Operable engine hatch hinges

[Sander69]

Looking at the photo you posted above:


This looks to me to be an early type of M10, without the counterweights. It has a grouser rack on the hull side, though, and there is something on the turret rear but it doesn’t look pointed enough to me to be the counterweights — though the angle under which the photo was taken might be tricking the eye here, of course.

Aha, but this photo, taken at Bit Marbott Pass in Tunisia, may explain the turret rear:

[ATTACH]402466[/ATTACH]

Flat boxes/bins on the turret rear instead. Note that this vehicle doesn’t have grouser racks on the hull sides, but it is carrying grousers: the flat bars with the two eyes on each end.

Also note stamped wheels but spoked idlers, which is something of a rare combination in Shermans and their variants, because the spoked idler was replaced by a stamped one that was less prone to deformation of the rim when stuff got trapped between it and the track.

Very good observations Jakob! I had a hard time understanding the counterweight geometry but your explanation makes sense. I guess I lucked out by choosing the stamped road wheels and the spoked idler wheels. I saw a picture of one with a caption that said it was in Italy and went for it. I figured they were replacing the Idler’s when they were damaged or when they got the time.

[Guest]

Very good observations Jakob!

Please teach your autocorrect my name

I had a hard time understanding the counterweight geometry but your explanation makes sense. I guess I lucked out by choosing the stamped road wheels and the spoked idler wheels. I saw a picture of one with a caption that said it was in Italy and went for it. I figured they were replacing the Idler’s when they were damaged or when they got the time.

They probably came out of the factory like this, but you’re right in that you can get all kinds of wheel combinations on Shermans and their variants because of replacements due to wear or damage.

So is your model going to represent a vehicle in North Africa or Italy? It’s not my area of expertise, but I suppose there would have been far fewer very early M10s in Italy than in Algeria and Tunisia, meaning that in Italy the counterweights would be the safe option, while in North Africa, you could safely go with the bins instead.

[Sander69]

My Great Uncle's daughter (my second cousin?) just sent my mother an email saying that she is looking through boxes for pictures and documents for me. I can hardly believe the turn of pace! If she can find some pictures or even a document that gives us the battalion and dates he was in - that would be of great help. I would like to build this model to look, as closely as I can, to what it would have looked like when he hit his three tanks. A thought I had was to have a figure (him) cleaning the barrel after the day's events. In the meantime, I am slowly working on the drivers' compartment even though we'll never see much of it.

How did they get from North Africa to Italy? Did they make a beech landing somewhere? I have not studied this very well.

[Gary MacKenzie]

Salerno Operation Avalanche

[Guest]

My Great Uncle's daughter (my second cousin?) just sent my mother an email saying that she is looking through boxes for pictures and documents for me. I can hardly believe the turn of pace! If she can find some pictures or even a document that gives us the battalion and dates he was in - that would be of great help.

That would be very nice to have, if he had his photo taken with his vehicle and/or crew. Let’s hope your nth cousin comes across one

I am slowly working on the drivers' compartment even though we'll never see much of it.

You’d be surprised how much you can see through open hatches. See here for an example of a Sherman with open hatches and the stuff I had to build because of that.

Oh, and do start a thread and post some pictures, please

How did they get from North Africa to Italy? Did they make a beech landing somewhere? I have not studied this very well.

After the Allies drove the Axis out of North Africa in mid-1943, the same Allied armies landed in Sicily and captured that. Then they went on to the south of mainland Italy and began a slow drive north. Many of the vehicles they used for this were originally used in North Africa, and some stayed in use until May 1945 — there are many photos of Shermans in Italy in 1944–45, for example, without all the upgrades that were seen on Shermans in Normandy and beyond. Of course, the M10 GMC didn’t get updates to the extent the M4 medium tank did, but my point is that vehicles in “old” configuration could be seen in Italy when they would not (or hardly ever) be in France, Germany, etc.

[Sander69]

I'll take some pictures of what I have accomplished so far. I like what you are doing with your model. Mine will not look nearly as nice. We'll call this one my "practice" effort. :tongue-out3:

[Isitme]

Hello,

My model building experience up to this point in life has always been of the “out of the box” variety and I wish to learn to build more creative works. I live in a very rural area where modeling clubs do not exist. I have purchased both the Complete Encyclopedia Set of Aircraft, and Armor, Modeling Techniques by AMMO of Mig Jimenez and I’m learning quite a bit about building things from scratch but I have not applied that information yet.

I am attempting to build the 1/35 Academy M10 GMC US Army (70th Anniversary of the Normandy invasion) kit. I wish to open up the engine hatches and use the Royal Model’s 1/35 M10 Tank Destroyer engine and engine hatches for the Academy M10. To make matters worse, I wish to have operable hinges for the engine hatches so they will open and close. The Royal Models kit does not come with Hinges.

Does anyone know of an aftermarket source for obscure products such as this? I have tried my best to search with Google to find aftermarket products but I have not been successful.

In the case where a hinge of this nature does not exist how would I go about building one?

Though the thought of creating a set of hinges from scratch excites me, I honestly do not believe that I am up to the task. I hope that there is a very talented person out there who has already done this.

Thank you

Steven

Hello Steven,
A company called Aber do produce hinges for 1.35 scale. I can understand the route of having items moveable, but in 1/35 scale it entails a lot of hard work. Personally I would settle for hatches in the fixed position. To give you an idea you would need to work with two sets of tweezers, sharp straight edge to aid with the bending and then thin brass or copper wire frr the hinge centre rod itself, size would be something like a maximum of 2-3mm o/all.
Hope this helps, Mike.

[Sander69]

Hello Mike,
Yes, after reading the long list of posts I realized that I am not a brain surgeon who can suture neurons together. I’m quite inexperienced with customizing model kits, so I was a bit naive when I posted the question. I think the thread has morphed into what I can do with my skill level to make this kit as accurate as possible.

2 to 3 mm thread??!!! … where would a person get such a thing? Fishing line? ;-). Maybe I could do it when I was 16 or 17 years old, but not now. My hand shake so much I’d never get it done. Thank you for the detailed description of what that would entail. I now have a solid picture in my mind of what it would take. Steve

[Guest]

What counts is whether you are happy with the result. Start measuring yourself by what other people manage to make and you’ll quickly feel inadequate (depending on who you look at, of course — with some you’ll rapidly feel better about yourself ), but if you build it to your own standards then you’ll probably be quite happy with it

[Sander69]

Thank you Jakko. I'll remember that.

[Sander69]

I found a nice picture that shows a crew cleaning the bore of an M10. This gives me some inspiration for a diorama. Aitape is in Papua New Guinea so I imagine that it is plenty hot by the looks of it! The caption reads "Cleaning the bore! M10 Wolverine 32nd Infantry Division 632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion At Aitape".