pattoncommander

Making an M-50 or M-51 turret is a lot of work, but worth the effort. Mato's T-23 turret is good, but some M-50/51s did use a highly modified 105 Sherman turret. The M-51 will use the Tamiya Pershing gun tube as it is an ideal size. For an M-50, simply use a 17 pounder gun tube and flatten the MB to build up a MB on it and the mantlet has to drastically reconfigured. The huge MB for the D-1504 gun is best to build on a Pershing MB. My M-51 turret cost me additional work, as this had the split hach for the TC and oval loader's hatch. This required moving the split hatch from the Mato Sherman T-23 turret to the TC location, filling in that gaping hole and installing an oval hatch. Lotsa work and putty. The rear counterweight will take up most of the turret rear, so the two halves must altered. Cut the upper part down to the turret ring at the rear and along the base & cement the rear sections together. That way, the turret can be disassembled for any work. The Mato turret is also too high so the base ring can be eliminated and glued back together. Counterweight is a big job.....I have used sheet styrene and a block of resin...but sheet styrene is the way to go. Fill in around the uneven sides with putty and sand smooth. I use plexi mirrors for persicopes once the hatches are lined up. This is a mid 1967 M-51, (7th Armored Brigade, Tel Aviv) so the spare tracks are on the turret in a bracket. Make and mount pack rails, smoke grenade launchers. Now I just have to get a hull for it. The photos are not in sequence but they show the progession. .

borealis

At a fraction of the price of a new tamiya supersherman.... good job!