Hi, everyone! Yeah, I've been gone a long time, but hope to get a little more active again. Time will tell...

Anyway, I've scoped out the comments on the new Academy kit and have a few of my own. First, it is overpriced at $45--but that's what I paid, trying to keep my local store happy. The turret bits look quite nice overall, but the ammunition stowage in the bustle is wrong. Academy blew it on this one, doing it just like the old Italeri M36B1 kit. The right side should store six rounds, the left five. Both kit makers have made both sides symmetrical with six. Either the left one needs to be modified, or both need replacement. I just finished a conversion using an Academy M10 with a heavily modified Italeri turret, and I scratchbuilt the ammo racks using 5/32" aluminum tubing. (I started this project a couple of months before the new kit was released).

The ammo stowage in the hull is close, but no cigar. The rounds are for 3 inch ammo, not 90mm. The latter are MUCH bigger. Also, the instructions have you place 32 rounds in the sponsons. There should be 36; nine in each bay. All the mounting knobs and such must be ground off of the rear firewall, center dividers, and front walls of the sponsons. And there should be slots in those panels, too. Use Squadron's Walk Around to guide you. Now about that ammo...tough call. I have a pair of rounds in tubes from a VERY old Verlinden set, and I am casting up copies to stow my vehicle with. This forces some changes: The center dividers should be replaced with .020 styrene and the forward panels moved further forward. On the Driver's side, this means relocating some of the molded-on wiring detail.

The overhead cover is nice, but it is definitely post-WW2. And the rear panel should actually be three separate pieces. Look at the placement of the hinges and you'll see what I mean. Cut them apart if you'll be using them.

The rear plate is nice; finally the tool outlines are gone. But the exhaust deflector is not commonly seen on WW2 vehicles, so consider leaving it off and filling the mounting slots with styrene.

Kudos to Academy for providing parts for all three gun options--a vehicle from anywhere, anytime can be modeled. Good job!

Just so everyone is aware, the upper hulls from these kits can be mixed and matched. The M36 and Achilles come without the applique armor bosses; the M10s with them. Any of the variants could have them or not, depending on when the hull was built. Later hulls were smooth; just let photos be your guide.

As for a more-accurate M36B1, I'll be getting a second one of these kits and building up a Tamiya hull for it. Hogging out the turret ring isn't a big deal, and the Academy driver's compartment can be fitted to the Tamiya hull (I've done it before). The fighting compartment floor is easily made from styrene; I've done that before too. Use Hunnicutt as a guide for the pattern of the panels.

If you can get the kit at a discount, it is a great place to start. Have fun!

Greg

Thanks for the run-down Greg. I too am collecting all the tid-bits of info on this kit from various sources for a future build/correcting.
My problem is that price x 3! One for the M36, another for the M36B1 and a third for the Super Hellcat.
Do you have any pics of the one you built or are building?

Whoa, Nellie!
They're 45 bucks in the States?? They go for about 25 bucks here in Japan. I guess we're a lot closer to Korea, but, sheesh!
I always thought Academy stuff was pretty cheap in the States.

No pictures yet. Don't have a digital camera, and realy need to budget for one. Here in Oregon, it won't be light enough for photography for another four months!

The conversion I just completed is a Croatian vehicle from 1993 as shown in Zaloga's Concord book on US tank destroyers. I kitbashed the rear end to replicate the Russian diesel conversion done on these rigs. It probably isn't right, but I has only four grainy photos to work from.

Another thing: the M36B2. Using the standard M10 rear plate parts, this can be built too. I would use the new M36 upper rear plate and exhaust deflector, not the M10 plate and round deflector. The B2's were built in the spring of '45 and seemed to all have the newer angled deflector arrangement as well as a muzzle brake and the overhead armor. Also, most of these (and maybe some later rebuilds as well) had the spaced out suspension. I plan to do a French vehicle from Vietnam in 1954 this way. Spacing out is straightforward; just use styrene to block out the bogies a scale 4.5 inches. The idler mount will require TWO sets of idlers, as the spacede on was welded to the oiginal one. Gannon's book on Israeli Shermans has an excellent photo, and there is an M4A1 at Fort Lewis (the one Gannon shot) for those in the Northwest. The drivers can just be glued to width with the tracks. This conversion will be expensive, requiring a set or RHPS tracks and TWO sets of duckbills! Figure about $60 just for treads....

Greg

Oregon? where at in Oregon? I live in Eugene Oregon, hey not many of us around on this site!
So howdy nabor !

Garry

Garry, I'm up in Hillsboro--a couple of hours north of you. My access to the 'net and this site can be rather erratic (hazards of unemployment), but I am a Shermaniac with a couple of specific fetishes. First are the tank destroyers on the Sherman hulls, and second is anything sorta Sherman in Canadian service. I brought three Fireflies to the Vancouver IPMS show last fall and the locals were pleasantly surprised to find a Yank so interested in their armor. I also have a minor affliction for aircraft, now largely in remission, but I'm a big B36 fan. Got two of those kits; one getting sliced for a FICON conversion...
Greg

I heard thru the Grapevine one of the closest M-36's on the market !
Didn't check the price tag,that is a lot of bucks for no engine and stuff.