Evening all Have a query regarding the M36 Jackson GMC Recently acquired cheap Italeri kit which quite clearly has an M4 body with vertical/flat armour skirting Query relates to fact that any photos dug up on the darn thing shows M36 with same/similar body to M10 (looks wider somewhat) with angled side armour Were both types used after Normandy landings? Or is my kit supposed to have different armour? Any help with this much appreciated as it's driving me bonkers

Well if its the old italeri kit. you got yourself a nice modle of the M36B1 which was nothing more than a M36 90mm turret on a sherman chassis. I recommend a little petients aand going ahead with construction of the italeri kit as is because AFV club is expecting a fall release of there M36A, so by the time a kit bash or update of the old Tamiya kit was finished the new kit will be out. But understand this info was just a prediction from the reps at their booth at the Shizouka Hobby Show last month, so it be later than expected. hope that helps STUG

BTW last I saw in my TD book from Squadron the Jackson didn't get to play in the normandy invasion, but i could be wrong

According to the concord book U.S. Tank Destroyers in combat 1941 - 1945 the first M36 Jacksons arrived in France in September 1944, because of an urgent requirement for 90 mm guns as quickly as possible. they also converted 187 m4A3 medium tanks into M36's by placing the M36 turrent on them that resulted in the M36B1 version.

You can build the Italeri kit OOB and have a fairly accurate representation of the M36B1 like Steve said. I wouldn't waste a dime on the Tamiya kit as it is not very good. If you really want a M36 you should wait for the AFV Club kit that hopefully will be out sometime this or next year. Neither version was used at Normandy though as Delbert said. The best book to get with regards to the Jackson is the Concorde book by Steve Zaloga, US Tank Destroyers in Combat that Delbert mentioned. It covers the old half-track and jeep TDs, the M10, M18, and M36. There are tons of great photos of both the M36 and M36B1.

On a side note, I also read somewhere that Academy was coming out with an M36 or is that an old kit that is out of production?? Really interested in it.

j

Academy announced that they would be coming out with an M36, but that was quite a while ago so who knows if they still intend to do it.

Roger all that has been said before plus a few of my notes:

No M36s of any kind at Normandy.

Avoid the Tamiya M36 -- it is an old dog and a mix of scales that make it virtually impossible to correct without major scratchbuilding/kit swapping.unnecessary work.

The Italeri kit is not too bad out of the box. The hull is an M4A3.

Here's a link: http://mmcalc.tripod.com/Shermans/M36/M36.html

And another, with an article by Steve Zaloga, that truly describes what you might want to do: http://www.militarymodelling.com/features/feature19/index.html#turretdetails

Enjoy! And good modeling ...

While we're on the subject of the M-36 I thought I would post this for anyone who hadn't seen it. I picked up this link from a post on the Allied DG over on ML. Scroll about half way down the page for a pic of the upcoming AFV Club M-36. They are projecting a release date sometime near the end of the year.

http://www.ann.hi-ho.ne.jp/maxim/a/hobbyshow2003_2.html

Mike

Thanks lads seems everything is clearer now though have to say that I prefer the other body, but can sure use the M4A3 for other purposes... Cheers and all that jazz

Is the M36-B1 any good....I like the looks of that turret on the M4A3 chasis

Jason

The turret wasn't done very well, just a solid cup down inside instead of a basket. The M4A3 hull is fairly nice and has been out for about 13+ years now. The turret is still better than the old Tamiya M36 turret, but not up to the quality of the AFV Club or Academy M10 turret.

Your cheapest bet to just have a quick and easy M36B1 Jackson is to find the old Academy copy of the Tamiya M36 and mate that turret to any old M4A3 hull, like the original Tamiya M4A3. Both kits normally run well under $10 at many vendor tables.