I need help from someone with reference on this. The Italeri kit comes with both the spoked and solid wheels. The instructions have you build both tanks with the solid wheels. What is confusing me is that both the box art and the build up models on the side of the box show the tank fitted with the spoked wheels. Which one is correct?

Also, Italeri's drive sprocket have a very nasty sink mark right in the center. Is there any way that the sprockets from Tamiya's M4 Sherman could be used in the Italeri kit? I have the cast sprocket left from the M4 I built and would like to know if there are any accuracy problems by putting those on the Marine Sherman.

Thanks,

~CDT Reimund Manneck
U.S. Army ROTC

The solid road wheels are proper for that tank. In the Pacific, the Japanese were desparate enough to hide in spider holes and jump out and try to stick a piece of wood or metal rod in the spoked road wheels. The US's answer is to make solid road wheels. Same reason for the wooden armor, they tried to attach magnetic mines or satchel charges to the hull side. The wood was not to give added protection from anti-tank fire, but to protect against sappers and the like.

The built up may have been a prototype before they made the new running gear for the kit.

As far as the sink hole in the sprocket, dilute some Elmer's white glue and dab it in the hole. Eventually the glue will level out and cover the sink hole without having to put putty down in there and try to smooth out with a sanding stick. If you goof up, just pop out the glue with the tip of an X-acto knife. Another method is if you can find a paper hole punch with the same diameter as the sprocket center, punch out a thin piece of sheet styrene and glue it on like a cover. Use cement sparingly since the thin plastic disk may sag.

Thanks for the quick response Rob, and I have another one for ya.

This one concerns the wheels on AFV's M10. I want to model Le-Malin, a French tank from the 2nd Armored Division. Once again on the instructions AFV shows cast wheels being used and the box art and build up of Le-Malin shows that type of wheel as well.
However, my kit does not include that kind of wheel, it came with dish-plate wheels. Is this the right kind of wheel for the French tank or am I going to have to scrounge for the cast type?

I should probably go out and get me some reference material.......

Thanks,

~CDT Reimund Manneck
U.S. Army ROTC

I've checked the Squadron Signal US Tank Destroyers in Action and the Tanks Illustrated US Tank Destroyers in WW2, and neither has a photo of that particular vehicle. Sorry I can't help you there.

Thanks anyway. I did some research on the intenet and came across a picture of Le-Malin.
http://www.info-micro.com/engins/archives/m_10/archive_m10_le-malin.htm

This website is pretty good, it has reference pictures on a bunch of French M-10s. Take a look here: http://www.info-micro.com/engins/listing_m10.htm

I took another look at the instruction on the M-10. In the instruction the cast wheels are listed as part C11. On the spue, however, the dish-plate wheels are numbered C27. It seems like AFV CLub included the wrong type of wheels on my kit.

Thankfully I have cast wheels left from the Tamiya M-4. I will still have to get a set of T51 tracks (is that right?).

Cheers,

~CDT Reimund Manneck
U.S. Army ROTC

Reimund, the AFV M10 kit provides the correct solid cast road wheels for depicting the "La Malin" (The Wag). One thing I noticed though is the the idler wheel in the photo of the La Malin appears to have been equipped with the spoked type. The vehicle in the photo is at too sharp an angle to tell for sure.
Another thing you may want to do, if you want to depict the La malin,is to replace the kit's T49 three bar cleat type tracks with a set of T51s.
One more note, the kit gives you the option of adding the applique armor bolting pieces. Use both parts C25 and C26 for making these to depict the La Malin. Some photos of M10s from differing battalions have none, some have just the bolts in place and some have the bolts removed.

EEEEK!!! Good thing you've got some spares! Though I'm sure, where you bought it they will gladly replace them for you.