When I was a kid I used to build models, mostly planes. A few years back when I needed something to distract me I built a couple of small tank models. Recently, due to the bad influence of a friend, I bought my first 1/35 scale tank model. It’s a Sherman Firefly, which is a standard US Sherman modified by the British to fit their high velocity 17pdr cannon. These tanks saw service in the last couple of years of WW2 and were highly valued because they were pretty much the only allied tank that could engage German armour at range and expect to destroy them.

The one I built is a Dragon Models 1:35 Sherman Firefly 1C Hybrid. The nomenclature means that the tank looked liked a Sherman M4A1 (Sherman II) which had a cast hull from the front and an M4 (Sherman 1) which had a welded hull from the rear. The marrying up of the cast front hull and the welded rear hull gives rise to the “hybrid” term. The “C” means the tank was armed with the 17pdr which incidentally was a 76mm weapon. Anyway, enough geeky tank stuff. I promised my partner that if I bought this model that I’d actually finish it. And so I did. You can see it below. I decided to mark it up as a New Zealand tank even though I am not sure that any Firefly 1C’s actually served with that country’s forces in WW2. I could only find reference to Firefly VC’s (based on the Sherman M4A4) serving with New Zealand in Italy. Who cares though, I am not a scale modelling fanatic.

1:35 Sherman Firefly 1C Hybrid

I had a good time building and painting this model, enough of a good time that I’m going to do another. There’s some paint chipping and weathering stuff I didn’t try on this tank because I didn’t want to ruin it. So I’ll ruin the next one trying those out. The next one is going to be a British M4A2 (Sherman III) with a two colour disruptive paint scheme and loaded down with some extra stowage to make it a bit more unique.