Grant CDL in 1:35

[Jakko]

Here is the mostly complete engine deck:



Minus the stowage bins I’ve been talking about, of course, that Takom forgot:

(photo via John Tapsell)

All three are visible in that photo: an angled one on the front mudguard (it should also have a lid, missing here), a triangular one at the rear of the superstructure and a rectangular one behind.

The three bins Takom does supply are at the left rear of the superstructure, which is missing two tabs that hold it to the tank (the bits of white strip I added) and the two oddly-shaped ones on the rear corners. From these, it’s obvious that the sides of the overhanging part of the engine deck are too short: there was a gap between the two sides of the brackets holding the bins to the hull, so I filled it with a little plastic strip. The kit’s fire extinguishers were replaced by some leftover from Asuka Sherman kits, because they’re a little bit better in appearance.

Now let’s get geeky … notice the fuel filler cap covers. Takom supplies them like this:



If you look closely at my model, though, you can see I cut the pins short. This is because the long, curved pins are a feature of the M4 Sherman, not the M3 Lee/Grant, which almost invariably had short pins. Cutting the parts off just before the bend solves this nicely. (These pins hold the lids closed: pulling them out allows the lids to hinge open. The pins were retained by short chains, but I don’t think my modelling skills are up to adding those, given that I have nothing suitably to represent them with )

 

[Jakko]

Now for those stowage bins Takom didn’t have the heart to include … Always fun, scratchbuilding stuff that slopes in all directions Armed with some photographs, my model and a ruler, I first drew plans of the bins:



The rear right bin will serve nicely as an example of how to build something like this. After copying the drawing to some 0.5 mm plastic card, remembering to take off the card’s thickness, I cut out the parts and put them together:



I made the two side panels to the full 30 mm length, but reduced their height by 0.5 mm to account for the top plate. The front and rear plates were similarly lowered by 0.5 mm but also made 1 mm narrower, because of the thickness of the two sides.

Getting them square is made easier by glueing square rod in the corners, as you can see in the photo.

I didn’t bother cutting the top plate to size — in fact, it’s smarter to not do that. By sticking on plate that is clearly too large:



… you can trim it to size with knife and file when the glue is dry. This way, you don’t have to get its size exactly right, so it’s far simpler to build. And after trimming it, you can’t tell the difference:



Next, I sanded all sides of the box to get rid of the file marks. After that, I glued 0.5 × 0.25 mm strip around the top to form the edges of the lid of the box:



This uses the same technique: cut strips that are a bit too long and glue them so they overhang one edge, then trim the remainder off once the glue has dried. This, though, leaves a groove around the top of the box, which I needed to fill with putty:



That was then sanded smooth again, after which I could add the hinges and catches that keep the lid closed:



The hinges are just little bits of 0.1 mm plastic card with a stretched sprue bit at the top, while the catches are 0.5 × 0.5 mm strip with a bit of thin copper wire (from an electrical cable) bent into a rectangle glued around it.

And on the model:



The bin that Takom does provide, by the way, has catches that look like this:



These represent eyes attached to the box, over which a hinged flap goes to secure the bin. However, photos of the CDL in India show the kind of catch that goes over a hook on the edge of the lid and is then snapped down, which my effort tries to replicate. So, I cut off the catches on the kit bin and replaced them too:

 

[langy71]

Some serious scratchery going on with this build Jakko, excellent work dude..

 

[scottie3158]

Jakko,
Some lovely detail work. I guess details on kits is dependent on which particular vehicle they can use as reference. Given that 3 museums may have 3 different versions of the same vehicle including omissions, field mods etc.

 

[Jim R]

Excellent additions Jakko. Not too difficult to get an accurate correction with your straightforward methods.
I suppose kit makers work from museum exhibits rather than photos and as Scottie says they often do have omissions and inaccuracies.

