Here's a cool bit of information I happened upon while looking for infomation on the M10 Wolverine...like the one Rob won.
How many of you's knew that Audie Murphy won his Medal of Honor while firing a .50 cal. atop a burning M10 Wolverine!!!

An Excerpt: Audie Murphy earned his Medal of Honor during the Battle of the Colmar Pocket near Holtzwihr, France. During this battle, he climbed aboard a burning M10 "Wolverine" Tank Destroyer which was abandoned in a nearby ditch and began firing a .50 caliber machine gun at the enemy.

You can read more of it here:

http://www.audiemurphy.com/m10.htm

Just thought was was really cool stuff...he even became unhappy when an M10 couldn't be had to make the movie "To Hell and Back"...lol :-)

Rob, I was thinking last night after I made this post "what an interesting little dio that could make". I even found a site on how to make flames and smoke in 1/35th scale...hmmm

1/35 scale flames? My idea would be realistic, but would work only once. Would try it on the old Tamiya one and not the new AFV one!

Rob,
The EPA would love you

Rob--I built and re built the Tamiya one sometime ago. Does the latest version from AFV seem better? If so, where are the improvements?
thanks
DJ

The AFV kit is superb. The boogies are a 12-part masterpiece and include vinyl suspension springs to make them working (AFV sells the running gear separately). It has a detailed interior wich includes driver's compartment, ammo rack, transmission, working hatches with interior detailing. Fully detailed gun and breech, the barrel is aluminum with a spring to replicate recoil action. This "limited" version also includes the armored turret shields and a resin multi-piece Cullin Hedgerow cutter. Exterior detailing makes the old Tamiya kit look like a toy.

If you haven't given an AFV kit a whirl, you should. They are superb armor kits. After a few modern kits like these, you'll never go back to a Tamiya kit made before 1990.

Rob--I ask these questions only to justify going out and buying one. This is the way us pathetic losers do it rather than "winning" them. Some guys have all the luck....
DJ

I have seen 1/35th flames, I don't remember if it was in a book, or on a site online somewhere. I think online. From a distance it looked real, but on the closeups it looked like yarn. You might be able to do something like it and have the dio in a shadow box. Just a thought.

Ron C.
Ashtabula, Oh

Yes, lesser mortals must purchase kits and I have been a lesser mortal hundreds of times! I do not have the Academy kit, nor have I seen it in the flesh, but I can say that this kit is a better buy than the two new Tamiya M4s as well as the USMC Sherman. I'd even go as far as saying that it is the nicest "Sherman variant" kit in 1/35th scale that I've run across.

Of course, someone may say that the slope in the turret/hull/etc. if off X%, but it looks to be a winner. Best $1 I spent all year.

The legendary Cookie Sewell did a review of it, here is an excerpt of the text: This kit is absolutely AMAZING with the amount of detail it provides, and the quality of the molding. It matched up very well with the old Ordnance Museum plans for the M10A1 (GAA powered late model; this is the twin GMC diesel version, the M10). The hull consists of exactly four parts: lower hull with complete fender liners and sponsons intact, a separate rear panel, a separate transmission cover, and a one-piece upper hull with separate rear panel, both of which have the lower angled panels and fenders in place. A separate engine deck grille is included to permit access later for those who wish to put an engine in this model (Note: The Tank Workshop makes an M4A2 power pack which is apropos for this model). The model comes with a relatively complete interior forward of the firewall, but due to the inability to see inside, has left out the drivers' controls, but includes the transmission itself. The drivers' hatches each consist of six parts, and moreover, are operating when installed. The suspension is brand new, and not a copy of previous efforts by Tamiya or Italeri. Each bogie, which is the intermediate "flat-topped" idler variety, consists of eleven styrene parts and a vinyl spring assembly, which the directions indicate make it operate correctly. This feature may not be well received, but the springs appear no worse than on any other Sherman kit on the market today. The part diagram casting numbers, D47526, can be read on each bogie and are nicely done.

Most popular with many modelers will be the tracks. The kit comes with T49 "three bar steel cleat" style tracks, but they are vinyl components and very, very nicely done. There are zero injection pin marks on them, and only a few "teats" left over from the molding process. The connectors are in the right place, and one can even see daylight between the links. AFV Club claims they are cementable tracks, but that is something which I have not tried yet. The quality of this set raises the bar once again on the other companies.

