M4A3E8 upgrade

[chrisonord]

The upgrade tracks, suspension and wheels has just arrived from China, and very nice looking they are too. They cost £6, plus £3.50 postage. Very delicate surgery will be needed to get these out. They also came in this very useful plastic container too, which will definitely get used for something.

[jcf]

The Pershing has the same 69" turret ring diameter as the M4, the Pershing turret is also similar to the "T23" turret of the 76mm M4s. The T23 was a design that didn't go into service. It was one of several projects to replace the M4, which eventually led to the M26.
The M4's turret ring diameter was unusually large for a medium tank of the period and only the Tiger, a heavy, was greater at 70". The larger ring diameter is why the M4 was able to be upgunned with relative ease. Being based on the M4 the M10 has the same ring diameter, thus upgunning to produce the 90mm gun M36 was straightforward. A shortage of M10 hulls led to M36 turrets being mounted on M4 hulls, this hybrid being the closest thing to a 90mm Sherman produced during WWII.
In regards to the M10, a report from operations in Italy suggested mounting the 17-pdr in the M10 as it would be far easier to mount and use than in it was in the M4 turret. 

[chrisonord]

Cheers for that 
My version is going to be a post war version, modified by the consortium that operates it. The time line will be around the 1960's for it. I have a 100 mm gun barrel from a T-55 to mount on it also.

[chrisonord]

Whilst waiting for the paint to dry on the HIMARS and TOPOL, I decided to cut the 3D printed parts out for the sherman. What excellent quality for the size of them. 

[PR19_Kit]

Blimey, I can only just SEE that last bit! Amazing casting/printing. 

[Old Wombat]

For the scale they're brilliant! 

[chrisonord]

They only cost £6ish too, plus postage.

[Wardukw]

Those are very well detailed for such small tracks and at 6 notes ,,wonderful Chris ,,a bloody great idea 

I've an idea about your T-55 gun ,, why not stuff it into a T34/85 turret and mount that on the easy eight ? ,,,in the RW the 100 mm D-10T rifled gun was mounted in the turret of a T34/85 as a test bed for the T54 ,,fact they also tried and did mount the 122mm D-25T gun in a T34/85 and i'll admit ,,it looked pretty damn cool ,,totally impractical but pretty cool 
The russians did have to widen the turret base of the T34 turret for the test bed and yup in the RW thats a crap ton of work but in wiffy world ,,anything is possible ,,hell even in the RW turret swapped tanks are not uncommon at all ,,like a M18 hellcat turret on a T55 tank hull  being just one example and the Sherman with the AMX 13 turret already mentioned.

[chrisonord]

Those are very well detailed for such small tracks and at 6 notes ,,wonderful Chris ,,a bloody great idea 

I've an idea about your T-55 gun ,, why not stuff it into a T34/85 turret and mount that on the easy eight ? ,,,in the RW the 100 mm D-10T rifled gun was mounted in the turret of a T34/85 as a test bed for the T54 ,,fact they also tried and did mount the 122mm D-25T gun in a T34/85 and i'll admit ,,it looked pretty damn cool ,,totally impractical but pretty cool 
The russians did have to widen the turret base of the T34 turret for the test bed and yup in the RW thats a crap ton of work but in wiffy world ,,anything is possible ,,hell even in the RW turret swapped tanks are not uncommon at all ,,like a M18 hellcat turret on a T55 tank hull  being just one example and the Sherman with the AMX 13 turret already mentioned.

Cheers Phil, I do have a few T-35 turrets in the bits box, and a KV turret too, but that is missing it mantlet. I might have a spare one that could fit off something else, and I have an unbuilt AMX 13 in the stash somewhere too. I will try the M26 turret on it too. 

[Wardukw]

Those are very well detailed for such small tracks and at 6 notes ,,wonderful Chris ,,a bloody great idea 

I've an idea about your T-55 gun ,, why not stuff it into a T34/85 turret and mount that on the easy eight ? ,,,in the RW the 100 mm D-10T rifled gun was mounted in the turret of a T34/85 as a test bed for the T54 ,,fact they also tried and did mount the 122mm D-25T gun in a T34/85 and i'll admit ,,it looked pretty damn cool ,,totally impractical but pretty cool 
The russians did have to widen the turret base of the T34 turret for the test bed and yup in the RW thats a crap ton of work but in wiffy world ,,anything is possible ,,hell even in the RW turret swapped tanks are not uncommon at all ,,like a M18 hellcat turret on a T55 tank hull  being just one example and the Sherman with the AMX 13 turret already mentioned.

Cheers Phil, I do have a few T-35 turrets in the bits box, and a KV turret too, but that is missing it mantlet. I might have a spare one that could fit off something else, and I have an unbuilt AMX 13 in the stash somewhere too. I will try the M26 turret on it too. 

Having those options is great bud ,, just shove em on that hull and see what looks best ,,bet there will be something there which makes that tank look very cool   

[chrisonord]

I have decided on the turret for this, but had to use alternative means of attaching the gun barrel, as the original bit is not appearing in this episode. The turret looks pretty good I think, now to glue it together and fill the cracks in. I a half decent choice of soviet ww2 tank turrets to go at, but this one looks the best.

[chrisonord]

I should put this in the building thread, but this is what it looks like with the turret and gun on.

[Old Wombat]

Looks like a KV-122 / KV-85 turret ... Trumpeter? 

[chrisonord]

Looks like a KV-122 / KV-85 turret ... Trumpeter? 

Not sure of make or model, but thought it might be a KV, as I have built one before. I should have checked to see if the tracks fit on the sherman parts before I painstakingly painted all the road wheels and suspension. The tracks are not big enough by nearly 10mm. Looking like I will have to use the kit ones.

[chrisonord]

This is the Hasegawa parts that the 3D printed tracks and suspension are supposed to attach to, with the tracks led on top. Not good at all