A couple of comparison images showing the Dragon sprockets.

Unmodified sprocket:



Modified by filling gaps, flattening the teeth, and adding the mud holes:

Final images of the modified sprockets in place on the hull.

I added three small holes on the outer faces of the sprockets rings as these are visible in reference images.

Good job on modifying the Dragon sprockets ... they look great now.

Thx for your detailed description and the great images.

Cheers
Walter

Great start on this beast of a tank, love the pics too.

Erik

great work looking forward to the next installments!
mike

The fenders required a small extension to make them more accurate. For some reason Dragon designed them about 3-4 millimetres too short. I used 0.25 x 4.0 mm Evergreen strip styrene to create the extra length. The edges were curved manually to create a slight wrap.

In order to blend the styrene addition to the kit fenders a healthy dose of Mr. Surfacer 500 was applied over the seams.

The next step was to sand down the surface and add the missing bolt detail on both fenders as well as to cut out the recesses for repositioning the rear hull lifting eyes.

It's looking very nice so far.

As I stated in the last post the lifting eyes needed to be relocated to the proper position on the hull rather than magically attached to the fenders.

A small angled addition was added on to each lifting eye to fit it to the hull. In reality very little can be seen when the fenders are attached.





Another small add-on was two small mounts on the lip of engine deck area on the inside of the lifting eyes. These are the attachment points for the supports used on the fording tube when attached to the rear hull. A simple detail but missed by Dragon.

Here are the fenders temporarily attached showing the final details of the fender extensions, the lifting eyes, and fender cut outs combined with the rear hull details.

All these details and corrections seem minor on their own but they are time consuming. In the end they for sure add to the level of detail and accuracy to the base kit.









The next steps will to be to add, and correct, more details on the fenders.

great work keep it coming!

I next tackled the left fender details and attachment.

Additional bolt detail was added to the fenders as required using a simple punch and die set.

In looking continually what I could live with and what needed to be changed I decided to leave the USMC tank phone the way it is without changing the size. I did add a solder power cable running from the rear of the phone through the hull support and to the hull side behind the air cleaner. I also drilled out the small indicator light on the top of the phone in anticipation of adding a very small red MV Products lens.

I did remove the moulded on handles on the stowage bins and replaced them with styrene handles from the Academy M60A1 RISE kit.

I added multiple bolts to the front of the air cleaner. Dragon has all the bolts present on the rear side but nothing on the front.

I noted that on the fender itself there is visible bolt detail for the most part. The only issue is that the bolts detail seems a bit small. But, it is there and I can live with that.

There are three sponson supports that attach to the fenders at intervals. They would act as reinforcements for the fenders. In regards to the kit parts the rear most support looks overall correct except for missing some bolts and the flat cover plate should not be there (I left the panel in place). The middle support is overall OK too but the top cover plate is not the correct shape and missing bolts. There should also be another hole in the small add-on part at the end of the support. This was easy enough to drill out.

The forward most support arm is not correct. It has four large holes and it should only have three large holes and then a small hole on the add-on part. The mounting post should also be angled. I tackled this by simply scratchbuilding a new support from thin styrene. The holes were drilled and the mounting post was simply bent over at an angle.

The fit of the fender on the hull is very good. The front fender support overlap on to the glacis plate. I had to reposition the front mount on the glacis plate to properly align it with the support arm. Once in place styrene road weld beads were added as a finishing touch.

Overall a straight forward sub-assembly of the build but with the extra details and corrects that I completed it does take time. On to the right fender!



The replacement stowage box handles enhance the detail on the fenders.


The bolt detail on the air cleaner and the rebuilt sponson support is visible.


The solder tank telephone cable is visible in this image.

Even without a total rebuild the kit still needs a ton of work to make it somewhat respectable. Very nice job by the way.

Tom

The right fender assembled without any issues and was given the same treatment of bolt detail and a new sponson support as was done on the left fender. You can see the slight gap created on the turret ring when attaching the fender. This is easy filled and sanded if you are concerned it will be seen when the turret is attached.











As far as accuracy the distance between the sponson supports and the stowage bins and air cleaners seem to be a bit to large. I can accept the discrepancies in the size of the parts as part of the larger build.

With the fenders complete attention will turn to finishing the front hull details.

That's because the flat area between the turret ring and the engine deck top cover shouldn't be there at all... The engine deck cover should be immediately behind the turret ring (exactly the same as in the Dragon M48A3 kit). This is the biggest problem with the Dragon M103 hull - the hull is compressed in front of the turret and stretched behind it. The turret seats far too much forward. This issue resulted in the excess distances you observed around sponson supports.

In looking at reference images it is clear that the gun travel lock in undersized. The detail on the kits parts is acceptable but that is far overshadowed by the small size.

Without completely rebuilding the parts there is no other option. I chose not to correct the travel lock and simply assembled it and mounted it on the back deck. The instructions are very vague as to the placement location of the actual mount on the engine deck.

It's too bad about the undersized travel lock as it even more amplifies aspects of the lengthened hull.

On the M103A2 the crew heater exhaust was vented out of the hull and along an externally mounted pipe to the right hull side.

The kit parts are sufficient but do have mould seams that need to be removed. Once mounted I added additional foil clamps to enhance the detail.

The headlights were added to the hull. Both left and right headlight assemblies are best assembled in stages to ensure proper fit and positioning.

The kit provides the basic components for the headlight assemblies but there are a few details lacking. On the hull behind each frame should be an electrical connection on the hull for the headlight wiring. This was easy enough to add with some styrene disks. Each light on both the left and right assembly should have two wires protruding that run to a common harness which then continues on the connection point.

