Scratch Built 1/6th scale M26 Pershing project

A scratch project is always something, but something this big is mind warping.  It does give me hope of braving a 1/350 Space Station K-7 myself someday.

Love your work and really looking forward to seeing more progress!!!!

I have made a lot of progress on the tank hull. The tank's upper hull structure has been completed.

The tanks 30.cal , and front air filter blisters have been sculpted onto the tank's front plate.

All of the top hull structure has been sculpted and completed. For the tank's front portion this would include the hatch locations, armored turret ring, top ventilator cover, turret ring blister, and hatch mount extensions. Now that the structure is complete the fine details can be installed.

On the tank's rear portion I have completed the major hull components for the grill work. The grill work themselves will be fabricated after the turret.

To finish up the Lower hull I will now be working on the welds, escape hatches, and access caps. Once these are complete the hull will be ready for the suspension.

To get an idea of what the hull will look like with the turret I placed one of my Sherman Jumbo turrets on the tank's hull.

Note* This will not be the turret that I will use on the model. Once I have a nice break in the weather I will then be able to fabricate the correct M26 turret.

Another update will follow in the next few days  :!:

 I completed the tank's lower hull details. These would include the welds, escape hatches, access caps, and drain plugs.

On the M26 the tank's hull was made out of several pieces of both rolled and cast steel. The whole front portion was a single cast assembly that was welded onto the rolled steel plates. The tank's rear portion was comprised of three cast sections that were welded together, and then attached to the tank's hull. To make the cast pieces stand out from the rolled steel panels cast texture was added to the cast sections

Now that the lower hull mods have been completed, I can now start on fabricating the tank's suspension and running gear. 

Great stuff AG-I always enjoy following your blogs. Where do you keep all these things! You must have a seriously big garage/basement!

I'll be interested to see how you get on with the TB suspension btw.

Many thanks

Ben

Thanks Ben, I have made some progress on the suspension.

I have created and installed the tank's torsion bar swing arm mounts.

Even though there are no M26 kits on the horizon, I will be adding the M26/ M46 suspension to the product line once the suspension is complete. The running gear and suspension will be offered as one complete set, in case there are any other people who are willing to tackle an M26.

The tank's final transmission drives have also been mostly completed and installed. The final drives need a few more smaller details (hull mounting brackets, and oil fillers) to be complete. So here is a sneek peek

In addition to the last of the final drive parts I will now be working on the Bump stops and the return roller mounts. More progress to come!

WOW that is really looking good mate!!!!!!! WELL DONE!!!!!!!

I have made some more progress on the tank's suspension this week.

I have completed and installed the tank's volute spring bump stops and return roller mounts.

The tank has two types of bump stops. One version is for the swing arms

The other version is for the front Idler wheel swing arms,

I have also added the oil filler caps to the final drives completing the sets. The final drive sets have been added to the product line.

http://eastcoastarmory.com/ustankparts.htm

The next suspension parts that I will machine next will be the tank's swing arms and shock absorbers. More info on those to follow

I have made more headway on the suspension.

I have completed the tank's main road wheel swing arms.

The tank's swing arms that connect to the shock absorbers have the shock absorber mounting plate bolted to the rear portion of the swing arms. On the real component all swing arms have a small mounting plate casted into the rear portion of the arm that the shock absorber mount would bolt to. On my resin swing arms I also built in this feature. All of the components also have their grease fittings installed. Once the tank is painted all of these fittings will be painted red.

All of the road wheel swing arms and shock absorbers have been assembled and installed on to the tank.

I will now be focusing on the tank's front road wheel and idler wheel swing arm cluster. Once the cluster is completed I will then be off on the road wheels.

That is looking awesome mate!!!! PVC pipe for the shock uppers? Really looking forward to seeing this one completed!!! Interseting to see how you do the tracks, I am hooked in the gills mate!!! Excellent work!!!

simpilot34

That is looking awesome mate!!!! PVC pipe for the shock uppers?

