Hi Guys, I have started on this old partially started M26 hull. I acquired the hull a few years ago in a trade. The Hull was started by another model maker a number of years ago as a custom project, but the project never proceeded beyond the lower hull, and remained in this partially started condition for a number of years.

I have been anticipating this build for some time and I feel that I'm now up for it . For this build I will need to complete the hull, scratch build the turret, and tool up the suspension components, Bow hatches.......ect.

The tank's hull is made out of 1/8th inch thick sheet styrene. Overall the tank appears to have the correct scale, and dimensions. The complex lower hull angles have also been built into this tank.

M26 Hull in Raw form.



















The tank's hull was built with an internal wooden frame that acts as support, and anchors several steel angle frames that were to be used as mounting points for the wheel axels. I will be machining my own suspension and torsion bars so the angle frames were not needed and were removed.









When the tank's hull was first built the tank had its fenders built into the structure. These fenders were removed, and sheet metal fenders will be fabricated later. While I was removing the plastic fenders I left 1/4 of an inch of plastic sticking out of the tank's side hull. These strips will be the mounting points for the new fender fasteners.





The tank's rear was built up, and the recess for the final drives have been completed.









The lower portion of the tanks front has also been reworked and is now ready for the next step. In addition to the lower front, the angle frame slots were removed, and two styrene plates were added to the hull sides to create the indent that present on rear portion of the M26 hull. The under hull is now ready for its detailing.









Now that the lower hull is mostly in one piece, the next step is to work on the tank's top hull. More progress to come!

Ah, the next project after the Lee! I know I will be staring in awe again, even though I will certainly never build in this scale for sheer space (and marriage-peace... ) reasons...

You got my attention!

Cheers
Stef

John,

You're not a modeller .... you're a craftsman! Because only a craftsman could attempt such a project, and in that scale. You've got a job and a half on your hands there mate, but I'm sure the end result will be a stunner. Be sure to keep us posted with your progress.

- Steve

I can't wait to see your progress. I thought the last Sherman ad th Lee were amazing. The Pershing has always been a favorite of mine. I have 9 kits in various scales. I'm sure it will be your best yet.

Tom

Its very interesting.
In addition to techniques, it must be a very hard work.
I will look forward to seeing your next post!

Cheers,
Si Nam

John,
The M26 is a great base for the Patton series of vehicles, which I've no doubt will come. I'm a great fan of the M26 and look forward to this project of yours!
What are you using for refferences for this build?

George

You´re a braver man then me! Good start John. Hopefully you can carry this through ... it would be a major achievment! Any total scratch build is an achievement .. but at this scale -- wow!

Thanks Guys,




For my major references I'm using the squadron signal M26 Walk around book, Squadron M26 in action, and the US AFV plan book. In addition I dug out of my unbuilt stash Tamiya's 1/16th scale Pershing, and DML's 1/35th scale M26A1 to be used as further aids.

I have made a lot of progress on the tank hull. The tank's upper hull structure has been completed.



The tanks 30.cal , and front air filter blisters have been sculpted onto the tank's front plate.






All of the top hull structure has been sculpted and completed. For the tank's front portion this would include the hatch locations, armored turret ring, top ventilator cover, turret ring blister, and hatch mount extensions. Now that the structure is complete the fine details can be installed.











On the tank's rear portion I have completed the major hull components for the grill work. The grill work themselves will be fabricated after the turret.







To finish up the Lower hull I will now be working on the welds, escape hatches, and access caps. Once these are complete the hull will be ready for the suspension.

To get an idea of what the hull will look like with the turret I placed one of my Sherman Jumbo turrets on the tank's hull.

*Note* This will not be the turret that I will use on the model. Once I have a nice break in the weather I will then be able to fabricate the correct M26 turret.





Another update will follow in the next few days

I completed the tank's lower hull details. These would include the welds, escape hatches, access caps, and drain plugs.









