M41 Assault Gun

[Kerick]

Well I’ve been threatening to do this for a long time now so why not now! I’ve been hacking at two Tamiya M41 Walker Bulldog kits for a couple of days now. I also have the 90mm gun from a deceased M48 tank. Plus many other spare parts that might fall off the shelf and get glued onto this puppy.
The idea is sometime in the 80s the Soviet horde comes thru the Fulda Gap and starts over running Western Europe. Every armored vehicle imaginable gets thrown onto the battlefield. A 76mm M41 is pretty useless and there is not much ammo left for them anyway so the vehicles get upgunned to 90mm. There is no time for designing a new turret and it would be too heavy for the M41 hull and drivetrain anyway. So flashback to WW2 and how the Germans used the StuG for infantry support and eventually for anti tank purposes. Factories in Belgium and Denmark began converting M41s to assault guns using 90mm guns from 30 year old stocks. One problem was the 90mm gun proved to be a problem to mount properly without hacking up the entire upper hull so the expedient solution was to cut two hulls in two different places and put them back together so that it now had six road wheels on each side instead of five. This left two hull pieces which when welded together had four road wheels on each side. (More on this later!) This solved the gun mounting issue without having to redesign the drivers position. Other usable parts were included as they became available.

In reality, (bad word, I know) the Tamiya M41, Academy M48 and an Academy Bradley are all donating parts for this. It’s surprising how the Bradley tracks are almost perfect replacements for the iffy M41 tracks. At least the Bradley tracks have detail on both sides compared to the M41 tracks. I also have different types of track skirts to try out as the new hull gets built. I’ll have to snap a few pics and post them up soon.
Thanks to chalkline for getting me inspired to do this.

[ChalkLine]

There's some free M41 tracks on Cult 3D

This sounds awesome, at this rate you guys will have to open an M41 category in 'Land' :)

[GTX_Admin]

Something a bit like a Kanonenjagdpanzer?

[Kerick]

A little bit. I found a base for something from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea that might provide the sloped sides.

[Kerick]

Time for a photo dump.
Here's the chopped up hull.



Hull parts glued back together to make one six wheeler and one four wheeler.



The four wheeler may get armed with a TOW or some other system.



Here is the front and rear upper hull parts. I've since cut the top grills off and will use those for exhaust grills M60 style.

I widened the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea base to fit over the fenders. I may square off the back once I figure out how long it needs to be.





Here's the M48 cupola set on top. WOW, that's fugly!





That thing is just huge! Using that might be a crime against humanity............
Or it might be fun........

Big problems yet are building out the fenders, putting together the new engine deck, mounting the gun barrel and deciding whether to use ERA panels or not.

[Frank3k]

Wow! That's some major plastic surgery! Looking good.

[Kerick]

ERA panels are out unless these vehicles get sold to the Israelis sometime in the 90s. I’ll stick with welded on armor on the front and side skirts to cover up the now too short tracks.

[Kerick]

I’ve built out the crew compartment. The back is squared off now and the top and sides are covered in new plastic to complete the squared off area. It seems a wrecked M48 was brought back and judged too broken to repair so the cupola, loaders hatch and air vent are being repurposed. The M41 toolboxes have a new home on the fenders next to the engine deck. The rear fenders have been salvaged and put back in place. Also a whole new engine deck has been installed. Looks like I need to do a photo dump here tomorrow.

[ChalkLine]

ERA panels are out unless these vehicles get sold to the Israelis sometime in the 90s. I’ll stick with welded on armor on the front and side skirts to cover up the now too short tracks.

By 1994 the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Belgium & Spain were offering ERA, however it was pretty much the same as IMI Blazer so not even as good as Kontakt 1 and I can't find a single vehicle that used any. Like most first generation ERA it could really only go on armour as thick as an MBT or when it detonated it'd buckle or crack the armour. Russian ERA for light vehicles only really appears with Relikt in the early 2000s. There was an Soviet version of ERA for light vehicles, Kaktus 1, but it went on the backburner for 15 years after the dissolution of the USSR but if you don't have that it'd come into production in the late 1990s.

