Hi all
One thing that I don't understand about Shermans,M10's and M36's etc is why the .50 cal on the turret is mounted so that if the commander wishes to use it to fire forwards he has to stand exposed on the back of the tank to do so,or is this so that any grunts that are hitching a ride can use it? Any clarification on this would be greatly appreciated.
TIA
Pete

Good question -- and probably not one that will be easily answered.

The .50 cal was primarily to be used as defense against attacking aircraft, so the vehicle designers may have only had that thought in mind when placing the weapon. Now we all know that the .50 cal was probably used more against ground targets, especially after the Allies gained air superiority. Also note that some vehicles had field-modified MG mounts added in front of commander's and loaders hatches -- or in the case of the M10 and M36, on the front of the turret over the main gun mount.

In addition to its use as an AA weapon, I think the designers also took into account that you have a hull .30cal (on shermans and early? M36s) as well as a coax .30cal as well (I think the M10 did, can't remember though). So the engineers placed facing rearward to cover the local area around the tank were the hull .30 couldn't get to (which is a lot of space) and for areas that the coax couldn't get to if, say the gunner was busy or there wasn't enough time to swing the turret around.

Also the M2 .50 was added to the rear of the turrent of the M-10 to help balance it... wasn't enough so they added the duckbill weight for additional counterbalance

Leads me to ask a follow-on. On the rear of the Sherman turret there is a bustle holder. Is that for the entire weapon or just the barrel?
thanks
DJ

The storage mount on the rear of the Sherman held both the barrel and receiver sections. The receiver and barrel would be separated, the receiver with pintle mount slides into the tube, and the barrel slipped into holders on the rails.

Gino is absolutely right. That's what all that hardware is about on the back of Sherman turret: .50 cal. stowage. I have a .50 cal. stowed (and covered, as they did to having to clean the doggone thing again) on the back of my Tamiya Jumbo:

Hollowpiont is that a OOB Jumbo or did you use AM products.You nailed it if that is the Original kit.It looks like a MOnster ready for action.

AJ

Thanks, AJ. That's a Tamiya Jumbo pretty much OOTB. I added some thickness to the final drive with sheet plastic and putty, plus a few PE bits, wire handles, and the .50 cal. parts out of the old Tamiya Allied Weapons set.

Hollow
So the only things wrong with this kit is the Transmission cover and turret.TWS aftermarket acssories would fix the problem right.Could you explain the (Final Drive) for me.I jsut got the Blast conversion its great but that resin stinks.I am asking about Tamiya's because my goal is tackle every sherman on the market to make it a WW2 US Army Sherman.


AJ