You are going a very fine job on this kit, I am amazed that Dragon produced a kit with so many issues though

The commander's cupola is very prominent on the already large turret. Using the Chrysler cupola as the commander's station on the M103 series allowed for a remote control .50 Cal HMG on the original M103.

As the M103 progressed to the M103A1 the remote system was removed and replaced with a simple pintle mount. The pintle mount was carried over the M103A2 for the USMC. Given the location and height of the the .50 Cal HMG the commander would have had to have been very exposed in the cupola to have fired it.

The Chrysler cupola permitted for all round view for the commander via four periscopes. Three of the periscopes are mounted in the cupola base while the fourth is mounted in the hatch. The hatch is very low profile and is actually quiet small compared to hatches present on the M48 and M60 series during the same time period.

The kit provides a multi-piece cupola and machine gun mount. The cupola itself is nicely moulded and fits into the turret top like a glove. The hatch is void of any detail on the inside and this does deter from posing it open.

The machine gun parts are for the most part from the Dragon M3 Halftrack kit. The cradle parts are thin and fit the .50 Cal body well. The .50 Cal is comprised of a receiver with barrel, spade grips, barrel changing handle, and a feed cover. There are also three pieces used to create the feed tray and ammunition box. I found these last parts very basic and the assembly process creates unrealistic seams.

The .50 Cal HMG needs a bit of cleaning up with the removal of the Traverse and Elevation (T&E) gear that is present on the Halftrack parts.

The cupola surfaces are very smooth and in fact the surface should be a bit rougher to replicate the heavy cast surface.

The kit cupola can be further detailed to your liking using a few options. The .50 Cal can be detailed with aftermarket parts or simply replaced with a better detailed version. The cupola surfaces can be roughed up with Mr. Surfacer or a similar product application. Overall this would improve the detail in the kit parts.

If you are wanting to pose the hatch open you will need to look at additional detailing such as a more detailed hatch lock on the rear of the cupola, an internal hatch handle/lock, the inside hatch components of the fourth periscope, and potentially details visible inside the cupola.

I decided to pose the hatch open and therefore went for the option of using the Slingshot Models M48 Patton Early Type Commander's Cupola. This little set has excellent details inside and out and perfect for detailing the M103A2 kit.

I removed the remote firing mechanism from the resin cupola and assembled it using the Slingshot Models' parts in combination with the applicable Dragon parts. Added on for further detailing was the Voyager Models M103A1 detailing parts which provides a replacement barrel, cooling jacket, pintle chains, feed tray, front and rear sights, and an ammunition box.

The Slingshot Models' cupola contains excellent external and internal details. Inside cupola and hatch detail, wire for the hatch handle, and a seamless fit to the Dragon turret are all positives with this replacement part. The only other detail I added was a thin application of Mr. Surfacer 1000 to provide enhanced cast texture.

Comparison of the inside of the Dragon and Slingshot Models cupolas.



Slingshot Models cupola fitted to the turret prior to the removal of the remote firing details.

The following images show the completed cupola combining the Dragon kit parts, the Slingshot Models cupola, and the Voyager Models detail parts. A definite improvement over the OOB kit parts.

I know without pictures it means nothing, But I spent the last 9 days at Fort McClellan. Sitting out side my barracks was an M103A2. I wanted to take pictures but I was just too busy.
It took me forever to figure out what it was, I never seen one before and I didn't pay any attention to the Dragon kit when it came out.

As the M103 progressed to the M103A1 the gunner's position was repositioned forward in the turret. Concurrently, the gunner's sight periscope was placed forward on the turret roof resulting in the visible welded bulge on the right side of the turret.

Dragon has included the bulge on the turret top part but it is undersized and visibly lacking the weld seams.

In looking at options I could leave it alone or add the bulge. I chose the latter and used Tamiya Smooth Surface two part epoxy putty. I find this product easy to mix, easy to add to a surface, and it easily has a long enough setting time to make large and fine adjustments and add weld details.

As I move forward with the turret build and details I will be adding Mr. Surfacer on the sight bulge to blend it to the turret surface.

While the epoxy putty was still flowing I decided to add other details to the turret.

The two antenna mounts on the turret rear have very fine weld detail moulded on but it needed to be enhanced.

On the turret top in front of the commander's cupola is a larger rectangular hatch. The removal of this hatch would expose the majority of the main gun fire control systems.

Further detail can be added to this area by way of enhancing the rim around the hatch. Dragon depicted the edge as flat with a recessed area around the multiple bolt locations.

Missing are all of the recessed bolts and the edge should in fact be raised with a weld bead. I used .010 x .030" strip styrene to create a raised lip around the hatch and then used a fine bead of epoxy putty around the lip to create the weld bead.

