Differences M26 --> M46
 

Hi Guys,

I hope you can help me again, is anywhere a list between the differences from the M26 to the M46 besides the little wheel at the End of the Tracks?

Greetings

Does this help? I did a google search for "M-26 M-46 tank comparison" and a whole bunch of stuff popped up that might be of help to you.

I looked even today for a definitive list and cannot find one but you must remember the M46 was part of the M26 rebuild program (M26E2)... not a different tank. The little book from Osprey~New Vanguard ISBN 1 84176 202 4 "M26/M46 Pershing Tank" was helpful.

I once wanted to take my Pershing and transform it into the Patton, but SO many external differences.

The muzzle brake and fume extractor. (which I could change)
Rear engine deck.
Exhaust.
Tracks.
Outdrive location.
Idler wheel.
Front hatches. (which I did change)
Hull blower. (which I did change)
Front hull. (which I did change)
Tool bracket.
Turret/mantlet


And so many more than I just settled on the M26A1 Pershing... a little different from the standard M26E3. A few years back someone offered a kit for that conversion and the decking looked promising but doubt it still exists.

Ah OK thank you guys,
that sounds a little bit disappointing :(

I thought that should be a little bit easier :(

Hopefully it's proven that there is a list on-line, but I cannot find it. I tried many different ways of labeling the search (because the question comes up often) but it usually ends up being under a subject title we wouldn't know. I'd like one too

It all can be found in books... and you could even compare visual differences by searching walk-arounds on the two tanks? That might be the best way?

Buy a 1:35 kit of an m46 Patton and use it as a guide.

Back in the old days (when dinosaurs roamed the earth) grabbing a kit was the only way to do it, especially for dimensions.

But now with so many nice publications and the Internet, it's too pricey PLUS... which one is correct?

The DML/Dragon is still currently a highly sought after 1/35th for the M46 PATTON kit but there are quite a few up and coming companies. Amusing Hobby, Tasca and Bronco to name a few. It would pretty exhaustive to chase down what is the best kit to copy off and then you have to build it to get the general idea.

Just be leery of museum pieces and even 'gate guards' because someone could have added/changed a critical detail and then you've made a mistake copying. Check with someone in the area of a tank and let them know you need measurements from it. A lot of modelers help each other out that way. I only have a couple of M47's and one M60 near me.

I'm so glad you mentioned tanks "near me". I only have one, and I have no idea what it is, but I think one of the guys on this thread might know. It looks like an M-60 Patton, but something is weird about the turret. Or maybe it's just me.

Hi Gary
Looks like a M60 - they had a modified M48 turret, rather than the later M60A1, with the new turret - pointed front, squarish rear

Hunnicut has excellent books on the Pershing and the Patton that, together, include the M26 and the M46.

Some differences you can see (others were the engine, fire control, etc):

Added track tension idlers (Small rollers in the rear)
Raised the sprocket
Redid the rear deck
Fender-mounted mufflers
Redid the rear plate

Things shared with the M26A1:
Modified turret to remove the wheel brackets on the starboard side
Muzzle brake reduced to a single baffle
Bore evacuator added

Two notes:
1) The M45 is essentially a Pershing with a 105-mm howitzer rather than the 90-mm main gun. Everything else appears the same from the outside.
2) Some M46s were built from the ground up at the factory as an M46. Others were M26s that were converted in the maintenance depots.

I remember back about 25 or so years ago seeing that tank in front of the old Detroit Arsenal. I think it was a M103? Maybe a M48 but my memory fails me...

Phil, the M45 had a much different exhaust as well as the gun (and the mantlet was 3.5 inches thicker) so it was significantly different than that of the M26 PLUS...

you basically repeated everything I had said earlier.