Was going through the shelves of the shed the other day and came by this project ...



I remember it was a "speed build" which I slapped together over a weekend about a decade ago - I don't believe I've ever got a vehicle sitting on wheels, let alone tracks and with a coat of paint in such a short time. The crewie is a Dragon figure with some resin head ... he looks suitably "dogfaced":



I have several Shermans still in boxes on the shelves. and in all the decades I've been modelling this is the only one I've ever built ... the gun tanks to me are bland, although I would like to do a Korean War HVSS 76mm that supported the Aussies.

I've always like engineering and recovery vehicles, and with this project I wanted to do a "what if" and make a vehicle as different to the Italeri donor vehicle as possible.

Needless to say, I butchered a Tamiya M4 and used the kit suspension and track. For something different, I fitted the dust guards. The crews of the ARVs naturally had access to welders and "gas axes", so I basically fitted some bits where I would have re-installed them if I was a crewie:





Unlike more than a few of my projects a decade on that inevitably get salvaged for newer incarnations, looking at this M32 last night, I am still well satisfied with it - not only did I actually finish it, but I also created something unique and eye catching ...

Going through the shelves, I found this hulk, with I cobbled together soom after finishing the other M32, and this is the way it has languished for a decade ...





Looking through the box for the Dragon M4A1 donor hull, there are some bits missing, but there are also plenty of other similarly plundered Shermans on the shelves, and a couple of incomplete Italeri M32s.

I don't think this one will come together as quick as the last, but I am all ready tracking down some earlier Academy suspension and a set on mostly solid wheels will give this one a different look.

Although they definitely weren't the norm, there is photographic evidence that "large hatch" M4A1 M32 as depicted by Italeri did exist ... but building out of the box wouldn't be any fun ... would it?

I enjoyed building the Italeri M32 some months ago. A very cool model. Just waiting on some replacement parts to complete mine.

Been working nights and had some time on my hands each moning, so I've been tinkering with the M32 ARV ... truth be told, I have several Sherman kits which have been pillaged for "mix and match" projects, so I've had a bit of a M4 kit bash-a-rama and ended up with several far from complete hulks, but this one should be sitting on tracks soon enough.

Its the Dragon early M4A1 cast hull with an Italeri tub and naturally all the bits for the M32. The suspension came from Academy, and because some of the units were incomplete, I finished them with pieces from the pile.

For something different, I got a couple of Academy hub centres and installed them into the spare wheels mounted on the turret. The winch on the front took a bit of fine tuning, and there's still quite a few bits that are needed, and I swear they're lurking in those boxes somewhere!

Some of the rungs are missing from the A frame, but I generally replace them with brass rod anyway, as they always seem to get snapped off ...





Great thing about M32s is that while there was a basic layout, the crews had access to oxy welders and grinders, so you can pretty ,uch use you imagination as to what they would have done to fit out their tracks while taking part in a headlong advance across France to keep not only their vehicle moving but the gun tanks as well ...

Now to try and find them engine air intakes for the rear hull ...

M-32

M32B1

M32B2

M32B3

Yep, i used a lot of italeri kits and Dragon donors for the various hulls. Phot refernces really help. I have 3 images of what the Italeri kit was a copy of, a large hatch M4A1, so I have one more to go...

I like this subject vehicles as well. Also have a few Italeri M32 kits that I'll start someday


Heatseeker64, looks like that Dragon M4A1 donor hull was paint stripped at some point, or it's just really dusty

Just a bit over overspray from when I painted the interior, and I've since filled some holes, to which I applied some Mr Surfacer.