Thanks, the shocks are made out of two sizes of machined PVC pipe with cast resin end connectors.

I have completed and installed the final swing arm suspension components.

Before I was able to install any of the cluster components I needed to finish the front swing arm mount. Once complete I was then able to proceed with the installation

The cluster comprises of two swing arms and one shock absorber. The first road wheel and the front idler wheel are both mounted on the large swing arm. The second smaller swing arm connects to the bottom of the large swing arm and it is used for more tension and support for the large idler and road wheel swing arm. For added support the smaller swing arm has a shock absorber mounted to the top of the swing arm.

The front idler wheel connects to the swing arm with a smaller adjustable mount. On the real tank the mount is adjusted with a large hex nut and castle washer positioned on the rear portion of the large swing arm.

With the cluster and the suspension out of the way I have now started on the tank's running gear. I have already completed the tank's small return rollers.

The M26 used the same return rollers found on the M4 Sherman HVSS suspension. The only difference is that the M26 used a different roller hub cap. I already offered the HVSS return roller wheels for the Sherman when I was building my T-28 super heavy tank, so I had a good starting point for the new wheels.

My first return roller wheels had the M4 HVSS style hub caps molded in. They also were casted flat with no back detailing or structure. While building this model I decided to retool my old return roller, with the back structure and detail molded in and with removable hub caps.

I currently have the M26 style hub caps mold created , and I have the M4 style hub caps on the way. Once ready the current M4 rollers will be replaced with the new tooled versions.
 

The separate hub cap allowed me to mold in a counter sunk divot into the road wheel center. This allows me to install the wheel with a broad head nail. The nail allows the wheel to be mounted securely, yet will allow the wheel to spin freely. The nail head is then concealed with the resin hub cap.
 

All of the return rollers have been installed and the model is starting to grow outward in it's appearance.

I was also able to add the final smoother cast texture to the front armored plate, more info to follow after the completion of the running gear!

Currently I'm working on the tank's main road wheels. More info to follow! :D

Awesome work! Definitely subscribing to this one.

Surprised none of the rivet counters have said anything, usually no armor build gets by without a nit pick on something.

Josh

Incredible work!  I look forward to more updates!

Thanks Guys,

I have completed and installed the tank's main road wheels. Both the wheels and the return rollers are installed temporarily. They will now be removed so that I can apply the tank's Base coat to the lower hull and the road wheels.

Each road wheel contains two wheels, a center hub, a separate hub cap, and a steel shaft retaining pin. In addition each road wheel is assembled with 10 M3X16 Hex bolts and 10 Nuts.

I designed the hubs with a similar retention system that I used on the return rollers. The hub itself is hollow which contains a space for a steel retention shaft. The shaft secures the wheel to the swing arm, but allows the wheel to spin freely. The resin hub cap then conceals the shaft, and is also in the same position that the real hub cap mounts to the hub. Because of this the seam that is left between the hub and the hub cap is present and is true to the real M26.

Because of the separate hubs the wheels mount to the tank in a very realistic way. It almost makes me want to display the tank with the wheels off!

Due to the design of the wheels they are a lot lighter than the my Late M4 VVSS dish wheels, but take a longer to cast a complete set of 28 wheels compared to 12 for a M4. 

Now with the Wheels out of the way the next component that I will be working on now will be the drive sprockets. Once they care complete I then can start producing the masters for the track: roll: Much more to Come!

That looks stunning!!!! Looking forward to some paint on her soon. man that looks great!!!

I have made some headway with the project

The tank's lower hull and running gear was primed and painted with their base coat

The All of the Tank's wheels were installed permanently. to their swing arms and idler mounts. The inner rubber tire sections of all the wheels were painted in Black; these sections are difficult to paint once the model is fully detailed and built.

As I mentioned before the wheels are mounted permanently to the tank, but they will be able to spin and roll freely, due to their axle design.

I have just completed The tank's main drive sprockets. Both The drive sprockets and the suspension have been added to the product line.

