M-51 Super Sherman/Isherman (Completed!)

[Poacher]

Hello ladies and gents!

A while back I started a build thread on this project but unfortunately never got around to finishing it as the project stalled over the holiday season (with a full house the workbench has to go into hibernation for the sake of extra space!) and various other delays. Needless to say the mojo was slowly sapped away! However she is now to the point were I am happy to consider her 'finished', just ignore the niggling seam line that decided to stick out like a sore thumb on the rear of the turret AFTER everything had been painted!

So- without further ado, here it is: M51 'Isherman'/Super Sherman as depicted during the Six Day War (Southern Sinai Front). Model brush painted using Tamiya paints and finished with Flory Washes plus Vallejo Pigments for weathering. If you have any questions as to how I used those products feel free to comment below and I'll gladly answer them. 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this finished product!

Cheers,

Poacher

 

[wyverns4]

Very nice 

 

Christian, exiled to africa

[Bullbasket]

A nice clean OOTB build of my favourite tank.

 

John.

[Billydick]

Very nice indeed. What size gun was fitted ? 

 

BillyD

[Kingsman]

M51 had French CN75-50 75mm gun, also known as the SA50.  A cousin of the German WW2 KwK 42 from the Panther and JagdPanzer Iv

[Bullbasket]

Not that one. That was fitted to the M50. The M51 had a shortened version of the French 105mm.

 

John.

[Kingsman]

Oops - next lesson is obviously remedial maths!  50 isn't 51 ..............  My apololgies: retirement is clearly having undesirable effects!

 

Yes, of course the M51 had a shortened version of the French 105mm CN105-57 gun.  Following the French nomenclature it should perhaps have been called the CN105-44, having been shortened from L/57 to L/44.  It seems to have been known by GIAT, the manufacturer, as the CN105-D1.  It has also, confusingly, been called the D6046.  French 105mm gun development and designations are a bit of a minefield.  This particular weapon was unique to the M51.  Wiki did have a reasonably informed page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN-105-57 but I see that someone edited it in January to make it largely incorrect and less informed, removing also the wider development history that used to be there.  This is of course a Wiki problem.  I don't know if I kept a copy of the previous version or the research behind it.

 

Original attempts to fit the unmodified gun to a Sherman resulted in writing-off the prototype because of the recoil forces.  There is a picture of an M4A1 VVSS M51, thought by some to be that prototype (below).  But it already has the shortened barrel and new brake, and I'm told by someone more knowledgeable than I that the very first prototype was on an M4A2 and no photos are known to exist.  So this must be a second or later attempt: oddly, it has French military markings.  There are also photos of M4A1's with the 75mm FL10 turret in French livery, and Saumur still has one.  But that's a whole other story .......

 

So the barrel was shortened by 13 calibres, 1.365m.  New ammunition was designed with a shorter cartridge case and smaller propellant charge, and the chamber modified accordingly.  This is essentially what Vickers did with the 17pdr to make the "77mm" (officially, HV 75mm), so it wan't a new idea.  The massive muzzle brake was a further attempt to reduce recoil forces.

 

The resulting gun was still more than a match for Soviet armour, although out-performed by the 105mm L7 gun fitted to Sh'ot Centurions, and the better-trained IDF crews were generally able to outrange the 100 and 115mm guns on T-54/55 and T-62 where the terrain permitted it.

 

Having said that the Israeli version of the CN105 is unique, which it is, Argentina did something similar-but-different with the gun for their Repotenciado Shermans - and managed to shoehorn it into a standard Firefly turret without the need for the larger T23 type.  They also went to an L/44 barrel, but used the ammunition and muzzle brake from the AMX13/105 version of the gun (G1?) - also in Argentine service.  And they apparently did it themselves without any help from GIAT.