Had a weekend to my self so I dug into the stash and decided to make an Tamiya Easy Eight based M50 Conversion. I had purchased this old school Verlinden turret about 6 weeks ago when I heard they were folding and found an M51 with goodies at a swap meet last saturday. This is meant to be a quickie but that never really works out does it. I am basing it on a photo from one of my sources so be kind...

The old M50 turret is a classic but still worth the effort. Needs work and a new barrel for sure but we older tanks builders can remember when this kind of thing was ALL there was.




By pure chance I had a spare long 75mm turned aluminum barrel intended for a Jagd 4 L/70 but if you know you M50 lore, it is based on a French copy of the Panther gun so VOILA?!

Backing up a bit, this started with two Tamiya HVVS new mold Sherman kits. I wanted to make the engine swap as "organic" as possible and I must say this was fairly easy! The parts fit very well and all that was needed was a bit of styrene strip filler. I know not ALL the parts crossover but I have what I need so far.

looks like a good start ! keep us posted !

Wasn't the Amx-13's 75mm supposed to be 9 [or a full 2cm in 1/35] calibers shorter than the l/70?

For the purposes of this build we'll just say I made it dimensionally compare to the resin barrel that wanted to shoot off to the left. Its is a teeny bit skinny but under paint it won't be too obvious. Waste not as I don't really build German armor much.

Seeing this is giving me inspiration to rebuild mine. My verlindin turret survived but the hull was destroyed on one of my transfers back from overseas. I have a tamiya easy 8 in my stash that I was trying to decide what to do with. Now I'm thinking about digging out the turret and rebuilding it. Putting it on my must build list (or in this case rebuild).

although I never buy verlinden,it simple very expensive,at same time was draw by there high standard of craftmanship,wonder if any third party willing to purchase the company.

It looks like all the Tamiya parts are going together with a minimum of fuss, very handy for kit-bashing even more variants.

So far this project has flown by so I am proud to say I already have it in Paint.

Flat Black base coat..

Khaki Camo coat.

nice job so far, your build looks great ,

You expect they wouldn't?

Interesting project with a great start!

you're off to a flying start with that conversion.

when did verlinden announce they were folding/closing down?

Well, it does make things easier..... but yes, I have to admit to not being surprised.

M50's looking good, btw.

My expectation was most parts would work together but I could not even guess how perfectly the rear would line up an literally SNAP into place. The kit parts have enough difference to represent the different engine installations so I expected a little bit of stress but NOPE!

Skipping a bit... I got it on the tables at Modelzona 2016 in Phoenix and it placed 2nd in the Armor Conversion category. I'll take it and run!

Excellent result!