The outside of the upper hull includes all of the applique armor "bosses" for mounting as separate parts, and I note that there are tiny circles for locating in the upper hull and turret sides. This is objectionable to some, but makes placement sure and easy (I had to do it with a template on the conversions, which is not recommended!) You even have a choice - bosses with the "keeper" bolts in place, or bolts removed. Grouser racks are included, and a total of 26 individual grousers are included with the kit. The turret is the mid-production one with the V-shaped back and wedge-shaped counterweights. Details are similar to the one in the M18 kit, included the "recoiling" gun with spring. However, due to the negative comments on the M18's pudgey brass barrel, this model includes a machined aluminum one like the M59 155mm and M102 105mm artillery kits. The shape is less bulged than the M18's gun, but the 3" gun was more bulged out than the similar M1 76m gun series and this looks fairly accurate. The kit comes with the correct cardboard tubes for the below-the-turret ring ammunition, but does not include any 3"/76mm rounds for the turret ready rack. AFV Club suggests the model use the brass set (AF 35018) which they developed for their M18 kit. Likewise, for modelers who do not want the T49 track, they recommend their single link T51 flat rubber pad set (AF 35026).

I'm sort of glad I don't have to mess with single track links on this kit.

The things I don't like about the AFV Club M10 is they forgot to make the driver's steering levers How can they forget something like that? Also no detail on the reverse side of the road wheels and idler wheels

As long as we are listing features of this great kit... we must be sure to mention some other near misses in the AFV club kit

- The escape hatch is on the wrong side of the vehicle and they failed to give us any interior representation.

- The ammo racks in the lower hull are a bit off also. The Eduard set gives you most of what you need to fix this though.

- The rear deck is a bit off in that the lower hull has an extension that did not exist on the real thing... Not having to fill the sponsons is very nice but they went a little far. Cut the rear section of the extension off even with the rear plate.

- If you have one of the earliest releases, the turret roof is lacking some detail and the shap of the turret front is not quite right. I have been told that this was corrected in the later releases. If you get solid, dish wheels in the kit, then you should have the corrected turret.

I really do like the kit and I also agree that it is one of the nicer Sherman variants out there. (i'd vote for the Academy M12 as my favorite)... I have nearly finished my first AFV M10 and I have two or three more to build.

I just find it awfully peculiar the sorts of things that the model companies get mixed up.

Later,
Tim
www.tankshack.com

I don't consider any kit perfect. You would have to be able to miniaturize the real thing in order to obtain that. Even then, very rarely are two prototypes of the exact same vehicle that are made in different factories truly identical (talking WW2 here). There always seemed to be some changes incorporated during a production run or minor variations between manufacturers.
I did notice the escape hatch, but just chalked it up to "you wouldn't be able to see it anyway" attitude of AFV (like the driver's controls). I also think that they cut corners sometimes just to keep the price a little more in the ball park ($50 for a 1/35 scale armor kit is a little excessive). Hull over hang could be due to the planned use of the hull for may be another Sherman variant a little farther down the road that requires a long hull. Just a guess here, it also could be a flat out error. I also wished they would have done the engine compartment, but that really would have hiked the price.

As far as model company errors, I wonder the same things. Maybe AFV looked at the Achilles interior and just figure the same dimensions for the M-10 or maybe they took the dimensions off of a vehicle that was restored and the rack mounting hardware was replaced by something locally manufactured and makes the tubes sit lower, who knows? I just think it was much better than the old Tamiya M-10 or M-36 and that they did a better effort than Tamiya did when they released their "new" M4A3 75mm and M4A3 105mm or Italeri when they released the USMC M4A2. At least it appears AFV started from scratch.

I'll have to take a look at the turret detail you mention. Mine comes with roof armor, but it is a separate sprue, I don't know if the turret is a later release. Nice to know they did correct something.

I'll have to take a look at the Academy M-12, I don't usually buy howitzers, I prefer gun tanks (the 105mm M4A3 is an exception). Was this a kit made after Academy stopped copying Tamiya kits (is it a Tamiya lower hull?).

On my M10 I replaced the Idlers and Road Wheels with a set from Academy's M12 GMC. They are a drop-fit onto the AFV Club M10. I also used RHPS track-links. The only thing I had to do with these was to reduce the outside diameter of the Academy Idler Wheels. It isn't noticable. I had to do this because you can't slip the RHPS tracks between the AFV Club sponson floor and the Academy Idlers easily.

Gunnie

The Academy M12 was definitely made after the copying had ceased... actually that hasn't happened in quite a number of kits including the M60 series, Merkava and M113. The M12 is an awesome beast... and the stories of using it as a Bunker Buster make it that much more fun to study and build.

Later,
Tim
www.tankshack.com

Ditto Tim - the Academy M12 GMC truely earns the tag "awesome". It is not representative of their old kits and quality. That kit was the one that got me interested in Sherman-based vehicles, as I'm a late bloomer when it comes to the M4. I think if Academy keeps its line of M4 vehicles going - they will be the best all-around.

Gunnie

Rob/Gunnie--I built a superb kit a while back. For the life of me I can not recall the manufacturer. It is the M36B1(?), 90mm from the M-36 Jackson on an M-4 chassis. I used a Rubio gun tube on her. Nice kit.
DJ