Progress Report: They're FINISHED!

M26A1

M26A1 Pershing: using the RB .30cal & .50cal MG's, MDC .50cal ammo belts, a few resin ammo & Ration boxes and other stowage. Also used will be the Bison Decals 35181 US Tanks in Korea #8

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M26A1, 1st Marine Tank Battalion in support of the 5th & 7th Marines at Chosin Reservoir, Korea 1950

M45

M45 Howitzer Tank: using the Accurate Armour (C076) M45 Howitzer conversion (I've had this for years, it's about time I used it), and the RB .30cal MG.

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M45 of the 6th Tank Battalion Kumho tributary, Naktong River, Korea 1950

M26A1

Easter Saturday: it's half an hour into the build of the M26A1.

The kit has a full torsion bar suspension and some interior walls and although there is a full engine pack, I shall not be installing it as it can't be seen when the hatches are closed.

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Here, you can see the torsion bar suspension in place. It is only anchored on the side opposite to the road wheel arm, this will provide the tension necessary to allow the suspension to work.

Take your time with this part and the results will be worth the wait.

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There is a lot of good detail on the upper hull with the HobbyBoss Pershing series and here you can see the casting numbers clearly on the blower housing.

The other cast effect on this kit is really very good and the general fit of parts are as good as any other producer.

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The engine louvres are in place with a snug fit. There was some work needed to fine tune the fit.

So long as you sand a bit, check the fit and repeat, you'll be fine with it.

The barrel lock is also moved from the hull rear to just behind the fuel filler seen here. The cast details on the rear deck is also very good.

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Well, I'm about 4 hours into the build and I'm at this point - the torsion bar suspension does work.

I've also restructured the inner-most vision ports on the hull to the reworked full cast one with the 1000c.f. blower. The rear gun brace is no longer part of the exhaust housing and should be relocated to the mid-rear deck. Lastly, I've replaced the Hull .03cal mg with the RB upgrade which required drilling out the kit part to around 5mm - the ball race does work.

Incidentally, the large stowage bins are loose fit at the moment, still have to install the track arms first - the next job!

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I have also completed the dampeners, suspension and shocks - AND THEY WORK! - on both sides.

As you can see, I've got a lot further with the turret which is fairly straight forwards in construction, I even used the kit gun.

The cupola however, like many in 1/35th scale, isn't right. The downwards angle and curve on the cupola are too sharp. The commander should be able to view forwards across the turret top but these only give him an upwards view.

Dragon's T-28 Heavy Tank actually has the correct angled cupola (not in this picture) - I wish I had dozens of them!!! (they're darned near perfik!)

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On this top view, the driver and co-driver hatches (not glued in) have had a couple of vision cupolas fitted from a spare Dragon Sherman turret sprue (it came in the T-28 kit as well), a small amount of tweaking was needed to fit them.

This enables me to have the clear scopes fitted and open hatches for what I'm planning. I have also fitted the lights & guards, tow eyes/hooks and external telephone.

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It's Teatime on the Easter Monday - I have managed to get the M26A1 to be ready for paint but wanted to keep the build schedule going while I have the time.

A top coat will come later (today) after some de-gassing has occurred and with some luck, decals for the M26A1. I heavily thinned the paint down - at least 40% thinner to get a good consistent flow and an even coverage.

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An application of US Dark Green with a slightly darkened mix for the undersides (a bit of shading) - more de-gassing before Klear and Decals.

There is still the turret .50cal MG, at least 1 Jerry Can and some Tarps to be done.

The inspiration photo shows some of the stowage but much is obscured, which allows me some 'license' to represent what would/could have been carried.

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Here's the 'before' and 'after' and the start of some of the stowage - .30 cal ammo boxes and wooden ration crates and .50cal boxes are nearly done for the other side. (I picked some other stowage up at MK Show last Sunday, 27th April 2014, which should do nicely).

I used Klear to prepare the surface, applied the Decal using Micro Set/Sol then covered the decal with more Klear - this will all be sealed in with a coat of varnish a bit later.

Now, there's no guarantee that any of the self-made parts will be used - but I had to at least try. Got to dig out a couple of Jerry Cans now to complete the collection.

Other than making a few Tarpaulins and a bit of old rope the vehicle part of the M26A1 project is almost complete.

