I am considering buying the Canadian Ram kit from Commander Models. I know it calls for an Academy Lee donor kit, but I would like to know if I can get away with a Tamyia kit or even a Sherman kit. I ask about the Sherman kit(s) because I have a couple of them in my kit stash. Also does anyone know how accurate the Ram kit is?

I am not sure, but also note the Formation Models will be re-releasing their RAM conversion soon, I heard it might be as early as June.

I thought I read somewhere that the Formations operation was shut down.

Only temporary while ownership was transferred. I believe that they're back up and running now. Check their website for details.

HTH

Formations closed and then Rob sold the business to an outfit in Canada. They are open again and bringing products back to market.

Regarding the Commanders Ram.

It's a Mk I so you really _must_ use a Lee or Grant as the base kit and the Academy Lee is the only one that fits that bill (the Tamiya kits are waaaay too wide and poorly detailed). The Mk Is had the notch in the front right corner of the casting to accommodate the Lee 3-piece differential cover, so you need one of those. You also need the rear hull details appropriate for the Wright engine, which include teh pepperpot exhausts and the initial prodution rear plate that accommodates them.

The Commanders hull shape looks a tad off, especially around the driver's compartment and aux MG turret and lacks any casting texture or trowel marks, both of which are quite obvious in wartime photos. The turret shape also seems a bit off, but it's hard to tell for sure about either of them without having a kit in my hands and comparing to my measurements and notes.

Certainly the turret lacks the prominent sand casting mould join & grinder marks where the casting runner was cut off the real thing. Again, these are very obvious o nthe real vehicles.

The provsiion of an interior is nice and most of it looks pretty good, but there are a lot of things missing that you'de want to include "if" you were intent on openning up the sponson doors for a clear look inside. The turret basket appears to be approximately cylindrical, but the Mk I basket was very defnintely conical. The cylindrical basket was a Mk II thing.

It is interesting that he has produced a Mk I as there were only 50 of them built, but it does provide a good base for making a Ram ARV I, which a lot of the Mk Is were converted to.

So, as a Mk I, this can be the basis for a pretty good model and as long as the shape is not grossly out of dimension, the tweaks needed to turn it into an accurate representation of the MK I shouldn't be too difficult.

It does kinda tick me off that a resin kit should _ever_ need a significant tweaks list as isn't that why we buy resin kits? The producer should be able to include all the detail and accuracy that many styrene kit producers have not traditionally taken the care to do well. Having mastered a number of kits, it ahs always bothered me when resin kits don't seem to demonstrate a higher level of accuracy than styrene kits.

If you have any detail questions on teh kit or vehicle, please don't hesitate to ask, either here or by PM.

Paul

Thanks for all the info Paul. It seems that every conversion kit out there is not accurate and a number of things need to be fixed. My problem is that I like the looks of the mk1. So I have to go with either Commander Models, S-Model or Verlinden kits. Which would be my best chose.

Commanders is the only Mk I out there. The S-Models Kit and the Verlinden nightmare are both early Mk IIs.

Neither the S-Model kit or it's father, the HK-35 kits (which they copied) are any good. They are based on teh Tamiya Lee so are too wide. they are also too short and too tall, making the tank look plump or overstuffed. Rams look pretty sleek, like cast Shermans.

Dimensionally, the hull details aren't correct either. I've build an H&K Ram Mk II and have the S-Model kit and would far, far rather spend the time to tart up the commanders kit than build either one of the others. Verlinden and Lone Star Models also made Rams and they're both horrible.

The Formations Ram is a not a Gun Tank, its the OP/CP verion which were the very last vehicles off the Ram line, and so have all the late features. Backdating them to earlier configuration with the aux. MG turret would take some work, but it can be done (and I intend to do it, too! ). The formations hull shape is the most accruate of everything available.

Note, the Commanders hull shape over the rear hull overhang is a bit off and also needs the very noticable shallow rain trough that drains out over the middle of the overhang plus the small opening in th eoverhang for the engine crank (used to turn over the engine prior to starting to avoid oil lock in the bottom cylinders).

HTH

Paul

?? Now Paul, how can it be both
I pull out the S-Model Ram once in a while - I did some heavy re-shaping of the upper hull but it still suffers from the 'stoutness' look. Guess I should just suck it up and finish it warts and all.
See you in a week!

Jim

After my last reply I double checked the Verlinden and S-Model kits and realized my mk1 mistake. I guess it just leaves me with the Commander Model's kit. Now I just have to find a cheap Academy M3 Lee kit. I have pulled some pics off the net but I could use some good reference material.

Smarty arse! Too short in length and too tall in height. There!



Masochist!


Yeah, there really isn't much you can do about it.

I built the H&K 35 kit many years ago and it came out OK, but still looks wrong.