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

Battle of the Bulge Movie Tanks

Close up of a German Tiger tank.

The Germans captured a number of American halftracks in WWII and often repainted and remarked them and used them in their own army.  The .50 caliber machine gun was often retained.

The US Army M47 tank was about the same size of the Tiger II.  The M47 was only three feet shorter, one foot narrower, and almost as tall as the Tiger II.

So painted in WWII paint and markings it made a reasonable German tank for the movies in the 1960s, given that there were no operational Tiger tanks available for movie use in those days.

In the movie the Battle of the Bulge the Spanish Army rented out about three dozen or more M47 tanks that were repainted and remarked for the movie.  I have never found evidence of the Tiger II having been painted in Panzer Gray but for movie goers in the 1960s it was a easy way for them to recognize the German vehicles.

 The movie also used an American halftrack as the towing vehicle for a command van.

 

I got three Roco M47 tanks that were partially converted in a collection I purchased about 20 years ago.  The previous owner used what appears to have been Roco Tiger II barrels with the second muzzle baffle cut off, then glued on in place of the original M47 gun barrel.  The models were not painted.  Since I had no M47 replacement barrels, and it seemed kind of a fun project, I finished the job by painting them Tamiya German Gray and adding the decals and tank commanders.  The halftrack is a Roco M3 and the command trailer is a European made resin kit, perhaps ArsenalM but I am not sure.

The movie is very exciting and for 1965 has excellent special effects.  Don't expect a history lesson, the historical accuracy of the movie is limited.

Here is the trailer for the movie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIVqFQ4fhFg

Tigers and a Halftrack

German Tiger tanks and an captured American halftrack in the snow.

The halftrack tows a German command trailer van.

The snow is heavy and makes for slow going but the overcast keeps American planes grounded.

A Tiger platoon should be four tanks, but as drive sprockets break, as small bridges collapse, as engines overheat, the platoon is reduced to three tanks.

The whole vignette in the snow.
 

Meyers Manx

In 1963 the Meyers Manx was first manufactured in Fountain Valley, California.

It was the classic dune buggy. 

While I have not found any evidence of their use by the US Army this Venezuelan Army version does appear in the 1967 John Wayne movie "Hellfighters."  And that is close enough for me.

I got four Hot Wheels versions of the Manx, stripped off the old paint and repainted them in US Army colors.

The drivers are generic plastic figures with US Army headgear, M1 helmets and Ridgeway hats from Imex Korean War sets.  Ever since I saw this movie in the theater I wanted some of these vehicles in my collection.  Mission accomplished.  It is a little late to put this vehicle in a unit with M47 tanks and M59 APCs but it's only temporary until I upgrade some more of my M48 and M60 collection.
 

Tank and Jeeps

US Army Cold War, Pentomic Army era Reconnaissance unit.

It is HO scale Roco and Roskopf vehicles.

I intend to make several of these units using different camouflage and different vehicle combinations.

M47 Roco tank with upgraded cupola.

M38 Jeep by Roco with Heiser Models .30 caliber machine gun.  Roco US Tank Commander with head swap from tanker helmet to M1 helmet.

Two standard Jeeps with canopy and two man crew.

Radio Jeep with two antennas, and tow radios.  Figures by Roco, using the field phone guy in the back as the radio operator since he has a handset in his hand.  Field expedient wire cutter on bumper.
 

Roco Reconnaissance Company

The old Roco Minitank catalogs used to have tables of organization for the US, WWII Germans and other countries.  This one is a US Army, post-WWII Reconnaissance company.  Since I first saw this organization chart I wanted to build this unit and I have been working on it.  With further research I determined this organization was very similar to units both previous to this one and subsequent to it.  So I made a unit like this using the M47 series tank and M59 series armored vehicles, and other changes you will see below.

M47 tank with the M48 tank style cupola.  This improvement was intended but never fielded because the M47 was quickly replaced in US service by the M40.  The M59 series APC, however, did get this style of cupola as seen here on the personnel carrier.  If you click on the photos they should enlarge for your viewing pleasure.

The other M59 type is actually the M84, the mortar carrier, it has a large hatch on the back of the roof, and two mortar base plates on the rear.  It carried a 4.2 inch mortar in the back, normally fired towards the rear of the vehicle.  It was in US service about ten years from the late 1950s until replaced by the M106.

Rather than the M114 this unit has the M38 Jeep, I made three slightly different versions.

The light tanks are the M41 Walker Bulldog.

All of these vehicles are Roco, except for the M59 and M84 which are Roskopf.
 

The Reconnaissance Company on Patrol

Patrolling burned out streets with the M47 tank.

Overwatch with the M41 light tank.

Advancing slowly.

Driving down the tree lined streets.

Armored personnel carrier and mortar carrier.

The town square.

The tanks together.

The scene.
 

Filming the Panzers

Movie crew, trailer for changing rooms for the cast, and for makeup too.  Bus to transport everyone to the remote location.

Stop and fuel up the tanks.

And....Action!  I read reviews of the Battle of the Bulge movie and people complain that they used American made M47 tanks as the Tiger II.  Considering they used about 20 tanks in the movie and their were no operational Tiger tanks in the world in the 1960s that does not seem a fair complaint to me.  The M47 is about the same general size and shape of a Tiger II.  And the paint jobs were authentic.  I think that's about all you can expect for a movie made in the 1960s.

It can take a lot of people to film a movie, sometimes hundreds of crew members.

It can be disruptive to the locals as well who may not want tanks in their neighborhood, although I liked watching them film movies.

Cue the tanks.

Speed, sound, Action!