Another Sherman question! Did any of the 76mm Cobra Shermans come with the Cullin hedgerow cutter? I know that some came with the rhino (cannot spell rhinocerus) one. Hehehe. Thanx again, Stevie.

They were the same thing. Cullin was the officer who came up with the idea, rhino was a slang term for the device. They were installed in France with materials that were available, and designed on site to use what was there. My father was a mechanic in the US Army Ordinance Corp; the first thing they did when they landed in France on D-Day + 21 was pulled German tank traps out of the water at Normandy and cut them up and installed them on Allied tanks. He was awarded a special battle ribbon for the operation.

I need to clarify; his unit was awarded battle ribbons for installing the devices.

Cullin was an NCO in the 102nd Cavalry Bn. A New Jersey National Guard formation. The first cutter was tested on an M5 Stuart. The 102nd was my unit many years later.

Tom

To answer your question I have seen pictures of M4A1 76mm with cutters.

Tom

Watch this video on youtube. It shows some cutters being welded up on 3rd AD tanks. One is on an M4A1 76

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUy9zaUY68c&feature=player_embedded

Stevie,

From what I have seen, there are two main types of cutter, both "field improvisations". The original Culin device had about five I-beam prongs pointing forward to break up obstacles like the earthen banks under the hedgerows. Tamiya offered this design with its Stuart and Cromwell tanks.

His idea grew from other tests going on at the time, and another version (popular with 3rd AD) added wedges at each end formed from triangular plates. These helped push the debris to either side, opening a passage through the middle for the tank. I believe this is the version Tasca offers in their latest version of the M4A1(75)...

There are still shots on the web as well as that film, showing M4A1(76) tanks being fitted with the wedge-type cutter.

As for terms like "Culin" and "Rhino" I'm not sure how specific (or official) they really were.

Tom

Thanx for the many replies guys. You know what? This website is fabulous, isn't it? Well, I have the Tasca Cullin hedgerow cutter in my stash and I have the Italeri M4A1 which I'm gonna make into a Cobra Sherman. I will make the earlier suspension from many Dragon/Academy leftovers and have the early 76mm turret also bought online from Tasca. I was gonna add the cutter to this model, and although I'm not a count the nuts and bolts kinda guy (I don't add the bolts to the trackskids and drill the four holes in the front of the bogie, tsk, tsk), I did want it to be reasonably accurate. I knew that some earlier Shermans were fitted with the cutter but wasn't sure about the M4A1 big hatch. Thanx again.
PS Just watched the Cobat Reels link. WOW - just like being there. Fabulous stuff.

Tom,
Cullin was from Cranford, NJ. They named a street after him in town. I think there are 3 maybe 4 houses on it.
Regards,
Georg

Stevie,

Don't sweat the missing bolts! I've added them on my builds and it really is surprising how little you can really see once it is all done and weathered! Better to spend the effort where it can be seen, I say. Sounds like you've identified the big issues (gun, bogies) with the Italeri kit. For 30 years old, it still holds up well in the right hands! The other big things to address for a Cobra beast are removing the ventilator dome from the turret rear (apparently these came later...) and blending the shell-ejection port into the side of the turret since it was part of the main casting. These are highly visible, and will only annoy you in future if you don't...

Good luck!

Tom

Tom, I bought the M4A1 from eBay for £9. The turret was a few quid only from the Tasca shop online (which I would strongly recommend - I have bought several items and the service and delivery is first rate), and I bought a bunch of other sprues, tracks etc. from Tasca at the same time. I have a few gun barrels left over from the Tasca Jumbo and loads of leftover suspension and bogies from Tasca, Academy and Dragon. I know you can buy a Cobra Sherman from dragon, but where's the fun in that? LOL. I'd rather use up some bits and bobs and have something original. At the mo I am building about 10 or 11 Shermans! 2 Tascas, 2 Academys, 2 Revell, 1 Tamiya and 5 Dragons. OK then - 12 shermans! The other thing that the Cobra Shermans did not have was the waterproof ventilator cover between the driver and RO, according to Steve Zaloga. I bought a Dragon M4A2 at X-Mas and the tracks were damaged. I wrote to Dragon Care and they said they would send a pair when in stock. After writing to them about 10 times, I'm still waiting. Very bad service. I even asked for ANY Sherman track. They should be called Dragon Dont Care!!!!!

Thanx again, Stevie.

Another Sherman addict - I like it! Sounds like you've got it all in hand. (I didn't know about the ventilator between the two hatches...) Tasca's online parts service is excellent - I've been snapping up their "Sherman III cast hoods" hulls (35018) to make some straght M4s out of Italeri & other kits.

Oh, and I've heard others moaning about DML service, so you're not alone.

If you're at Duxford for the MAFVA Nationals this weekend drop by the Essex branch table and say hello...

Tom

Dragon Care US is great, European Dragon Care evidently isn't. As this is the anniversary of Bunker Hill perhaps you folks would like to retroactively surrender and then you can get access to our Dragon Care.

Tom, I won't be going to Duxford. I work for SCS so work every Sat/sun. I did say to the boss that I wanted the Sunday off in November for the Telford show, so I might see ya there if you're going. I've been to Telford the past 3 years and it's a great show. I did make it to the Brum show a few weeks ago. It was the first one in Brum for years and it was a very small show, but it'll probably get bigger over the next few years. Yeah, I just gonna bombard DragonCare with e-mails! Probably filtered me out by now! Stevie.

Hey Steve
One of the initial designs (747TB; the 'Salad fork' and 'Green dozer') was improved upon by Sgt. Curtis Culin resulting in the T1, (the 4 pronged design) of which there were variations also (T1E1, which had a fifth prong in the lower centre of the horizontal four and the T1E2 which had five prongs in a straight line)
The 3AD cutter mentioned with the side triangular plates was described as a T2 Douglas device and was exclusive to the 3AD.
So you could go a 2AD M4a1(76) with the T1 and variants, or a 3AD M4a1(76) with the T2...
Brad

Wow - thanks for replying. Suppose I'd better make mine 3rd AD then! hehehe. Stevie.