To make a long story short I used very thin copper wire to add the headlight wiring.

On the rear of each assembly is a cross shaped support brace that runs from the assembly to the glacis plate. Missing from these parts are small inverted L shaped brackets. I added the brackets from the Voyager Model set designed for the M103A1 kit.

The kit provides clear plastic lenses for the headlights and IR lights. It will your choice whether to use them or find a suitable more realistic alternative.

The last steps in the completion of the hull build minus the attachment of the tracks were the simple addition of tow pintles on the front and rear hull. These are not included in the kit unfortunately but Legend Production provides four excellent resin T shaped tow pintles in their M60A1/A3 detail set.









Tow pintles...






Onwards and upwards to the turret build will be the next installments. I waited for four months for the Voyager Model M103A1 set to arrive from an overseas vendor as a result of postal mishaps. Some of the parts in the Voyager set will definitely improve the detail and accuracy of the turret.

Before I move to the turret there details not mentioned in the kit instructions that you may want to consider adding to the hull.

In the image I have labelled details that are missing during the assembly of the kit. Luckily, some of the missing details are in the kit box but have been ignored by Dragon.

On the sprue from the Dragon M3 Halftrack a variety of pioneer tools and machine gun tripods are included. Brackets and straps will have to be added on the right fender and the left side of the glacis plate but this is a very easy remedy and it will add more details to the hull.

Use the smaller .30 Cal tripod on the M3 sprue.

The issue of the missing spare track links is not as an easy fix. There are no individual track links in the kit. You will have to source your own spares from an aftermarket set of 1/35 T97E2 tracks (Bronco/Spade Ace/Friul/AFV Club) or from the spare track links included in the AFV Club M88 kit.

I will add these details on the hull before painting begins.

In moving to the turret I wanted to address the detail located on the bottom of the turret first. On the turret bottom three is a visible bulge. On the M103A1 this bulge was used to situate the gunner's position. On the M103A2 the gunner's position was moved forward in the turret and the second coaxial machine gun was eliminated.

As well the complete replacement of the M103A1 engine deck with the new raised style created clearance issues with the redundant bulge. On the M103A2 the bulge was reduced by at lease 50% to clear the back deck.

The kit provides the turret bottom with what is supposed to represent the full sized bulge. Due to issues with the turret depth and length the full size bulge actually clears the M103A2 back deck. Without cutting off the bulge, adding a new one with putty, and sanding it to shape there is no option to get this detail accurate.

I had strongly considered doing the surgery but once I test fitted the turret bottom I realized that with the turret forward you can barely even see the full size bulge and would likely hardly see a reduced bulge.

With that being said the bulge will stay as it is in the kit.

You can see from the images that the turret rear barely clears the back deck. In reality this distance should be double if not triple to what the kit provides as clearance.

I taped the upper and lower turret parts together and mounted them on the hull to give an idea of the massive size of the turret.

The 120 mm main gun needed a large turret for the recoil system. The size of the turret also greatly increased the amount of armour protection for the crew. This tank was designed to pound the enemy but also take a pounding itself.

There is cast texture on both parts which is a positive as well as angled top of the turret which was omitted in the M103A1 kit.

There are plain and simple accuracy issues with the turret as well as details missing. As I did with my approach with the hull I will pick and choose which to address and which to live with.

While examining the turret details of an M103A2 it is impossible not to notice the 120 mm main gun. The M58 was capable of firing Armour Piercing, High Explosive, HEAT, and White Phosphorus rounds. It was designed to reach out and touch the enemy whether it was long range or close in bunker busting.

The barrel in the Dragon kit is included as a one piece component. There are mould seams but these are easy enough to remove. There is no visible rifling in the barrel. Not too bad you say?

Well, this would be great if the barrel was the correct length.

I have read the review and accuracy analysis of the M103A1 kit authoured by Pawel Krupowicz in combination with the barrel measurements obtained by Robert Skipper. I decided to take my own measurements and threw into the mix the all metal one piece barrel made by Voyager Model in their detail set.

The measurements of the actual barrel portion of the Dragon barrel and the Voyager barrel are the same. But the muzzle and fume extractor of the Voyager Barrel is actually shorter than the kit barrel. This makes the overall length of the Voyager barrel even shorter than the Dragon Barrel.

Enter stage left the RB Models M58 three piece metal barrel. Based on measurements made by Robert Skipper of the real barrel and the same type of measurements on the RB Models barrel the results are essentially the same. This would indicate accuracy in the RB Models barrel.

End result...the Dragon barrel is too short. The Voyager Model barrel is even shorter. The RB Models barrel is just right.

Can the Dragon barrel be fixed? Sure, cut the barrel behind the fume extractor and at the angled collar. Source styrene tube the same diameter and cut it to 114 mm long. Glue the parts back together with the styrene tube in the middle and you should now have a barrel very close to the correct length.

The plus of this kit bashing is that you can increase the barrel length without much cost or effort. The downside is that styrene tube won't have a slight taper. But, neither does the Dragon barrel so you can decide what you can live with.

As the build continues I will demonstrate the kit barrel, the kit bashed longer barrel, the Voyager Models barrel, and the RB Models barrel all fitted to the turret.

Comparison image of the RB Models barrel (top), Voyager Models barrel (middle), and the Dragon barrel (bottom). Of note, the muzzle and fume extractor of the Dragon barrel is actually longer than the RB Models barrel. Go figure.



The RB Models barrel components.



The Dragon barrel and the increased length styrene tube to lengthen the kit barrel.

The above is true and M103 turret was indeed large, but it has to be mentioned that the Dragon kit turret is significantly too large: a few mms too long and a few mms too wide in the upper part (so the side walls are too steep).