Yet Another Israeli Sherman - M1 Welded Hull

[Kingsman]

Yes, I'm at it again.  Don't all scream in despair at once..........😲 🤯

 

It's another oddball in the sense that there were probably only a dozen of them.  For anyone watching @Bullbasket's current welded-hull M51 build, this is what it looked like before the M51 conversion.  I was going to do the welded M51 too, but I've shelved that for a while.  Being rare, and as they were all later converted to M51s, photos are very rare.  There are a handful in Tom Gannon's book and I imagine there are some in the Robert Manasherob books too, but I can't find a single one on-line to post here.

 

Essentially they were unaltered M4A3(76), but as with my current M4A4-based M50 - and indeed just about every M4A2, A3 and A4 that came into IDF possession - re-fitted with the Continental radial engine and M4/A1 style engine deck.

 

Recognising that the M3 75mm gun which equipped their early Shermans was obsolete and ineffective against enemy armour, Israel went looking for a better gun in the mid-50's.  They were denied supplies of the US 76mm M1, OOP by then anyway.  France was willing to supply their CN-75-50 gun but adapting that to Shermans was an uncertain prospect that would take time.  As an interim solution Israel managed to acquire a bunch of surplus M4A1(76) and M4A1E8(76) from France, who had received about 1500 under MDAP but was by then getting 90mm M47s.  Quite where the handful of M4A3(76)s came from is unclear, but they don't have MDAP hallmarks - which suggests not France.  All of the 76mm Shermans went on to become M51s, initially just with the new D5054 105mm gun and then later with the Cummins engine too.  The larger "T23" turret was necessary for the 105 gun.

 

This model uses the old dog of an M4A3 kit from Dragon.  I might have gone for the new Meng kit, or even the Academy one: in fact I had both but sold them on.  But as I'm trying to model the more oddball end of IDF Shermans there is a quirk I wanted to model that the Dragon kit alone facilitates, and some left-over parts will be cross-kitted with a Dragon M4A1 for something else.  Yes, Israeli again. 

 

Many of the 76mm tanks acquired by Israel were old campaigners.  Some of the M4A1(76)s were Op Cobra vintage: large loader's hatch, M1 or M1A1 gun, no turret rear vent.  However at least one of the M4A3(76)s as pictured in the Gannon book was equally old/early, and this is mine.  It also has the large loader's hatch turret but it is one of the 1st 450 or so built with the Extra Lifting Ring, which also had a 3rd antenna base at the front: small but interesting quirks.  Seems to still have the "collared" M1A1C gun, but may have a later M1A2 with muzzle brake: hard to tell from the photos.  The M1A1C would be original appropriate.  The Dragon kit has both large and small loader's hatch turret shells.  Other kits are all small-hatch.

 

This is the basic parts pile, although I'm sure others will creep in.  Updates as we progress.

[Bullbasket]

2 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

built with the Extra Lifting Ring

No doubt, you're probably aware that the "extra lifting ring" wasn't that per se. It was a left over from Chrysler's aborted T23 tank project, and was used to support the boom for lifting the power pack from the tank. There's some useful info on this on the Shaddock page, along with a couple of photos of the actual T23 tank and "Champagne", which had one of these turrets.

 

John.

[Kingsman]

Yes I knew that, thanks.  Likewise the missing turret rear vent that I mentioned on a similar number of M4A1(76), another T23 hangover.  Both provide good ID for very early A3 and A1 76s respectively, if they can be seen.  My key point here was to use that feature to date the vehicle as a very early one of its kind.  I was also going to do one of the early A1-based M1s with the Dragon Op Cobra kit, but that's been done before.  AFAIK a welded M1 has not, at least not recently.

 

For those of you with the Gannon book this tank is the one pictured on pp106-7, pictures 163 and 165.  I believe those are the same 2 tanks in both pictures and that the foreground one in pic 163 is the background one in pic 165 with the XLR turret.  Looking more closely it does have a muzzle brake fitted.  What we don't have or can't see is the vehicle serial, and the turret serial is illegible.

 

I might regret using the old Dragon kit here.  It is a dog by current standards.  Very strangely their cast-hull M51 kit comes with a lower hull with square-fronted sponsons, but this welded hull kit comes with a lower hull with angled sponson fronts to fit the cast hull.  And it's about 2mm too narrow so it doesn't actually meet the hull sides.  Lots of other things that need attention.

 

[Kingsman]

A quick correction to something I said above about the origin of the M4A3s.  It probably was France.  I'd forgotten that 2eme DB had received some as replacements and were probably the first unit to use the M4A3(76) in action.  With the US supplying so many "standardised" M4A1s under MDAP post-war there was little need for France to keep its oddball collection of earlier versions including the few M4A3s and majority M4A4, hence why so many of these found their way East across the Mediterranean. 

 

Which begs the question whether the Continental engine conversion was carried out in France or later in Israel - which is impossible to tell from photos and matters little from the modelling perspective.  Israel reputedly copied the French conversion with the probable exception of an internal baffle and its line of 5 securing bolts behind the intake splash rail.  French M4A3Ts have been postulated but I don't believe that any photo evidence has been produced.

 

The muzzle brake was either added post-war to an M1A1C gun or an earlier M1A1 gun was replaced by an M1A2.  Muzzle brakes were unusual in WW2 but commonly retro-fitted post-war.  As these are "large hatch" turrets and "my" tank still has a very early "XLR" version of that turret it is very likely that it originally had an M1 or M1A1 gun which was not threaded for a brake.

[Kingsman]

Here are some photos of WIP.  This is essentially an only slightly modified OOB build.  First the completed hull showing the revised engine deck and lower rear.  The Dragon idlers had nasty hollow open backs, replaced with Academy spares.   The M4-style deck parts, air cleaners etc are TMD items.  Stowage is one of the Value Gear Sherman sets.  Tools are replaced with the last of my TWS sets: RIP TWS.  Light Guards are MJ Productions 3D prints.  Dragon mould the front hull ventilator as a solid lump when it should be a raised sheet metal cover.  But early large hatch hulls didn't have the cover so I hacked it off and used some card to represent the U-shaped ventilator opening.  Weld marks improved here and there, missing drain holes drilled, wire handles added etc.  Usual stuff.

 

  

 

Here is the pretty much finished tank, apart from a few minor details still to add like chains for the smoke mortar caps.  DEF Models M1A2 barrel with kit brake.  I couldn't find an RB one with brass brake anywhere.  "My" subject vehicle has the mantlet cover, not in the kit.  Not knowing which after-market one would fit I bought 3.  The DEF one for the Asuka and Tamiya kits was way too wide and not deep enough.  The Legend one for the Tamiya kit needed a lot of the turret carved away to make it fit and looked to be too wide again.  The one that looked the best fit was the Legend offering for the RFM kit, LF1375.  This still needed a lot of carving of the turret front to get an acceptable fit plus clamping with copious cyano.

 

 

Meanwhile, in the land where the knock-out pins grow................  This is from just one sprue.  Better off the parts than on them but it still makes for a lot of attachment points to clean up.