On the M26 the tank's hull was made out of several pieces of both rolled and cast steel. The whole front portion was a single cast assembly that was welded onto the rolled steel plates. The tank's rear portion was comprised of three cast sections that were welded together, and then attached to the tank's hull. To make the cast pieces stand out from the rolled steel panels cast texture was added to the cast sections

















Now that the lower hull mods have been completed, I can now start on fabricating the tank's suspension and running gear.

Wow, thats coming along very nicely.

I have made some progress on the suspension.



I have created and installed the tank's torsion bar swing arm mounts.
Even though there are no M26 kits on the horizon, I will be adding the M26/ M46 suspension to the product line once the suspension is complete. The running gear and suspension will be offered as one complete set, in case there are any other people who are willing to tackle an M26.









The tank's final transmission drives have also been mostly completed and installed. The final drives need a few more smaller details (hull mounting brackets, and oil fillers) to be complete. So here is a sneek peek







In addition to the last of the final drive parts I will now be working on the Bump stops and the return roller mounts. More progress to come!

Looking very good so far.

I can't wait to see the turret.

I will be able to scratch build the turret once all of the snow melts in a month or two, until then I will be focusing on the tank's lower hull and suspension.

I have made some more progress on the tank's suspension this week.



I have completed and installed the tank's volute spring bump stops and return roller mounts.







The tank has two types of bump stops. One version is for the swing arms







The other version is for the front Idler wheel swing arms,





I have also added the oil filler caps to the final drives completing the sets. The final drive sets have been added to the product line.
http://eastcoastarmory.com/ustankparts.htm





The next suspension parts that I will machine next will be the tank's swing arms and shock absorbers. More info on those to follow

I have made more headway on the suspension.



I have completed the tank's main road wheel swing arms.





The tank's swing arms that connect to the shock absorbers have the shock absorber mounting plate bolted to the rear portion of the swing arms. On the real component all swing arms have a small mounting plate casted into the rear portion of the arm that the shock absorber mount would bolt to. On my resin swing arms I also built in this feature. All of the components also have their grease fittings installed. Once the tank is painted all of these fittings will be painted red.





All of the road wheel swing arms and shock absorbers have been assembled and installed on to the tank.













I will now be focusing on the tank's front road wheel and idler wheel swing arm cluster. Once the cluster is completed I will then be off on the road wheels.

I have completed and installed the final swing arm suspension components.





Before I was able to install any of the cluster components I needed to finish the front swing arm mount. Once complete I was then able to proceed with the installation



The cluster comprises of two swing arms and one shock absorber. The first road wheel and the front idler wheel are both mounted on the large swing arm. The second smaller swing arm connects to the bottom of the large swing arm and it is used for more tension and support for the large idler and road wheel swing arm. For added support the smaller swing arm has a shock absorber mounted to the top of the swing arm.











The front idler wheel connects to the swing arm with a smaller adjustable mount. On the real tank the mount is adjusted with a large hex nut and castle washer positioned on the rear portion of the large swing arm.







With the cluster and the suspension out of the way I have now started on the tank's running gear. I have already completed the tank's small return rollers.



The M26 used the same return rollers found on the M4 Sherman HVSS suspension. The only difference is that the M26 used a different roller hub cap. I already offered the HVSS return roller wheels for the Sherman when I was building my T-28 super heavy tank, so I had a good starting point for the new wheels.

My first return roller wheels had the M4 HVSS style hub caps molded in. They also were casted flat with no back detailing or structure. While building this model I decided to retool my old return roller, with the back structure and detail molded in and with removable hub caps.

I currently have the M26 style hub caps mold created , and I have the M4 style hub caps on the way. Once ready the current M4 rollers will be replaced with the new tooled versions.







The separate hub cap allowed me to mold in a counter sunk divot into the road wheel center. This allows me to install the wheel with a broad head nail. The nail allows the wheel to be mounted securely, yet will allow the wheel to spin freely. The nail head is then concealed with the resin hub cap.









All of the return rollers have been installed and the model is starting to grow outward in it's appearance.