The Drive sprockets will work for the M26 series, M46, M47 Pattons, and  the T30 Heavy / Super heavy tank series.

http://www.eastcoastarmory.com/ustankparts.htm

The Sprockets are mounted to the tank's final drive mounts with a 1/4 inch steel shaft and spacers. Like the road wheels the sprockets will also spin freely. The large spacer keeps the sprockets in perfect alignment with the road wheels.

With the completion of the sprockets I can now fabricate the Track Masters, which will be molded several times over to produce the necessary links required. I will also now be moving upward to the tank's fenders which will be fabricated out of sheet steel and brass. More info to follow!

I take my hat of to you, that is really some incredible work and the results are staggeringly realistic. Beatifull work.

...EPIC

WOWSERS!!!!!!!!

The "cool factor" is genormous here.

Holy Cow! That is really impressive! I can't wait to see the final product!

Thanks Guys,

It's been a while since I had any progress, but I have been working on the tank's side fenders and fender detail.

Like most late war tanks (comet, Chaffee, JS2) and post WWII tanks (Patton, M60, Centurion, T55) the M26 has a very elaborate and complex fender / storage container design. Because of this the fenders themselves are going to be a very important focal point.

All of the fender components are scratch built and are constructed out of soldered sheet steel and brass. The parts are then mounted to the hull via steel fasteners.

The part of the fenders that was constructed first were the fender support / mount arms. The arms feature the correct "spot weld" seams that are present on the real vehicle. The arms were first attached to the hull with fasteners and glues. Epoxy was then added on top of the fasteners giving the arm more strength, and covering the fasteners with accurate weld seam detail. Small resin hex heads will be added to all of the corner extender points, but this will be after all of the sheet metal fabrication is completed.

The sheet metal fender panels where then cut, shaped and mounted to the suspending arms. The panels themselves have the side skirt mounting holes drilled into them. The tank's functional storage boxes will be fabricated and soldered directly onto these panels once they are complete.

The next fender parts that need to be created will be the front two fenders and the front and rear mud flaps. Once they are complete it will then be off to the fender storage boxes! More info to come

I think we have long ago exhausted the superlatives, so I'll stick with WOW!  I am really enjoying watching this one come to life!

Chris

Killjoy

I think we have long ago exhausted the superlatives, so I'll stick with WOW!  I am really enjoying watching this one come to life!

Chris

Thanks Guys, I have made some more progress on the tank's fenders and completed the mud flaps. The tank now has its width complete.

The tank's front fenders were completed first. Unlike the other panels that are simple straight panels of steel the front portions bend inward and overhang the front armored plate. The panel's corners also angle outward from the tank. These panels will also receive 3 stiffener crimps. These crimps will be created out of half round styrene and will be added later.  

To mount the tank's front and rear mud flaps to the tank, I had to fabricate the mud flap mounts. The mud flap mounts were installed to the tank with small fasteners and have epoxy weld bead detail added to them

The tank's rear mud flap mount was particularly difficult to fabricate.

Like the rest of the tank's fender components the mud flaps are created out of sheet steel. the mud flaps feature real pressed stiffener crimps. The mud flaps attach to these panels via fasteners.

The tank's rear fenders were very complex to fabricate, I added the distinctive X crimp. The part of the fender that connects to the tank's hull had to be sculpted out of sheet metal. On the later M26A1 and M46, large turn buckles were added to the front and rear portions to the tank's fenders. These were not present on the early production zebra T26.

The tank's storage lockers will be next followed by the tank's turret! More info to come.

WOW that is really looking great!!! Your attention to detail is amazing!!!

As a quick update I have created the sheet metal fender boxes. The fender box interior tool posts have been created and added. The boxes are all sheet metal construction. The tool boxes have a gutter that runs around the edges of the box interior. The gutters are fabricated out of a 1/8th inch brass channel that is soldered into place. I have completed 3 of the gutters, but I ran out of brass stock and have to place the boxes on hold until I can resupply .

Once the gutters are complete, the box lids and lid details will be constructed thus finishing off the boxes and fender details.