I will tackle the recessed bolts (all 22 of them) as the turret progresses.

The Voyager Models set provides some really good details for the turret including replacements details for the loader's hatch and lifting latches for the rectangular hatch.

As a preparatory move I sanded off the three triangular lifting latches on the rectangular hatch and all of the loader's hatch details.

On the left and right of the cupola ring there are two raised and rounded fixtures. For the M103A2 these and sanded down significantly from their original state. This was an easy adjustment with a couple of minutes of sanding.

Jason,

While you are mucking about with the fire control hatch on the turret roof, the rounded thing on the left side of that hatch is actually a cast cover for a ventilation fan, exactly as found on any WW II Sherman. Sand off the offending Dragon lump and you can just plop a Sherman ventilator cover on there as slick as can be.

The rectangular lump on the other side is poorly shaped as well. It's actually a metal plate welded to the top of the cast base for what was, I believe, the back-up sight for the earlier fire control system. When they got rid of the coincidence range finder and moved the gunner forward, they eliminated this secondary sight.

And finally, regarding the old gunners seat bulge (and I know you're going to leave it as is). The problem with the kit is that the real bulge was significantly offset to the right, was half the width of the kit "thing" and a tad further back on the turret so that the base of the bulge was a touch higher. When the gunner was moved forward, the bulge was left as is but was unoccupied.

HTH

Paul

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the input! I was aware of the ventilator fan cover, but, without a single Sherman kit in my stash I am having trouble sourcing an adequate replacement cover. I also noticed that the actual cover sits a bit higher on the top of the plate rather than as depicted in the kit and is closer to the edge almost overlapping one of the countersunk bolts.

I am going to sand down the redundant secondary sight and add a welded plate on top. Good eye!

I agree with you that the gunner's under turret bulge was about half the size and offset to the right side. But with the turret underside angles being too shallow cutting off the OOB bulge and replacing it with a new one from epoxy putty wouldn't do it justice.

New TMD will sell you six ventilators (two each in three styles) for $5 (prior to shipping). This is the route that I went when I recently needed a ventilator (instead of butchering an otherwise good turret).


Dave

Continuing with the turret details I next drilled out all of the non existent bolt holes around the fire control access hatch. Dragon did attempt to replicate the bolt locations but fell short with incorrect locations, lack of detail, and they even left some out.

My approach with this was to simulate the countersunk bolts and not do a complete overhaul on the hatch.

I first drilled out all the existing locations and added the four missing from the rear of the unused gunner's secondary sight housing.

Next, I enlarged the holes slightly on the underside of the turret roof and carefully pushed up small styrene rods into the holes so they simulated bolts. With small daps of Tamiya extra thin liquid cement they were set aside to dry.




Once dry I used a very small pin vise drill bit to drill out a countersunk hole in the top of each "bolt". Once this was complete the look of multiple countersunk bolts was around the perimeter of the hatch much more realistically than the Dragon kit but not totally accurate due to the Dragon parts. The blade vane sight mounted on the hatch and turret top will be added as the build continues.



While finishing off the hatch I added a small rectangle of styrene to the top of the unused gunner's sight housing and added weld beads using styrene.



The hatch handles had been previously sanded off and they were replaced with brass versions from the Voyager Model M103A1 set. A noticeable improvement over the kit versions.




On the left side of the hatch I sanded down the moulded on ventilator cover and replaced it with a spare from a Sherman kit (Thanks to fellow Calgary modeller Shane MacKay!).




The loader's hatch was sanded down a bit more as I thought it sat too raised from the turret and I added the details provided in the Voyager set. I still have to add a bent wire hatch handle and the hatch lock positioned toward the center of the turret.











On the turret rear I drilled out the left antenna mount. On the M103 series the left antenna mount is set at an angle. My guess is at about a 20 degree angle. I suspect this was to provide clearance for the open commander's hatch.

My plan is to replace the antenna mounts with newer more modern versions with springs. I have seen images of M103A2s with more modern antennas and mounts but I am not sure if they are just a restoration feature or if the antennas were updated while in service. With the M103A2 in service into the early 1970s I could see it possible for more modern antenna mounts to have been used.

I removed the moulded on lip of the main turret ventilator mount. It was too thick compared to the real thing. After sanding it off I replaced it with a cut styrene strip which was formed around the contours.

The Dragon kit includes a loader's hatch lock but it is chunky and not very detailed. I simply swapped it for the PE version provided in the Voyager M103A1 detail set.



The Dragon kit also provides a plastic Blade Vane sight for the turret top. Once again, it is chunky and replaced with the excellent parts from the Voyager set.

Really nice detail work Jason.

This will look great when painted

I thought about what I wanted to do with the antenna mounts. The left one for sure needed surgery to cant it at an angle.

