I know nobody makes one in 1/35 scale but I see someone on ebay has it in 1/32 scale. The company was supposedly really accurate with their models.
Has anybody taken an M48 and scratch built one?
I ask because now my life’s quest is to build every weapon used by US, Arvn and other allies used in Vietnam…LOL.
The Marines used the M55 for a while until replaced by the M110.
So I was wondering if anybody had some pix and/or info on a 1/35 build. And if it were even feasible to use either a Tamiya M48A3 or the from what I read terrible older Revell/Monogram kit of the M48A2.
Big Daddy - The kit you speak of was the original Renwal kit then put out by Revell. It is a decent but not perfect kit. This kit is still available on ebay.
I just built this kit last week just for fun. I had 2 of the old 1982 Revell Historymakers kits. A friend had just built the old reissued Revellogram M48 so I thought it would be fun to build this old kit OTB. I had built the original Renwall kit waaay back in the mid sixties. The overall fit is pretty good. Detail is heavy or not there in much of the kit, but it is an entertaining effort. As I said, I’m not doing anything to the kit except to give it a nice paint job, I hope. Trying to correct this kit would be just too much effort, for me anyway. Time is short and the kit stack just keeps on growing. Maybe some year it may be redone by someone, but I won’t hold my breath.
I wonder just how close is the scale to actually being 1/32 and is it off enough to be closer to actual 1/35. I think it’s a bit easier to make something a bit smaller then bigger. A cut here and there, then an added detail. If indeed the detail is limited that’s a good thing. Their M48A2 looks pretty bad when compared to what can be done with a Tamiya M48A3.
Maybe using the M55 turret with some surgery and the Kit as a guide to modifying the M48 chassis making a Frankenstein’s monster but in scale. Then adding details with sprue and glue, my skills are nowhere near able to do that…yet.
But what I can see in my mind I seem to be able to do with my hands concerning other things.
The gun tube looks very much like older style howitzers so maybe there is a barrel from something that close and can be substituted. Again the question is how close is 1/32 to 1/35 and how close to actual scale their 1/32 is. maybe their 1/32 is closer to 1/30 and that’s just too much of a jump.
Let me do some math…if 1" equals 35 in 1/35 then 1" equals 32" in 1/32 am I correct? If the overall height of the M55 is 140" then the difference between the 2 is about 3/8ths of and inch. Considering the turret is probably around a little less then 2/3rd of the overall height, now we are talking about maybe 2/10ths of an inch. That would mean shaving about 1/10" off the top and another 1/10th off the bottom.
So my hope is that they messed up a bit and it’s closer to 1/35, if that’s the case then it’s doable. It might not be perfect but in reality NONE of the models we built are in true scale.
But first I am going to build a 1/35 mule and a diorama of a battle for Hue city to get myself going and my skill up to past were I left off a few years back. They were a bit amateurish at best then and PE was my enemy. I have to make things like PE, miliput and a pair of calipers into my friends. Patience and attention to detail, even the smallest seemingly insignificant ones are the keys to making it look professional.
Wim Vink out of Holland made a great representation using the Renwall kit, Tamiya’s M48 kit parts, AFV Club tracks, and lots of scratch-building. You can see it on his site, Mil-Mod.
That’s what I am talking about. It can be done…can I do it???..maybe some day but I am going to try my best.
The question is do I try to find one or wait till they re-release it early next year.
I think doing the engine and stuff like that is not my thing. I like action and would do a diorama or vehicle in an action position. Like in the process of a fire mission. That was more of a museum representation and it is just amazing. I have to check out more of that guys stuff.
Thanks for putting me in the right direction HeavyArty.
For action shots check out the unit web sites for Army artillery units in Germany in the 1960’s. There are field shots, etc.
If you really want to accurize the Renwall/Revell kit be prepared for doing a lot into the interior, especially the driver’s section.
I suspect we’ll have to wait until every manufacturer has made every German armored vehicle, even those just on paper, at least 3 times before we get updated kits of US Army vehicles from the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Wouldn’t a Trumpeter or Hobby boss Atomic Cannon be great, or the M-55, or the M-51 Tank Retriever, or the M103.
It seems the people that make models are out of touch with the makers of the models.
The companies that do more specialized stuff charge A LOT!!! I don’t know if it’s warranted or not since I do not know enough about the process. It’s hard to fork over $50 for an M105 trailer. Or an M60/M728 CEV without most of what makes it an M728 CEV and then buy the correct stuff to make it right for another $60.
I see the M110/M107 series from Italeri are fetching over $50 on ebay. I even wrote them a letter. I don’t understand, if so many people are willing to pay that much just re-release them at $30 and make a killing.
It’s like from Korea to Vietnam is a forgotten subject. The world is still enamored or should I say in armored with Nazi stuff. I’ll never build a Nazi anything.
As far as the scale of the old Renwal kits, they are pretty close to 1/32nd scale. “Way back in the old days” everybody did their own thing on tank scales - Aurora was 1/48th (approximately), Revell was consistently 1/40th, Renwal had a line in 1/32nd, Monogram’s original 1950s-60s line was (ironically) 1/35th. Later Monogram went into WW2 in 1/32nd and relabelled the previous kits as “1/32” but they are still much closer to 1/35th. The old Mongram M48A2 is actually a pretty good model for the time and can still be built well with effort and detail work.
As to the M55. Yes Renwal made one but the detail makes it a dog by trodays standards. As seen in the Wim Vink material, it takes a lot of love to make a nice model out of it, but it CAN be done. As far as converting it from anybody’s M48 - the M55 used drive train components but a totally different hull and all new superstructure. On the good news, I think the West German Army might have used these, so anything that can carry a black cross has more likelihood of being kitted
If you build the Renwal kit, you can replace the figures with redetailed Airfix Multipose troops. Fortunately several M55s survive in pretty fair shape, so one can get photos and measurements of the real thing.
Gino - Nice supporting fire!!!..I missed that one, I have it book maked now. With background info you could also turn the kit into the M53 155mm gun!!!
