I had the same thought a few years ago- "what if there were a reich-46 situation, or the Soviets turned on us in '45, what expedient designs would arise?" A Jumbo with HVSS would improve ground pressure and offer a better ride possibly. And what if the concentric recoil mechanism was perfected earlier? Would that allow carriage of the M3? Theroretically it should have fit, given that it was already on the M36 and that the Pershing had the same turret ring diameter.
Behold:




This is a combination of the Tasca Jumbo and M4A3E8 early kits. It was very easy to kitbash given the common breakdown of the tasca kits. The gun came from a Dragon Pershing. Yes, the shipment stencils and serial number are gibberish. I just needed it to look right. Casting numbers are a continuation of the original run of Jumbo turret casting numbers.

The armored exhaust deflector was really two pieces:



If you can/want to make the correction.

Note the two lugs on the rear plate are part of the deflector set-up. They hold them up for engine servicing.

KL

No, i'm hijacking someone else's thread as it is, which is rude and i shouldn't have done so. If i dust off my SLR i might take some better pics in the future. Just wanted to show that someone else had the same crazy idea

Randall, we actually met years ago at Hobby Depot. I think I was the one who bought the remaining TWS from Don before he sold the shop it to Dick Christ. If you are at all interested, we are getting the AMPS-AZ crowd back to gather if you have some time here or there….?

Finally found some time after the 4th to do a bit of modeling and today I am adding an up gunned coax that was a field mod in the spring of 1945. Some Jumbos hard an air cooled .50 cal M2 in the mantlet so I liberated a spare from the Academy MG set I had lying around.
IMG_2083
As I liberated more parts from the parts box I found Dragon/Academy/Tamiya/and Italeri parts I need. Of course, one minute after I took the pic I dropped the turret on the floor....
IMG_2084