In the end I found a pic of an M103A2 in the Ampersand M103 Heavy Tank book showing an M103A2 with two more modern antenna mounts which included the antenna mounting unit with the spring. These are commonly seen on a multitude of modern vehicles.

I drilled out both antenna pots and replaced the mounts. on the right mount I simply replaced the kit version with a resin version from a Maple Leaf Models set. Prior to attaching the mount I cut off the resin spring.

The left mount required more work and I needed to replicate the canted angle of the antenna mount I mentioned in a previous post. Again, using a Maple Leaf Models antenna mount I attached it to a piece of styrene rod I had cut to shape and sanded to an angle. The actual antenna when mounted angles toward the center of the engine deck and not straight back.



I next drilled pilot holes into both resin mounts. I cut thin steel wire for the antennas and fed it into the pilot holes.



Next I used the excellent metal springs provided in the Voyager set and simply slid them over the wire antennas.



The next step was to use the small brass antenna bases provided in the Voyager set. The problem with these parts is that Voyager did not mill them hollow to accept and antenna. There are small indents on either end but I wanted to reinforce the parts. Using the same drill bit I used the the pilot holes I clamped each brass part and drilled them from top to bottom creating a hollow core.

Voila! I simply slid the brass antenna bases on to the antennas to mate up with the springs. In my opinion the springs are a touch underscale but the look is very nice of both completed antennas.

I have only temporarily mounted the antennas and during final assembly they will be fixed with CA glue to be at the proper angles.

Lots of fun to see what can be done, without resorting to butchering the hull and turret. I wish that someone else would bring a better kit to market.

I have by no means forgotten about this build but regular life seems to find many ways of interrupting modelling.

Getting back on track the updates will begin to come in.

On the turret the range finder blister are thankfully included separate to allow for additional detailing.

The blisters might be a bit under sized but they are totally suitable for the build.

I added small lifting loops on top of each blister with thin metal wire. Next I used PE parts from the Voyager M103A1 detail set to replace the kit moulded on optics covers. They are much thinner than the kit version and add a better scaled look. Finally I drilled out apertures for optics on each blister. Dragon simply did not include any details for the optics. In reality the apertures should be oval.







Stay tuned for more updates...

As I stated earlier there are several options for barrels during the build.

You can choose to use the kit barrel as is. It is too short but it is a one piece barrel eliminating those pesky two piece barrel mould seams.

You can use the metal turned barrel in the Voyager M103A1 detail set. It is even shorter than the kit barrel! You can't get the barrel unless you buy the full set.



You can use the RB Models metal barrel. It is the correct size, it is nicely tapered, it includes rifling, and it includes a well detailed brass bore evacuator and muzzle. It is not highly priced!



All three barrels side by side:



Another alternative is to modify the kit barrel to the correct length. This requires cutting the barrel off at the end of the bore evacuator and at the head of the collar. Replace the kit barrel with an 11.3 cm piece of styrene tube the same diameter of the dragon barrel. If you have the ability to create a tapered tube then this will be much more accurate.

Earlier in the year I proposed to Legend Productions a small update set for the M103A2 kit. The kit has far too many issues to come up with a large detail set although I know Legend Productions would do an amazing job fixing all the errors.

One of the unique features of the M103A2 is the mantlet cover and accordion style barrel dust jacket. I thought this would be a great detail to add to the kit as an aftermarket part. Legend Productions went straight to work with their master makers and has produced an excellent set for further detailing the Dragon kit.

Here is a preview of the Legend Productions M103A2 mantlet set LF1308. I'll use this set on my build as we progress with the turret.

The set consists of a very well detailed and correctly sized resin mantlet, a resin accordion style barrel dust cover, a PE set of 19 mantlet clamps, and multiple resin bolts.

As a caveat, this set was designed for use with the kit barrel and as a result the RB Models metal barrel will not fit the resin accordion style barrel dust cover. While this may be a bit of a let down I will show you how to use the RB Models barrel in this mantlet set. During the development of the set the RB Models barrel was not available to Legend Productions so that is why it has been designed for use with the kit barrel.

I must say a big thank you to Legend Productions for continuing to listen to modellers in regards to creating detail sets and for providing me this pre-production set for use in this build. You can see more images of the M103A2 Mantlet set on the Legend Productions site.

Is the Legend set available to us regular folk?

I wish I had your patience and devotion to correct my M103A2. The manlet cover is superb and I also wish it was available before finishing my M103A2.

Thank you for sharing your work...

Yes, the M103A2 mantlet set has just been released and is listed on the Legend Production website. I would expect it to be available very quickly with their distributors.

Here is a simple yet comparative look at the kit mantlet and the new Legend Production M103A3 mantlet side by side.

Obviously one can see the size and detail differences easily between the two parts.