Hi all,

been working on a bit of a kit bash, to get an IDF M32, used during the Yom Kippur War in '73.

Started with the excellent Tasca M32, had some spares from a Tamiya M51 and Tasca M4A3E8 laying around from previous projects, and used a Tamiya M4 upper hull.

Here's how it started:


And here's where I'm at now.













Still a LOT to go, here's a brief list:
HULL:
- crew steps on the transmission
- horn and guard
- fire extinguishers
- big flat plate on the boom
- spare return roller mounts on engine deck
- poles and brackets on glacis (more on this in a sec)
- bracket between hull front hatches (more on this too, later)
- front hatch detailing
- hull welds
- welds on the front tow mount
- bolted square plate on co drivers' hull side
- all the cabling for the winch
- gas bottle mounts and gas bottles
- tools and their brackets
- gas cap lettering
- engine deck detailing
- brackets on bogie spring ends

TURRET:
- wait for the HDS late turret, or
- scratch build large cable feed opening for kit turret
- detail kit turret, add crew stowage inside
- spare wheel mounts on turret front
- welds
- grab handle and spare barrel brackets on turret roof
- shovel on turret side
- smoke grenade launcher mounts front and back

Cheers,

Sam

Sam, just found your conversion build thread for the IDF M32. what an outstanding effort. I'm really looking forward to following it to completion as I've subscribed to your build thread.
Joel

Will be cool to watch your build; anything Israeli is always cool. Though are you sure they used actual M32's? The IDF never leave anything alone, especially since the M32 would be around thirty years by the time the Yom Kippur War rolled around.

Pretty sure. Any book on IDF armor or a simple google search before posting would have confirmed your question Chris.

'unmodified' VVSS M32 circa 1956


'modified' HVSS M32 circa 1973, during YKW, used in conjunction with Shot Centurions even..





So yeah, M32's of varying types were used heavily by the IDF, a lot.

Sam

Sam, took another long look at your pictures, and I was amazed that you were able to use the molded boom hand grabs. Mine broke off if you just looked to long at them.
Joel

Just to clarify, the top picture is an M32B1, while the other two are M32A1B3s. The latter may have been upgraded from radial-engined M32B3s obtained from France. There is a VVSS example at Latrun, and HVSS examples at the Portola Valley, CA collection and at Batey Haosef in Jaffa, the latter two equipped with the Cummins.

Tom