firefly
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