Saturday 10th May 2014:
I have managed to get most of the painting of the stowage complete over the last few days although, I still have to do:

• Road wheels & Return Rollers to be finished off - tyres to be painted
• Track links and tensioners are still to be fixed to the turret
• .50cal to be updated with RB upgrade and installed to turret
• Track to be prepared with black & steel - should be interesting as HobbyBoss track doesn't glue very well.
• Final stowage pieces to be gathered - Jerry Can (never can find a decent one when you need it!), incidentals etc
• Driver/co-Driver periscopes & brush guards to be installed

And all of this before the final varnish and weathering

It should be noted that none of the stowage is 'fixed' to the kit as yet!

I have loads of stowage material and masses of pre-formed sets, I realised that what I have won't do! I need to make my own (haven't done this in years) so, after rummaging around for an hour trying to find my Milliput (bought some 20+ years ago) and finding it rock solid, I dug out some Symantec A+B putty which is more than a few years old as well.

The M26A1 is to have a mix of .30 & .50cal ammo boxes and some wooden ration crates. But as for personal stowage, I had to make my own so, I covered the rear deck and turret with clingfilm so I can ensure a clean fit - and for painting etc.

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Here's the progress so far with most of the stowage installed using PVA - there are 'issues' with the track - see below.

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WHEEL & TRACK 'ISSUES'
works for both vehicles

A characteristic of the track in these HobbyBoss kits are the wobbly wheels and the Track, it isn't long enough - which is a bit of a bummer!

This unfortunately leaves a bridge piece between the 2 halves and is a cause of concern. At this point you should decide how your vehicle is to be presented - without track guards (Option 1), or with (Option 2) - see options below.....

Wheel arms with 2.5mm/1.5mm tube fitted

When you try to fit the road wheels they're a bit wobbly, Well actually, they're whole lot wobbly!

At least the hole is too big rather than the opposite. To rectify this is simple, I used 2.5mm/1.5mm plastic tubing. Cut to lengths of 3mm (you'll need 14 of these). Each one is then split on one side and is then slid over the wheel arm (see picture above). When you are ready, the wheel should be glued in place on the wheel arm - do not glue the wheel arm to the vehicle as this WILL affect the suspension.

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This is on the M26A1

Option 1: Without......
As you can see here, it's about 1 link short.

Parts C3/19 are 4 individual links you get for the turret spare track fitting and 2 of these can be modified to fit the space with some minor work - around 20 minutes for both parts should do it.

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Now, to fix the problem:
Remove the 2 tack pin connectors from each pad and put to one side. Also remove the centre tooth but DO NOT separate the 2 pads.

Offer up the track link to the space, mark on the flat side where the bridge piece is, you will also do each on separately as there is a distinct left & right track piece.

Remove some of the plastic - carefully -  testing as you go, so that it can fit in fairly flush and filling the gap as picture. Re-attach the track connectors with the small rivet facing up (or inwards, not facing the ground) to the centre of the track pad.

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As you can see here, other than it is unpainted, it fits in very well.

Once it has been painted and weathered you should be hard-pressed to spot where the correction occurred.

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This is on the M45

Option 2: With.....
You can see here that the track is installed with the right amount of tension.

This is best used when all the track is not on view and here the track will be mostly hidden under track guards.

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Old school solution:
Using regular Office Staples pushed through the track and compressed manually.

This technique has been around for as long as I can remember - I was using it on the awful Airfix track back in the 1960's & 70's  -  AND, if it ain't broke........

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Weathering

20th July 2014: here has been some movement on the two vehicle builds although providing pictures won't show that much -

Oh Heck! why not here you go.

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The straps and ties here for the various kit items are made from good old, reliable Tamiya tape. A touch of canvas paint from Vallejo should see them complete.

The ties for the track guard stowage is from a fine gauge wire which need finishing off.

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The final arrangement for this build shown here - a couple of periscopes & guards to do and we're done with this one!

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M26A1 Finished!

Conclusion

A thoroughly enjoyable build of 2 excellent, and not overtly expensive, kits from HobbyBoss - they were very quick in the construction and delayed in their completion completely by my own actions.

Conceived entirely as a springboard to joining the Korean War Group Build over on Britmodeller, this little project has stirred my creative juices into building not only more, but to a much better standard.

Alan Brown, 13th August 2014

M45

The resin conversion for the M45 Howitzer Tank (C076) from Accurate Armour was obtained a dozen or so years ago at Telford with the full intention of doing the model back then.