 

[Jack L]

Now for those stowage bins Takom didn’t have the heart to include … Always fun, scratchbuilding stuff that slopes in all directions Armed with some photographs, my model and a ruler, I first drew plans of the bins:

View attachment 473469

The rear right bin will serve nicely as an example of how to build something like this. After copying the drawing to some 0.5 mm plastic card, remembering to take off the card’s thickness, I cut out the parts and put them together:

View attachment 473471

I made the two side panels to the full 30 mm length, but reduced their height by 0.5 mm to account for the top plate. The front and rear plates were similarly lowered by 0.5 mm but also made 1 mm narrower, because of the thickness of the two sides.

Getting them square is made easier by glueing square rod in the corners, as you can see in the photo.

I didn’t bother cutting the top plate to size — in fact, it’s smarter to not do that. By sticking on plate that is clearly too large:

View attachment 473470

… you can trim it to size with knife and file when the glue is dry. This way, you don’t have to get its size exactly right, so it’s far simpler to build. And after trimming it, you can’t tell the difference:

View attachment 473472

Next, I sanded all sides of the box to get rid of the file marks. After that, I glued 0.5 × 0.25 mm strip around the top to form the edges of the lid of the box:

View attachment 473473

This uses the same technique: cut strips that are a bit too long and glue them so they overhang one edge, then trim the remainder off once the glue has dried. This, though, leaves a groove around the top of the box, which I needed to fill with putty:

View attachment 473474

That was then sanded smooth again, after which I could add the hinges and catches that keep the lid closed:

View attachment 473476View attachment 473477

The hinges are just little bits of 0.1 mm plastic card with a stretched sprue bit at the top, while the catches are 0.5 × 0.5 mm strip with a bit of thin copper wire (from an electrical cable) bent into a rectangle glued around it.

And on the model:

View attachment 473478

The bin that Takom does provide, by the way, has catches that look like this:

View attachment 473475

These represent eyes attached to the box, over which a hinged flap goes to secure the bin. However, photos of the CDL in India show the kind of catch that goes over a hook on the edge of the lid and is then snapped down, which my effort tries to replicate. So, I cut off the catches on the kit bin and replaced them too:

View attachment 473479

Great looking final finish!! Instead of adding the plastic strip to form the edge of the lid, could you not use and appropriately sized straight edge to give a lip? Saves you an extra couple of steps?

 

[Mickc1440]

Lovely scratch work Jakko

 

[Jakko]

Thanks, guys

I guess details on kits is dependent on which particular vehicle they can use as reference. Given that 3 museums may have 3 different versions of the same vehicle including omissions, field mods etc.

I suppose kit makers work from museum exhibits rather than photos and as Scottie says they often do have omissions and inaccuracies.

Normally, I would agree. However, there is exactly one known Grant CDL left in the world (the one in India shown earlier), and the hull of what is probably another (in Pakistan). The safe bet would have been to take the details from the one you know is still in existence. But then, this kit feels like it took some shortcuts anyway: I get the impression Takom designed an American CDL tank, and then decided to do a British one as well but were only aware of a few of the changes needed.

Instead of adding the plastic strip to form the edge of the lid, could you not use and appropriately sized straight edge to give a lip? Saves you an extra couple of steps?

Making the top plate the right size to overhang the sides, you mean? It will save steps but it’s much harder to get right. You would have to accurately cut the plate to be slightly larger than the box, and then position it so it overhangs all sides equally. The method I showed above may be a little more work, but it’s less fiddly and requires a lot less accuracy in cutting and positioning, which is why I prefer it

 

[Jack L]

Thanks, guys



Normally, I would agree. However, there is exactly one known Grant CDL left in the world (the one in India shown earlier), and the hull of what is probably another (in Pakistan). The safe bet would have been to take the details from the one you know is still in existence. But then, this kit feels like it took some shortcuts: I get the impression Takom designed an American CDL tank, and then decided to do a British one as well but were only aware of a few of the changes needed.


Making the top plate the right size to overhang the sides, you mean? It will save steps but it’s much harder to get right. You would have to accurately cut the plate to be slightly larger than the box, and then position it so it overhangs all sides equally. The method I showed above may be a little more work, but it’s less fiddly and requires a lot less accuracy in cutting and positioning, which is why I prefer it

Fair enough. Never done scratch like this so just trying to learn!