I was also able to add the final smoother cast texture to the front armored plate, more info to follow after the completion of the running gear!



Currently I'm working on the tank's main road wheels. More info to follow!

Absolutly amazing, I have the Hunnicut Pershing book if you need some pictures or detail photos as a reference. Are you building a Zebra Force tank or something later?

Tom

This is looking awesome. Your abilities are amazing as well. Keep it up.

Fantastic work, man. Which resin are you using for the castings? We all might want to consider investing in that company until you're finished

Wow, very nice! I really can't wait to see the finished tank.

John,
As Always Great Work!
What I would like to see is the prossess by which you make the components. Are you just scaling up the Tamiya parts? Seeing how you make the masters for casting would be very interresting to us all.


George

Thanks Tom, I'm mostly covered with my sources, but if I have any blind spots I'll let you know. As for the tank I will be building a Zebra M26 (T-26E3)




For scaling up my parts I use plans, 1/35th scale kits, and real tank images. as for the masters themselves they are made out of a combo of Resin, Plastic, wood, and epoxies. These materials are either sculpted into shape, or are turned on my Lathe or Mill. All of these parts are made and machined by hand.

I have completed and installed the tank's main road wheels. Both the wheels and the return rollers are installed temporarily. They will now be removed so that I can apply the tank's Base coat to the lower hull and the road wheels.















Each road wheel contains two wheels, a center hub, a separate hub cap, and a steel shaft retaining pin. In addition each road wheel is assembled with 10 M3X16 Hex bolts and 10 Nuts.























I designed the hubs with a similar retention system that I used on the return rollers. The hub itself is hollow which contains a space for a steel retention shaft. The shaft secures the wheel to the swing arm, but allows the wheel to spin freely. The resin hub cap then conceals the shaft, and is also in the same position that the real hub cap mounts to the hub. Because of this the seam that is left between the hub and the hub cap is present and is true to the real M26.































Because of the separate hubs the wheels mount to the tank in a very realistic way. It almost makes me want to display the tank with the wheels off!



















Due to the design of the wheels they are a lot lighter than the my Late M4 VVSS dish wheels, but take a longer to cast a complete set of 28 wheels compared to 12 for a M4.























Now with the Wheels out of the way the next component that I will be working on now will be the drive sprockets. Once they care complete I then can start producing the masters for the track Much more to Come!

Great work John! As always! Looking forward to the next installment!

I noticed on some pictures you have a kit with a Swiss flag on the box, what is that?

Cheers!
Stefan

i'd thought i'd seen everything till i saw this John, truely amazing! you should be working in the movie industry, especially with all the details, you give replica a whole new meaning. can't wait to see more.

Very nice build so far.

Thanks for the compliments everyone. They are much appreciated.




Hi Stefan, The kit that you noticed in the background is a 1/35th scale Heller AMX 13 tank.

I have made some headway with the project







The tank's lower hull and running gear was primed and painted with their base coat



























The All of the Tank's wheels were installed permanently. to their swing arms and idler mounts. The inner rubber tire sections of all the wheels were painted in Black; these sections are difficult to paint once the model is fully detailed and built.



As I mentioned before the wheels are mounted permanently to the tank, but they will be able to spin and roll freely, due to their axle design.











I have just completed The tank's main drive sprockets. Both The drive sprockets and the suspension have been added to the product line.

The Drive sprockets will work for the M26 series, M46, M47 Pattons, and the T30 Heavy / Super heavy tank series.



http://www.eastcoastarmory.com/ustankparts.htm







































The Sprockets are mounted to the tank's final drive mounts with a 1/4 inch steel shaft and spacers. Like the road wheels the sprockets will also spin freely. The large spacer keeps the sprockets in perfect alignment with the road wheels.















With the completion of the sprockets I can now fabricate the Track Masters, which will be molded several times over to produce the necessary links required. I will also now be moving upward to the tank's fenders which will be fabricated out of sheet steel and brass. More info to follow!