Well I thought I would have a go at a build blog.

This is Academy's M36 Jackson with interior detail. So far I have detailed and completed the interior and turret. I used the kit interior together with some wire, plastic card and masking tape straps. I'm waiting on some Archers transfers for data plates and notices used on US AFV's.
The MG is from the Academy US machine gun set and is much much better than the kit supplied one. The detail is much finer but still short of the photoetch options.

It's only now I realise how little of the interior is visible, but at least I'll know its there. The interior still needs to be finished of with oil weathering and I need to tighten up some of the details.

so here we go:
From models

From models

From models

From models

From models

Stay tuned for more updates as soon as I finish my exams next week. Click on photos for larger versions.

Nice work....I am working on an M36 also. I may be mistaken but I think the fiber-tube ammo containers are supposed to be black.

What color did you paint the floor?

Hi Danny,

I painted the ammo containers as the instructions said but I haven't found any pictures showing the Jacksons interior in colour, so the colour could be wrong.

The floor was painted with Tamiya white (xf-2) and weathered with graphite powder.

Hope this helps

ah! i can't see the pictures. I get a message on each picture saying the bandwidth has been exceeded.

Ya Imagecave temporarily suspended my pictures becuase the download limit has been exceeded. It will be reset tonight so unfortunately you guys will have to wait.

Interior should be White.
Yours looks well like a Gray Silver.
The Ammo fiber tubes need to be in the Holders.
I know they are a lady,but that is where they need to be.
Don't think I ever cursed so much when I did the M-10 on those things

Honest opinion.

The interior is only this colour because of the graphite powder and pigments. it will get toned down with an over spray of diluted white. The fibre tubes is my fault, some thing about placing the rear firewall too far back. I will try to rectify this by elongating the holders at the back.

Anirudh Arun,
gREAT AFV topic. If you need color photo ref try the AFV in detail series. It
has the M36B1, M36, M10, with lots of interior pics of the turrets and ammo stowage.
The Squadron signal Tank Destroyers walkaround is another great referance.

Cheers Todd I'll be sure to check out the books if ic an find them.

Thanks

I had the same problem with the firewall being too far back on the M10 duckbill I am working on right now. I put it where the instructions indicate. Had to fudge the ammo racks to get them to seat properly, so everything sits too far back by about 1mm now. But they fit. I got the bandwith exceeded so I am waiting to see the pictures. From the comments it sounds like a nice build.

Hey Russ, I changed the host so hopefully you can see the pictures now. I'd be interested to know how you resolved the firewall issue. Anyway I think I'll try to make it look ok seeing as much of the interior is not visible when the turret and upper hull are on.

Really? Bummer, I did mine in OD because the one M36 I've been in was all OD. I am a bit surprised that an open-topped vehicle would be painted white.

Hey, Anirudh, I just fudged and moved my ammo racks back a bit to meet the firewall. Thought I seated them in carefully, but I just noticed that one of the tubes slid out of it's bracket. I figured that the interior is crowded enough that with the hull in place it wouldn't be noticeable. All the photos I could find that showed color put the inside of the hull as white and the inside of the turret as OD. That's what the instructions showed as well, so that is what I am doing. I was planning on getting the M36 in the near future to put next to the duckbill.

On my M10, I threw away the ammo storage racks, painted the cases black, and stacked them up pyramid-style. Cant even see it with the turret.

Wish i could see your pictures!

P.S. I have been in a Jackson before.....cool tank!

Pictures...still unable to see any pictures.

Pictures are working nicely now.

Well, Its been a long time since my last update so here I am. I have finished the building of the tank and all major parts like tools, turret MG etc have now been fixed in place. The paint is still glossy from the gloss coat I applied for the decals but everything will be sprayed with a matte coat when the stowage is finished.
The stowage is a mixture of Academy, Dragon, Tamiya and Italeri items from the spares box, and the tarps are paper soaked in white glue/water. The camo net is a bandage soaked in the same mixture.
I will post the pictures when the stowage is painted soon, and then its on to the crew and base. Any ideas for a dio for this one?









Enjoy and all comments and criticisms welcome.

A small tip of advise-

Remove the tracks and put the tank on a table top. Then glue the bogies in that position. Reason being is that the bogies do not have the inertia to resist being curved up with the track. (I had the dame problem with my M10.)

Looking great, i always loved TD's.

Glad you like it John, and thanks for the tip. However I have left the bogies loose so I can glued them in a position to simulate travelling over rough ground. Similarly the tracks are loose and only in position for the photo. When i decide on a position for it, I will glue the bogies and tracks in the required position, if that makes sense.

Nice work but I do have a couple of suggestions

You really have alot of silver on your model. The tools wouldn't be silver - they would of been wood with a dark metal color or painted OD with the tank.

The .50 wouldn't have been silver either - gunmetal - with almost a gray blue hue.

Regarding the ammo tubes - Academy supplies the wrong tubes - they are the same ones in their M10 kit. The 90 mm rounds are noticeably larger and the layout was different ( You cannot see them under the sponsons but the ready rack in therear of the turret bustle is a different story.

The interior would be OD except maybe for the drivers compartment. Since the M36 was an open topped AFV the white would have been avoided.

Chris

Thanks Chris.

I guessed that much of the kit is taken from their M10 but I didn't know they got the ammo tubes wrong. I am probably not going to change the rack in the turret as that would be too much work for what has been an easy build so far.

Again the turret interior is painted as per the instructions, but like you said is more likely to be OD. will have to see if I an repaint all of it. The tools and MG are no where near as silver in reality (something to do with the lighting) and have been toned down and weathered to be darker now.

Bye for now

Ok so here we are with the next update. This isn't much really, all I did was paint the stowage (apart from the souvenir helmet - awaiting grey paint from LHS) and begin the weathering with oil paints and pigments. I still have to weather the stowage completely and tie it down.




Enjoy

So here with the final update (unless anyone states there need to be any major changes) The vehicle represented is not based on any particular tank and will most likely be set in a diorama, probably a farmhouse in France in late 1944.
The stowage and tank were weathered with oil paints and pigments, but i decided the dusty look wasn't correct for a tank in winter, so I redid with a darker wash. The stowage was finished off with a chain from some jewellery and the kits tow rope.
Here it is. All comments and criticisms welcome.





















Enjoy and please feel free to comment

After some advice from a friend I decided to to add more stowage and weather the current items more thoroughly. I am awaiting the set of US tankers from Warriors to put in the hatches and turrets. Here are some better pictures of the latest work.

Feel free to comment.



















Thanks for looking.

Another problem with using the M10 kit as a base; the M 36 did not have the armor bosses on the hull sides like the M10 did.