Rubicon M4 Conversion to M4A1

[ripley]

Another great looking kit bash .

[ultravanillasmurf]

They are brilliant.

Thanks for the method of doing the direct vision ports. Inspired.

[SheriffSherman]

Nicely done H0ffmn. Finally, a Rubicon Models M4A1 Medium tank! 

I'm very tempted to try this kit conversion myself.
I have a couple of questions:
1) Do you have any pictures showing the M4 Bogie to M3 Bogie conversion process?
2) Can you offer a bit more details about how you made the direct vision ports?

As a side question, what colors did you use to paint the model?

Yes, how did you remove bogie and wheel sets from a set of tracks without destroying the tracks? 

[H0ffmn]

Yes, how did you remove bogie and wheel sets from a set of tracks without destroying the tracks?

   Unfortunately I destroyed the bogie wheels and bogie trucks when removing them from the track unit. I removed the bogie assemblies by cutting with a sprue cutter and saw,  just above the track guide teeth.I then used an exacto knife to cut between the track guide teeth and bogie wheels, down to the inside edge of the track links , cutting into the bogie wheels and return rollers as to not damage the track guide teeth.  Then I cut  and carved the bogie wheels from the opposite side to the edge of the  hopefully undamaged track guide teeth.
 Good luck, go slow and be careful

[H0ffmn]

You could cut out the earlier M-3/M-4 bogie assemblies as complete units, by cutting into the track links between the links, and remove the assemblies. You would have to first make sure that the track links will line up with the section of track with the extended end connectors.  Then do the same to the section of tracks with the extended end connectors, and then glue the  two sections together to form a new section of track.
 You would then have to cut the extended edge connectors off of the section of track/bogie wheel assemblies that you cut out , at the edge of the extended edge connectors  and track links,, and glue them onto the new made section of tracks.

[SheriffSherman]

Yes, how did you remove bogie and wheel sets from a set of tracks without destroying the tracks?

   Unfortunately I destroyed the bogie wheels and bogie trucks when removing them from the track unit. I removed the bogie assemblies by cutting with a sprue cutter and saw,  just above the track guide teeth.I then used an exacto knife to cut between the track guide teeth and bogie wheels, down to the inside edge of the track links , cutting into the bogie wheels and return rollers as to not damage the track guide teeth.  Then I cut  and carved the bogie wheels from the opposite side to the edge of the  hopefully undamaged track guide teeth.
 Good luck, go slow and be careful

That sounds reasonable, the left over T41 track can be used as spare track armor on other vehicles inside out, or perhaps even equipped with later bogies to be recycled although that type of track disappeared almost immediately after NA campaign.

BTW, I meant to compliment you on your fantastic conversions, awesome work!

Your late M4A1 76mm needs a sharp nose FDA but with your skills it wouldn’t be too much trouble to add a couple strips of styrene to anchor your putty and then have fun sculpting the shape.  I did that once back in the 1990s with a DML kit that had an early cast FDA but the decal options were all for vehicles with later style FDAs

I’m probably going to have to relearn out how to make those because the RM M4 and the M4 hybrid need a late FDA to build them correctly (all hybrid M4s had them and also the LH M4) and unfortunately they don’t come in the box.  That’s kind of like the sand shields are not included in the M4A1 kit although the brit variant it can build (sherman ii) always had sand shields in the desert.

[H0ffmn]

Thanks.
  You could use the sand shields from the M-4 kit, but you will have to modify them to fit the M4A1

[SheriffSherman]

Hoffmn,

Today, I did what you said and took the sand shields from the M4 kit, they were a shade too long and missing the inside face so I took and additional set from my M4 hybrid kit and inverted the inside detail.

An added benefit is that this allowed me keep the upper hull separate for now for painting the tracks

[H0ffmn]

Yeah, it's  not a perfect fit, nice job!

[SheriffSherman]

Yeah, it's  not a perfect fit, nice job!

Hoffmn, I hope it’s okay I posted those pictures on your thread.  I’m not trying to hijack your thread.  I just think those conversions are too nice to let them disappear into the old thread bin;)