1⁄35Pershings Big Hitter
11
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Ian shows off his Hobby Boss Super Pershing. He finished building it last summer with a full interior and a number of improvements; however he only just got around to painting it. Surprisingly the Hobby Boss kit comes with no periscopes so Ian bought a set of the Verlinden ones and added them. Ian does feel that this is one of those modelling cliches that everyone wants to do at some point and I realise the rusty armour probably isn't right but I've enjoyed the weathering...
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Wow, amazing job! I have that one in my queue right after the Asuka Jumbo.
JUN 23, 2016 - 03:58 AM
Man, that just looks super cool, with all that extra armor. WOT flashbacks. That thing screams "tank".
JUN 23, 2016 - 01:05 PM
FYI, just generally speaking...
Re: The "Rusty" weathering- See below:
The US ARMY's 3rd Armored Division's Ordnance Unit (The Ordnance Unit was divided between CCA and CCB, Belton served with CCB at the time of this experience) received a single M26A1E2 "Super Pershing", (the only M26A1 to be shipped to Europe), mounting the experimental 90mm T15E1 Gun- (See Belton y. Cooper's "DEATH TRAPS" book. To paraphrase Cooper, "With new special ammunition", the T15E1 Gun was supposed to have a muzzle-velocity of "3850 feet per second, some 600 feet per second GREATER than the Tiger II's KwK 43 88mm Gun") Theoretically, the T15E1 was supposed to be a "Tiger-Killer"...
Belton Cooper was given the "task" of upgrading the M26A1 with "add-on armor", comprised of several pieces of inch-and-a-half boiler plate, bolted together in several different places. The extra armor which was attached to the Gun Mantlet was sourced from a knocked-out Panther's "face-plate", (I'm assuming either the Upper or Lower Glacis Plate), and "trimmed" to 3-inches thick. with a hole cut in the center to accommodate the main Gun. According to Cooper, the extra "armor" increased the tank's weight by another 7-tons, giving the actual tank a noticeable "nose-heavy" appearance. In addition, the extra 3 inches of armor attached to the Gun Mantlet caused the Main Gun Barrel to "sag forward".
After the mods were completed, this particular M26 was re-designated to "M26A1E2". To compensate for all the extra weight added to the frontal areas of the Gun Mantlet, two additional pieces of the "boiler plate" had to be attached to the existing extra armor at the rear of the Turret, to offset the Main Gun's "forward sag".
To paraphrase Cooper once again, "a crew from the 33rd Armored Regiment was sent to test this new tank, and results were satisfactory".
Just thought that readers of this interesting thread and "build" might appreciate a few additional comments to this fine thread, regarding this particular tank...
As to the "rusty weathering, given the "facts" stated above, it is entirely plausible that the additional "armor plate", i.e, the boiler plates and the Panther's "face-plate" might have rusted in the way that is portrayed on this model, as NO MENTION of painting the boiler plates or re-painting the Panther's "face-plate" is made in Cooper's book. So, we have another one of those niggling little conundrums that is open to question... Gotta love it!
JUN 24, 2016 - 12:14 PM
Copyright ©2021 by Ian Barraclough. Images and/or videos also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. The views and opinions expressed herein are solely the views and opinions of the authors and/or contributors to this Web site and do not necessarily represent the views and/or opinions of Armorama, KitMaker Network, or Silver Star Enterrpises. All rights reserved. Originally published on: 2016-06-23 15:06:55. Unique Reads: 9570