Done up for the Suez Campaign. Dragon M50 with VVSS from Academy and engine deck from Italeri. Finished with Tamiya and weathered with enamels and oils. Hope you like it.

Hi Doug,

Good job on your M50, looks well weathered, dusty and used I'm quite curious what is the story behind missing smoke dischargers? Was it that not all M50's were fitted with the smoke tubes from the start?

Regards
Greg

Hey Greg, Not sure what the story is on the missing smoke launchers, but in a couple of pics from 1956 they are not mounted. Maybe there was no time to fit them before the war seeing that the first batch of M50s arrived in Israel of the eve of the war.

Most if not all of the M50's went to war in 1956 with no smoke dischargers; there wasn't time to fit them. Pictures in Dr. Robert Menasherob's excellent book, "Lioness and Lion of the Line: The M50 and M51 In Israeli Service, Vol. 1" show these tanks with empty holders or even bare holes in the turret with wires sticking out! Two companies were deployed, with mostly M4A4 hulls but also at least one each M4A1 small hatch and M4 Composite in the first production batch. They were delivered just a few days before the start of the war.
Greg

Interesting theoretical thought about going against a Panther with the M50. It's essentially the same gun, as adapted for the AMX13.

Tom

M50 vs. Panther...well, I suppose the French could say something about that. They used a few Panthers post-war, and developed the CN-75-50 gun from it. Anyway, I'll hypothesize a bit: Like most engagements, it goes to the side that fires first. Either gun will penetrate the other tank at likely battlefield ranges (under 1000 meters). I'll give the (very slight) edge to the M50 (or any Sherman, really) in a close enviroment such as urban or wooded terrain. Why? faster tank and much faster turret traverse. One gets you out of the line of sight, the other allow you to keep the other guy in it. But really it comes down to the first point: Whoever shoots first accurately wins.