For you guys that want to put a little extra authenticity on your Pershing, here's the latch for the TC'c hatch. Just had to take one out one of our Pershings that had the hatch tack welded and install it on one with an unsecured hatch. Also a photo of the breech ring...man, don't ever let a tank get this bad.[:'(] I'm having a helluva job getting these cleaned up. [:@]

Where's the breech block?!

Doesn't look like anything a decent needle scaler couldn't handle...

I guess thanks are in order for people like you are hard to come by; those with an appreciation for things left outside to rot. I've never really understood why these behemoths do not at least have a canopy built over them. There must be hundreds of similar tanks at installations all over the country just left out in the open. A lot of them are M-48s and M-60s, which is not surprising I guess, because they are plentiful and have little value. Speaking of which, can one really put much of a price on many of these tanks left "out in the cold"? A lot of them are in a shabby state.

Thanks for the photos. Any chance you can get a pic of the interior latch that unlocks the hatch from 45 degrees?

Agreed Harq, if I was closer I'd take up a brush with ya Bill

Hi .
at least i have that covered correctly, promise to finish pershing build very soon.
Pete..........................

come off it pete thats a real 1:1 pershing in your back garden


Kind Regards Rob

If it was Rob look out in september............
Pete...................................

ooohhh bagsy first ride LOL

can we do some car crushing[X(][X(][X(][X(]

cant wait to see it in the flesh 1/16 version

kind regards Rob

The TC hatch has a built up block on the outside, right side of the hinge that prevents the hatch from opening any further. It's molded on to HL and Tamiya hatches and is the same hatch on the E8 Sherman. It locks open and there is a small spring loaded pull ring at the bottom inside of the hatch to release the latch to close it. Monday, I'll make a point to get a photo. I have to clean up the inside of one of our Pershings Monday and reasemble what I took apart Friday.

Harq, the breechblock is down and firmly rusted in place. I have been trying to close it, but need an rammer-extractor tool to trip both extractors together. It full of dried grease, paint flakes and rust. Normally I'd push the breech handle down and trip them with my hand, letting the block up easy, but with so much crud and rust holding it....no thanks.[:@] I'm an oboist and need my fingers.

Speaking as a former *ahem* NAVY Gunner.....have you tried a ballpeen hammer, or a "bigger beating Iron" if that won't break the extractors? The Chief Instructor at my Gunnery School used this to loosen the Breech Block that he'd painted in place, to serve strictly as a "Demonstration Piece".

(This was one of the twin guns off a Tribal Class RCN Destroyer. Until then, I didn't realize "paint" could hold that well the Block was practically welded in place! [X(] )

Roger on that...I have tried with a 5 lb ball peen, but both extractors must be tripped together. One at a time will only jam it. Only way is to find a tube or bar the width of the breechblock and kick it that way. In spite of the strong spring, I may even have to beat the base of the block to get it to slide up. You can't believe the sorry condition of these tanks. [:'(]

I can, sadly.....my old "HMCS FRASER" is tied up at a jetty in Brisgewater, Nova Scotia, slowly turning back into the iron ore from which she was made. A fellow I knew went down recently to have a look and she was so badly rusted he didn't have the heart to take any photos for me. She may just end her days as an "Artificial Reef".

Too bad, too. FRASER, (A "River", or "ST LAURENT", Class Destroyer), was the last remaining member of Canada's first domestically designed and produced class of warships. Their beautiful lines and relatively luxurious interiors earned the Class the nickname "Cadillacs of the Sea".

(If FRASER is sunk I hope that, just like her sister HMCS SASKATCHEWAN, she astonishes everyone by settling gently despite being stripped of all innards and riddled with huge flooding holes - "on a perfectly even keel".)

Oh well. Time Marches On.