"Sherman's Bane" - PanzerGranate 39

[Saaismail]

Hi Guys - I hesitate to post this here amongst the real historical experts for military ordnance because I'm very much a novice but I was very excited about my new treasure, and I often make displays for my WW2 gear, so I thought there may be some interest. Hopefully this is also the right forum. I call it "Sherman's Bane" for obvious reasons

Hopefully I didn't screw up my research too much - I think some of the numbers on the chart are up for debate, but they seemed close to what I found online.

 

[Fusse2004]

nice cheesy:cry:

 

[M8owner]

Excellent workmanship. Nice display. I chose to display mine on top of an 88mm shell casing. There is an interesting Youtube video in which the World of Tanks historian states the Allies (non-Russian) only encountered three Tiger I's after D-Day. It might be more correct to call it "T-34 Bane."

 

[Saaismail]

I seriously considered that....but as effective as the Russian tanks were, I'm not a big fan of them....I imagine the Sherman's saw their fair share of Flak 88s spitting these things before the Tigers anyway?

 

[Quatermass]

. There is an interesting Youtube video in which the World of Tanks historian states the Allies (non-Russian) only encountered three Tiger I's after D-Day.

That's clearly not true, SS heavy tank battalion 101 had 37 Tigers & SS heavy tank battalion 102 had 28 Tigers at the beginning of the Normandy campaign. There were also Tigers on the Italian front.

 

[HAZORD]

The crate looks excellent, although I don't imagine a projectile being packaged like this. Do you plan to get the projectile painted and stenciled as it would have been issued? It would seem that such nice packaging would enclose a new-looking projectile.

 

[nathanieljr]

the Battle of Villers Bocage alone involved the destruction of three Tigers - by the same Firefly.
Its nonsense. Besides, the Sherman hit enough Tigers in North Africa and Italy.
However, it is true the the Tiger was far more successful on the Eastern Front due to the numbers involved, so I wont revoke the T-34 bane statement..

Edit - not Villers Bocage, but Wittmans death.
Villers bocage was 6 Tigers killed.

 

[M8owner]

The presentation is titled, "Myths of American Armor." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNjp_4jY8pY

It is an interesting video. It reminds me of my History of Armored Warfare class at West Point in the 80's. I got college credit for that. What a great institution of higher learning.

I watched the video again. At about 28 minutes into it, he states US Army tanks only encountered Tiger I's three times after D-Day. Seems everyone could be right in their statements.

 

[flak18]

The salient phrase here is " US ARMY Tanks"....not Allied tanks. The plan was for the Brits, Canadians, Poles and Free French to hold the bulk of the German armour in the Caen sector thus allowing the US forces to swing right from Utah and Omaha and proceed up the Cotentin Peninsula to capture Cherbourg. This done they could then break out of the Peninsula and head into Brittany ( Operation Cobra) With the German armour thus engaged the US forces eventually achieved their aims and let loose the ever manic Patton.... the rest is history. So, maybe there is a germ of truth that the US ARMY tanks only encountered Tigers 3 times after D-Day. I think the main regiment they encountered in Cobra was Panzer Lehr who mostly had Mark IV and Panthers... I am open to correction on this. In the Ardennes, weren't the German tanks again mostly Mark IV and Panther ?

 

[Saaismail]

I agree Hazord - I definitely was NOT going for historical authenticity here, but more of something a little more fun. As much as I like the look of the cleanly painted and marked rounds, I don't think I want to cover up the bare metal - I feel it would take away from the piece from a historical perspective.

 

[M8owner]

I agree. I no longer paint anything unless I need to cover up body filler.

 

[flak18]

Very rude of me. I forgot to congratulate you on the quality of your work. It looks excellent and I would not paint it either. Well done.

 

[Saaismail]

Flak18 - Not rude at all but thank you for the kind words! I see you are from Normandy....an absolutely lovely place to visit with an incredible richness of history. I hope to get back there someday in the not too distant future.

 

[flak18]

Yes, it is a wonderful place to be and I have found and seen many superb things. If you are ever in the area again, drop me a line. Always good to see a fellow collector and member of this brilliant forum. Past midnight now, so Happy New Year to you all....

 

[nathanieljr]

saaismail - not only is this gorgeous, but so is other stuff youve done thats up on photobucket(?). If you decide to do an Eastern front one, a German 75mm Pzgr 39 would be perfect - by far the most widely used German anti armour round!

 

[Saaismail]

Thanks Nathaniel! If someone would be so kind as to send me over a German 75mm, I would be very happy to make a little brother for this crate

 

[M8owner]

The Pzgr 39 for the 75mm has proven to be highly elusive to me thus far. I have one here in my office that I have restored, but it belongs to a friend.

 

[HAZORD]

How did you do the stenciling on the crate? Extremely well done!

 

[Saaismail]

Hey Hazord - All of the black writing/design on the top and front is actually made on a home made CNC machine. I design it on the computer and the CNC cuts it much more accurately than I can draw or paint it. I then fill in the carved out space with black epoxy and sand it all smooth to the surface layer and finish it with a polyurethane. It kind of looks like pine in the photos but it's actually hard maple.

 

[HAZORD]

Even more excellent! How about showing some photos of your homemade NC mill? Tell us about how you built it and what you are using as a controller.

Can you explain the "Aiming Circle" inletted into the front of the crate?