M26, M46, M47 Tanks

The M26 on the bottom in dark olive, and the M46 on top in light olive drab.  M46 is a little longer.

Side by side.

M47 with the white star and M46 without.

I got this M47 in a collection along with a couple others, someone had painted on the stars, I liked it well enough that I left them on rather than paint over them.

Three tanks together, the M47 is much taller, made by Roco Minitanks.

 Olive drab seems to come in many variations and often looks different when it fades, or when it is wet, or dusty.  So I used a couple different versions of paint for the color.  The center M46 tank is in Testors Olive Drab Spraypaint, the other two are in Rust-Oleum 2X 279175 Deep Forest Green

M46 and M26 Tanks

Back in the 1950s the M46 was a popular war toy.

I remember having at least two different ones, one about 1/48th scale and the other about 1/24th scale.

They fought many battles on carpets, sidewalks and lawns over the years.

Now I finally have one for the wargame table in HO scale resin and plastic.

Heiser Models HO scale M26 compared to the M46 tanks.

The turrets are almost identical, the front hull is very similar, the main gun and rear hulls are very different.
 

M46 in Olive Drab

Heiser Models HO scale resin M46 tank with primer paint applied.

I think the M46 is an iconic tank and very cool looking.

Here it is before any detail painting in Testors Olive Drab spray paint, number 1265.  They recently changed the number from 1911 to 1265 but the color is identical.

 A great looking tank and one I have been trying to get for decades.

I remember when Paul Heiser came out with his M26 tank and I suggested he make this one at that time and here we are only 25 years later and already on the market!

Here you can see the small box at the rear, it's the first aid kit.

I did this one with the side skirts, tools in front, and the spare tracks on the side turret.  My plan is to get a company of 17 tanks, and put side skirts on five of them.
 

M46 Patton Tank

The Heiser Models M46 tank, rear engine deck.  Note the intricate detail on all those engine covers.

This model is very easy to assemble, the hull is one piece, the tracks are similar to Minitanks with left and right side suspension units, and the turret is a large piece.  Note the separate travel lock on the rear deck and there is also a tiny box on the rear of the tank, it's a first aid kit.

The main gun and mantelet is one piece and has a wire inside the barrel to strengthen the long resin bit.  The commanders hatch is a separate piece and can be open or closed.

Other details include optional the spare track links on the side of the turret, the plastic bow machine gun, and the tools on the upper glacis.

The side skirts are optional, I plan on putting them on about 40% of my M46 tanks as many photos show them with them.

Heiser Models includes numerous pad eyes, lifting rings, headlights, machine guns, fuel cans and other detail bits that I have left off this particular model.  I build mine as wargame kits and much of that is easily broken off with handling but for a display piece this model has all the parts you need.

Another look at the hull, I have spray painted the bottom giving the hull a strange look around the edges in these last three photos.  I find the detailed engine deck to be amazing for an HO scale resin kit.
 

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.