Sherman Firefly Mk Ic (Hybrid) - some questions......

[Chris Preston]

'Evening All,

I'm building a 1/ 16th scale Sherman Firefly Mk Ic (Hybrid) and have a couple of "detail" questions for the more knowledgeable Sherman types here.

Q.1. Did British/Commonwealth Sherman Fireflies retain the siren mounted beside the left front headlight and guard when converted into Fireflies?

Q.2. Were the Pioneer Tools mounted on the rear hull held down with leather straps and buckles, or web straps, and if leather, was the leather left in a natural colour or tinted a green?


Cheers,

Chris Preston,
Victoria, BC
Canada

[TJ Hall]

Good day Chris
None of the research I have ever done on the Firefly Shermans shows the siren intact. In the case of straps you would have probably seen both the web and leather straps. I suspect you would have seen more of the web type straps on the outside of the vehicle. I hope this helps and good luck with the model.

Cheers
Todd

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by TJ Hall

Good day Chris
None of the research I have ever done on the Firefly Shermans shows the siren intact. In the case of straps you would have probably seen both the web and leather straps. I suspect you would have seen more of the web type straps on the outside of the vehicle. I hope this helps and good luck with the model.

Cheers
Todd

Welcome TJ! You've belonged since 2017 and this was your first post. Getting shut in must be driving you really crazy.

[TJ Hall]

Good day Terry.
I'm not actually shut in as I am at work today, but I have been told I am a bit crazy. I know I haven't posted much since I joined but I plan to remedy that. This is such a great site.

Cheers
TJ

[Tim Bell]

Originally Posted by Chris Preston

'Evening All,

I'm building a 1/ 16th scale Sherman Firefly Mk Ic (Hybrid) and have a couple of "detail" questions for the more knowledgeable Sherman types here.

Q.1. Did British/Commonwealth Sherman Fireflies retain the siren mounted beside the left front headlight and guard when converted into Fireflies?

Q.2. Were the Pioneer Tools mounted on the rear hull held down with leather straps and buckles, or web straps, and if leather, was the leather left in a natural colour or tinted a green?


Cheers,

Chris Preston,
Victoria, BC
Canada

1. No - these were removed

2. I am assuming webbing straps for my VC restoration... but this is assumption at this stage.. I have not got far enough to really care about tying stuff down on the outside of the hull!

Tim

[tankbarrell]

I did answer all these questions on another site but I can do so again here.

It was normal for the sirens to be removed on Commonwealth Shermans but by no means universal. Fireflies would be less likely to retain it but a quick Google for period pictures show at least some retained it.

Tool straps were originally leather, later replaced by web. I would suggest Vc and Ic would be leather and Ic Hybrid likely web but neither is wrong.

[Chris Preston]

Thanks for the replies everyone - very useful.

Cheers,

Chris Preston
Victoria, BC