Tracks' M4 Medium tank thread

[ultravanillasmurf]

One of the surviving Ram tanks was a live fire target.

[Edit] It is the one a Bovington, an Evasive Target Tank.

[Tracks]

How easy would it be to scratch build a Sherman bulldozer from one of the Rubicon kits?

[ripley]

The tank kit would be built out of the box . Its the blade and associated stuff you'ld have to scratch . Company B make a resin / metal Sherman bulldozer kit ( about $12 US IRC ) , and S&S Model in the UK make one in metal . I used the Comp B kit on this BA M4 . You have to add shims to the arm joint on the wheel tower as I believe it was mastered for the resin kits . You also have to add a couple of small pieces ( hydralic hoses / guard ) Somewhere I've got some pictures from the tec manual , I'll dig them out and post them for you



Hmm , strange gun and mantlet on that one . The machine gun looks like its mounted too high , is it a 105 gun or a flame thrower barrel ?
I checked and it is a 105 . How about one of these when Rubicon get around to making a Grant ?

And while I was looking through my pictures for the Dozer Tech manual pictures ( I found  them ! ) , I found this with extra armor plate on the nose . Have you seen this one Tracks ?

[ultravanillasmurf]

Nice find and that 'dozer looks good.

On that armoured Sherman, there appears to be a full set of brush guards, but I could not see the actual lights etc.

[Tracks]

And while I was looking through my pictures for the Dozer Tech manual pictures ( I found  them ! ) , I found this with extra armor plate on the nose . Have you seen this one Tracks ?

Thanks ripley. Yes, and it is one of the field expedient M4s that started to take the field towards the end of the war. The one pictured above would be easier to make compared to other pictures of field expedient M4 tanks I have seen.

[ripley]

Smurf , Sherman headlights were remove able . They plugged into a hole under the guard . There was an armored plug carried in a tube on the side of the guard to close the hole when the lights were taken off ( lights stored inside by bow gunner IRC , they carried 2 sets ) . It was the  hole on the bow gunners side the the control line for the dozer blade went through as he controlled it

[ripley]

This one should be a piece of cake to kit bash .  Only problem being is most of the extra armor Shermans seen to be Yank tanks . I guess not a problem if your modelling the US forces 

I'm trying to figure out how to build my last BA Panzer IV to look like this one

[Tracks]

This one should be a piece of cake to kit bash.

Not a piece of cake yet. We have to wait for the release of Rubicon's M4A1 plastic model kit to kit bash that beast.

As for the Panzer IV, start with one of those older resin kits. You're halfway there! 

[ripley]

Well , a piece of cake as in its a square with a hole cut in it ,the A1 would be a heck of a kit bash with loads of Green Stuff  . Start with resin kit LOL

[Tracks]

After coming across this link:

http://www.onthewaymodels.com/reviews/Solfig/Retrokit_72231_preview.htm

I started to think about what it would take to convert one of the M4 Rubicon kits into a M32 Recovery Vehicle. Currently we do not have available the M4A1 just yet, but the M32 also used other M4 hulls as well.

[Tracks]

Everything looks easy enough to scratch build the needed bits to convert a Rubicon kit into a M32 Recovery Vehicle, its just the turret that makes things more difficult.

[ripley]

Someone kit bashed one of those in 1/56 and posted photos  on the old Warlord  site .  Unfortunetly all the old threads are gone since the hack and reboot of their community site , and I didn't save any pictures  I wonder if you could find /35 scale drawings /plans and scale them down . Maybe the  Panzerserra Bunker site , he tends to like to built his own conversions rather than use commercial stuff

[Tracks]

I know that Italeri makes a kit in 1:35 scale.

https://www.italeri.com/scheda.asp?idProdotto=2643

[ripley]

Yes its been around since the 70s , I bought one for parts from Squadron Shop from their mail order catalogue ( remember those ? ) for about $7 back in the day . According to those in the know on Armorama and Missing Lynx  ,it's  a mix of post and WW2 features , but I thought it looked cool back then, didn't know ant better , and didn't care . ( I sometimes miss those simpler times ) . Asuka have released  both a WW2 version and IRC a 50s Korean version in the last year or so  , awesome correct detail , for a corresponding awesome price ( $85 ? )

[Tracks]

I was unaware of the Asuka kit.

For the last few years I have only been interested in 1:56 model kits for obvious reasons

Speaking of M4 Sherman plastic model kits, do you remember your first M4 Sherman model kit? Even though it was a very long time ago, I still remember the event well. My very first M4 Sherman model kit was an Airfix model kit. It was not one of the boxed kits, but it was one of the bagged kits. The boxed kits were not available yet.