I am in the process of building the Commander Series M103 U.S. Heavy tank. This is a combined resin, photo-etch, and plastic kit that has been a pretty challenging build, (as I was not ready for what this kit does, or doesn’t, offer).

Many of the parts needed to complete this kit were simply not provided or were listed as parts, but not supplied. I have emailed the Company requesting several items including both rear fenders, the radio box, and several other things.

Some of this kit is very good, like the turret, which is a beautiful resin casting, and the tracks which are Academy’s. The photo etch parts and wire for the racks around the turret bustle are also well done.

However, the suspension mountings on the resin hull and the associated road wheels and shocks are very very disappointing, (lots of airpockets, missing resin from the pour, and gaps and edges). Frankly some of these parts were unusable. Luckily the spares box provided some replacement shocks, track return rollers, headlights, torsion bars, in addition, to the searchlight, decent lift rings, the 50-cal machine gun, and both turret mounted gas cans.

I want to thank John Mendoza, (aka Jeepney, aka "Da Man"), for pushing me along and providing encouragement to not give up on this one, (which was tempting). When completed it’s dedicated to my good friend from the Philippines.

Attached are some in progress pics. There are problems with this build, but please comment as you see fit. There are still many things to complete and paint/weather. Thanks.

From the start, the resin hull and turret with gun tube and mantlet


This is a lot of resin!

That looks pretty slick so far. The antennae look very "wispy"-I think that was the word I was looking for. What did you use for them? Keep us updated.

For some reason I had trouble posting this pic--sorry

Looking good so far. I like it! :-)

Can't wait to see more , Good job

Nice M 103 WWH. What are you holding anyway?
Nice to see some PE in there...
Who says I never comment on you work????

Andrew

Lord WWH,

Finally I am able to see these fine pics. As from the chat session, I was under the impression it was a difficult build, but you definitely did a good a job. I really like how the turret turned out.

You should've used this modelling skills to do more German stuff. #:-)

If my opinion is worth anything. It looks good. can't wait to see it when completed

Great subject to model and a superb job. Keep up the good work.
DJ

Very impressive "beast"! I heard about it only over the past days here on Armorama. Could you please give me/us a bit of background for it the only one thing I can understand is that it should belong to the "Patton" family (something like an M60 evolution)...
Thanks

Tin: When making tow cables I use the woven picture frame wire. The antennae here are the result of unraveling the picture frame wire and using a single strand. "Wispy"--I like that . Thanks for the comments.




"The M103, the Heavy Tank variant of the M48 series, was designed to counter to the Soviet's JS III heavy tanks, which outclassed all other US tanks during the immediate period following World War II. At nearly 65 tons, it was by far the heaviest tank placed in service by the US Army prior to the advent of the M1 Abrams.

The strong family resemblance to the M48 was based on the components common to both vehicles. The suspension was similar to that of the M48, though modified to carry the increased weight. The M103 had one additional road wheel on each side, though unlike the M48 most of the M103's torsion arms had shock absorbers. Six return rollers were fitted, and the final-drives had much larger exposed gear-boxes.

While the M103 hull was similar in shape to the M48, it was longer and wider, and had thicker armor with better ballistic shape in the forward hull. The engine deck was unlike that of the M48. The turret was totally different, with a large bustle to enable the 120mm gun to recoil. The ballistic shape was excellent from the front, but poor from the rear. The machine gun mount was used to allow the gun to be trained, elevated, and fired from within the vehicle.

The M103A1 differed slightly from the M103, having improved fire-control devices that resulted in minor changes in the turret shape.

The M103A2 was the Heavy Tank variant of the M60 series. It had the large bulged rear engine deck, typical of the diesel engined M48 and M60. It saw service, with a few being around into the 1970's."

A description from GlobalSecurity.org

Awesome build Beermeister!!! This beast is ugly in a nice sort of way. That turret looks huge and I can't imagine how the chassis can take the weight.

Thank you for dedicating this one to me. Your skills inspire me to finish my kits and bring them up to the same level as yours.

Keep up the good work pal! This one is for the official Armorama gallery!