[Kerick]

Time for some photos. Here's where we are so far.
The crew compartment and front driver's areas are not glued down so far. I want to install colored plastic in the driver's periscopes but I'll have to figure out how to mask them when I paint.













It's possible a TOW box launcher may get installed. My first thought might not work out as the exhaust of the missile will shoot straight into the air vent.
Tonight I might just figure out how to mount the gun.

[ChalkLine]

That engine deck is amazing

[Buzzbomb]

This is great to see it in plastic. Nice bit of parts wrangling on the engine deck and rear

[Jeffry Fontaine]

@Ken.  I really like your approach to the engine deck and rear grill.  Nice! 

[Kerick]

@Ken.  I really like your approach to the engine deck and rear grill.  Nice! 

Those grey parts may look familiar. IIRC you sent them to me a few years ago.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

@Ken.  I really like your approach to the engine deck and rear grill.  Nice! 

Those grey parts may look familiar. IIRC you sent them to me a few years ago.

I kind of suspected that I may have been the "source" but parts such as that are easily forgotten about once they are removed from the parts stash.  Glad to see the bits being put to a good use. 

[Old Wombat]

Cool!

Engine deck & rear are excellent!

[Kerick]

I mounted the gun last night. I made the mantlet from slabs of plastic armor chemically welded together. A couple of other slabs as side armor to the mantlet. The right fender is done and I found the bag of confetti I use for the colored glass on the drivers periscopes.

[Ramba]

Interesting project. Looking forward to seeing he end results. I also just saw your post on The Mediocre Modelers group on FB too.

[Frank3k]

I like how this is going. The engine deck looks fantastic.

[Kerick]

I glued together all the big parts. I figured out how to do the drivers periscopes. I glued plastic blocks in the open spot slightly recessed into the opening. When I’m done painting I’ll install the colored plastic rectangles to the blocks I put in the openings. I have vision ports in the cupola that I need to do something with eventually.

[finsrin]

So far so good.  Like what this is becoming 

[Kerick]

Thanks everyone!

[Jeffry Fontaine]

@Ken - After some thought on this I have an idea to share regarding the twin tube TOW ATGM launcher.  Instead of trying to mount the launcher on the casemate proper, why not mount it on a rack at the rear of the casemate so that it is located over and above the engine deck?  This gives you the benefit of the missiles not interfering directly with anything on top of the casemate and allows you to place the fire control component of the TOW ATGM with a clear field of fire with the missiles behind firing over the top of the vehicle. 

[Kerick]

I took this build to my club meeting tonight. The guys were very intrigued with it. Some suggested the TOW be located on the roof while some liked the Bradley style mount.
I’m not quite sure what you mean about mounting the box launcher over the engine deck. Too high will get it knocked off by a tree. Maybe some sort of scissor jack system to raise and lower it. I’m thinking it would have to be on the roof in front of the loaders hatch or as you say behind the loaders hatch and cantilevered over the engine deck. By TOW fire control do you mean the box like device on the top of both Bradley and Abrams vehicles? I have a couple parts for that and I can build the rest. At least placing the box launcher above the engine deck will keep most of the missile exhaust out of the air vent!
I was planning on placing a .30 cal pintle mount in front of the loaders hatch. We’ll see what happens.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

@Ken - You are on the right track, mounting at the rear of the casemate on a frame of some kind that would allow the launcher box to raise up for firing would be the best option.  I did not consider the issue of trees or other low-hanging things becoming issues during travel or maneuver but yes, that is a valid point to also consider.  As far as frame construction goes, I would think that something made from plastic rod or plastic card stock would give you the right shape for the frame.  The TOW fire control optics: "box-shaped device" as you described can be remoted from the launcher.  The M901 ITV for example features the optics next to the two missiles in the launcher apparatus and it also carries a standard TOW system within the vehicle for a dismount option.  You would not need the dismount equipment (the tripod, battery, and fire control optics) so what you plan on with the optics being remoted from the launcher box should be feasible if it can be done on the M901 then it should be available for something like your project.