Obviously, that didn't happen and so I have the impetus to complete it now.

The drive sprockets are Sherman type so I shall need to add the metal ones from the AA conv Kit, I shall also attempt to fit the resin track provided - more new ground, it's getting interesting.

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Easter Monday: I have started to construct my 2nd kit, the M45 Howitzer Tank however, I have found that the T26E4 has the wrong track in it and a couple of other issues (nothing wrong with the actual kit though) which preclude it from this project so, I have dug out the HobbyBoss M26 Pershing (Oh, I have a few!!!) and have made a start.

On the Rear Hull, I modified kit part B27 by filling all the holes and removing the exhaust placement pins then, I cut the modified exhaust from AA Part O and fitted AA parts P & Q to Kit part B27

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M45 Turret, was built up as required - with a liberal application of filler around the resin casting joints then smoothed off and re-textured to simulate cast metal.

The original casting has a few issues with the 2 part turret mould and where they joined, this was early Accurate Armour - they've improved a lot!

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OK, here's how far I've got for tonight (21st April 2014).

Oh Yeah!, I know the mantlet looks really weird as it seems like it has a droopy eye but it is supposed to be that way.

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A few more tweaks on the M45 (the CA isn't gluing quite as well as I had hoped - I needed to properly clean the resin!!!)

An extra to each build is the SRC-610 aerial pot from Armorscale - the kit ones just don't cut-it, the commanders cupola and stowage rack on the M45 are from some spares from a Tamiya Pershing I had converted earlier.

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A medium grey undercoat for both vehicles - pre-mixed by myself (I always do my own) Vallejo Model Air Black/White variation.

I heavily thinned the paint down - at least 40% thinner to get a good consistent flow and an even coverage.

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The M45 has just had a coat of good old Green paint - slightly darker as it's an Army Vehicle (USMC Vehicles were a bit more 'green') and this is currently de-gassing upstairs.

The mantlet cover is now a nice shade of Vallejo Panzer Aces (314) Canvas which I have brushed on, this does need some weathering to enhance the effect but that will come a bit later. The vehicle, due to its type and purpose, also did not carry very much stowage so will be a fairly 'clean' finish.

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Markings for the M45 appear sparse, to say the least, but some basic identification will be added. One of my dilemmas with this tank are, from all the 3 pictures I have, only 1 has some indication of the markings which is a small white star low on the glacis plate between the towing eyes with indistinct markings left & right of the towing eyes.

Now, I can guess the left as being 8^ 6^ (the ^ being a triangle) 8th Army, 6th Tank Battalion, but the right is obscured and would be Company and Vehicle Number. Also, I do not have the registration index of the vehicles although I'm still looking through my Hunnicutt on the Pershing - Ampersand!, we need a Son of Pershing volume please???   Fortunately, I can fudge the first part relatively easily but ....... the rest?

Whilst the M45 seems to be moving more slowly, there is actually a lot less to do with this build now the conversion is completed. The M26A1 is by far the more complex project and although not necessarily 'more difficult' there are many more elements to consider with all those 'little extras'.

Saturday 24th May:
Still more to do on this build but with the track problem solved I can continue with all the twiddly bits.

I feel that these 2 vehicles are some of my best work of late and still have a fair bit to do yet.

• Those .50cal machine guns
• periscopes & guards on M26A1
• fixing the upper & lower hull and final decal arrangement on M45
• final varnish of both vehicles
• painting of the tracks, metal finish, general weathering etc
• mounting the M26A1 to it's base and blending in the groundwork

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Weathering

The weathering on the M45 is very different and a lot more subtle. I used MiG powders and fixers and have applied the Little-Cars lenses which do help to make the model POP!

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Not too much stowage on this one as it is a support tank and it wouldn't have anything like the level of kit as a regular unit vehicle.

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M45 Finished!

0.50 cal MG
by RB Model

Top part is the Kit .50cal, ammo box, mount & RB Model Upgrade set (RB35B13).

The cocking handle on the bottom MG is set too low and has subsequently been relocated correctly. The .50cal MG ammo box shown in Step 13 as using (Sprue C3), parts C20, C25 & C26 is fine except - this is a .30cal ammo box.  The correct parts for the .50cal ammo box are by using (Sprue C1), parts C6, C7 & C8

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