Mark Corcoran
Vancouver, Washington
Building firefighting armor is Mark's idea of a good time. He writes: "This specialized M4A3 was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fight ammunition-dump fires in the European theater during World War II. Additions to Italeri’s 1/35 scale M4A3 included a firefighting turret, two electrically controlled water monitors that pivoted 180 degrees and elevated/depressed 30 degrees, a 500 gallon-per-minute centrifugal pump, 1,500-gallon water tank, 150-gallon foam tank (on the rear over the engine), a dozer blade, and a 5/8" steel plate added to the hull bottom for crew protection. A photograph and description of this unique vehicle appears in the book U.S. Military Tracked Vehicles, by Fred W. Crismon (Motorbooks, ISBN 978-0-87938-672-6).” Mark loaded it on Tamiya’s Dragon Wagon; figures are from Tamiya’s U.S. Infantry West European Theater set.