M46 Tank in HO Scale

Paul Heiser has released his first Post-WWII tank with the release of the M46 Patton.

Paul says this means all American medium tanks or main battle tanks that were fielded by the US Army between the Sherman in 1941 and the Abrams are now available in HO scale, by either him or by Minitanks.

The M46 was an improvement on the M26 of World War Two with the first production run of 100 tanks at the end of 1948.  Eventually the US produced 1,160 M46 tanks compared to 2,200 of the M26 tank.

The man differences between the M46 tank and the M26 tanks are a new engine and transmission, and a new main gun.  This resulted in a very different rear hull and a different looking main gun.

Both the US Army and USMC used hundreds of M46 tanks in the Korean War, replacing the M26 in Korea by the end of 1951.

 France, Italy used small numbers of the M46 and Belgium used eight of them.  All US M46 tanks were out of service by 1960 having been replaced by the M47 and later M48 tanks.

Starship Troopers, Colonial Infantry and Buck Rogers

Some of my Starship Troopers lined up as I sort them and inspect them for damage after I found one that had come apart.

The only good bug is a dead bug, this bug is good.

The figure on the right has been repaired and his boots repainted.  They figure on the left has boots that are not painted all the way around the figure.  For some weird reason none of the figures had boot that were fully painted.  I suspect the figures were laying flat and machines spray painted the figure from the front but not the back.  So I have been working on touching up the boots.

I also want more figures so I am doing paint conversions of some other figures to make them into Aliens style Colonial Infantry.  They will function as a sort of National Guard, and local Militia to supplement the Mobile Infantry.  They are being painted in the same color palette but their stands will be a different shape to distinguish the three units apart.  The figures on the left are from the board game Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.  The figures on the right, in the back rows are those also, but the first three rows on the right are from some Matchbox vehicles I got 20 years ago.  The Matchbox have better equipment and so will be the Militia types.  The others are more lightly armed and equipped and so will be the National Guard; interstellar version.

Some close ups of one of the Buck Rogers poses.

When I am working on projects like this I record the paint schemes and the colors I use  on a card like this one.  Later when the project has been finalized the information goes into a notebook so I can touch up the figures or add more if I need to, I have done this for decades.  Sometimes it can be 10 years or more between working on the same project so having records can be very helpful.

Heiser's Models HO 1/87 Scale M4A3E8(76)W Sherman Late Production HVSS Track

Heiser's Models HO 1/87 Scale M4A3E8(76)W Sherman Late Production HVSS Track number 5035.

This is a very late World War Two Sherman tank model with all the ultimate features of those used by the US Army in WWII and post War.  The tank  model itself is all resin and there are detail parts made out of plastic.

The upper and lower hull is one single magnificent casting with almost no flash.

There is just a tiny mold line that needs to be trimmed all around the vehicle.  The mold is two parts and the join is perfect to leave the least amount of obvious marking on the vehicle.  A quick hit with 400 sanding stick is all it takes to clean it up.

Test fitting the tracks and the turret.  There is a giant pin on the bottom side of the turret that fits into a big hole in the top of the hull.  It allows for a smooth turning turret.

The plastic accessory sprue.  It has machine guns gas cans, tools, and many other parts.  This sprue comes with most Heiser  US Army tank models.

Additional parts out of resin.  It comes with headlight, and extra hatches so you can have the hull hatches in the open position, and spare roof hatches in case you lose or break one.  The oval loaders hatch is a bit thick so sand it down just a little so it will fit flush with the turret roof.

Spare track section, spare individual tracks, engine vents, cargo shelf, road wheels, including two extra, and suspension parts.  The long white things are supports for the fenders. 

The parts come packed in individual sealed plastic bubbles for freshness.  And it keeps you from losing parts until you are ready for them.

It also provides a little air pocket so they don't break during shipping.

Instructions are a bit vague but are not too hard to puzzle out.  The top of the rear mounted cargo shelf is flush with the top side of the rear hull.  In real life it folds down to form an L shape to hold cargo.  Paul includes a couple different versions including a folded up one.  The extra tracks links were stowed three per side along the fender.  They were always placed as shown in the drawing above.  The lower right illustration shows were to put the fender supports.  Since I am doing a wargame model that will be handled a lot so I left them and the headlight off of my models.

The large cupola hatch and small loaders hatch was a very late war combination, but very common in the Korea War.

Here is a listing of the resin parts.  The plastic sprue has both a .50 caliber and a .30 caliber machine gun, either one was common in WWII on the turret and sometimes even both at the same time.  Over all an excellent kit.
 

Victory!

The Phantom demands the Aliens surrender immediately.

The Aliens are surrounded.

They have no choice and surrender.

The Heroes return to their spaceship.

The two halves are quickly re-assembled.

The Heroes blast off in their spaceship.

The Aliens are left behind on this deserted world, with a rocket ship that is out of fuel, and destroyed.  They have no hope of rescue and so begin a life sentence alone on desolate place.