 

[Jakko]

Asking questions is a good way to get knowledge, so feel free

 

[Jakko]

The box at the front is the hardest to make because its shape turns out to be very convoluted:



The gun mantlet would probably have had a canvas dust cover over it, but I don’t like epoxy putty, so I didn’t feel like all the kneading and sculpting it needs, and I decided to instead fit only the mounting strips. I also added the lamps and electrical leads for them (the MiniArt kit’s instructions are an excellent guide for where to put these, as they actually tell you to make them from copper wire). The brush guards around the headlights still need to be fitted, and also the siren in front of the bin.

CDLs, both British and American, usually had a black-out headlight on the glacis that’s not on standard M3 tanks:



I added a lamp from the spares box, which still needs its blackout hood added, and also a brush guard over it. On the real tank, the electrical lead for this light went to the same opening in the armour as for the normal lights, which had a T-piece added — represented here by 0.5 mm brass tube.

 

[scottie3158]

the good work continues.

 

[Jakko]

And to think I took this kit from the stash because I wanted a quick, straight from the box model …

 

[Jim R]

And to think I took this kit from the stash because I wanted a quick, straight from the box model …

Oh dear Jakko. That was never going to happen. Anyway the thread is much more interesting when you dig deep into research and make the corrections

 

[Neil Merryweather]

And to think I took this kit from the stash because I wanted a quick, straight from the box model …

Know that feeling...

 

[Jakko]

Yeah, it was unlikely, I agree Had this been a MiniArt kit then I probably could have built it as-is, I suspect — as I think I said before, I already like their M3 series better than Takom’s. But if you want a kit that builds reasonably quickly, the Takom ones are the better choice, I suppose.

Oh, and something else I discovered, thanks to the source supplying me with photographs of real CDL tanks: if you want to build a Grant CDL too, but don’t feel like scratchbuilding any more boxes than you need to, there was at least one that had the standard American M3 stowage boxes on both sides of the rear hull:


(via Leife Hulbert)

This is T39358, probably in India in 1946 (is my guess), and it has the two wedge-shaped boxes on the rear that Takom does supply, also the triangular bin on the superstructure and the front mudguard bin, but not the awkward bin that has no two corners at the same angle The Grant CDL kit even includes full parts for the two boxes this vehicle has.

 

[Allen Dewire]

This is really cool Jakko!!! Sorry I haven't commented sooner, but I am US tank illiterate and learn more following your builds. It's great to sit back and watch you do your magic and scratchy too. I also see there is really no such thing as OOTB if you want to portray an accurate vehicle. You gotta love it...

Prost
Allen

 

[Jakko]

Not if you want a British CDL, anyway Maybe the American one is (more) accurate from the box, but though I would kind of like to have one too as a companion to this, I’ve got enough other kits to make first before I get round to that …

Talking of making models more accurate …



I added the siren, the brush guards around the lights, and other details. Oddly, all three brush guards are supplied in the kit, even though the black-out light itself isn’t. Maybe that is in the American version and you get the same etched fret in both? In any case, it saved me from scratchbuilding it (not that that is overly hard).

The three brackets on the glacis are simply bits cut from another left-over fret. I’m not sure what they’re for — they appear on all Grant CDLs I’ve seen the front of in photos, but there is never anything in them. The tow cable would be the obvious thing to put in it, but that has a good place on the engine deck, and the official stowage diagrams also put it there rather than on the hull front.

The little white bit of strip at the left front of the roof is also visible in any photo of a CDL that shows this side, and is entirely missing from the kit. Again, no idea what it’s actually for, but it’s quick and simple to make

Oh yeah, and you may notice I replaced the grab handles above the doors by some 0.5 mm copper wire, for strength.

 

[scottie3158]

The only thing I could think of would be an extension/umbilical lead to connect to vehicles electrically.

 

[Jakko]

Could be for the arc light, yes. Unfortunately, I’ve not seen a stowage diagram showing the front, because I suppose that would have the answer.