M36 US 90mm Tank Destroyer GMC
Jackson
WWII Type
AFV Club 1:35 Kit No. AF 35058
Review by Terry Ashley
This kit from AFV Club has been a long time in the coming following the earlier M10/Achilles kits and the M36 from Academy earlier this year and now it is finally here we can see the fruits of this extended gestation.
Not wanting to pre-empt the result but the kit is unfortunately more like a genetic experiment gone wrong with it having the diesel engine deck of the M10/M4A2 and the rear hull plate a combination of the M10/M4A2 plate with M4A3 style exhausts added but the new turret has some very nice details included.
The kit has a number of sprues from the earlier M10/Achilles kits (B, C, E, F and modified D) with new sprues A and the turret shell for the M36 with a total of 437 parts in olive drab plastic. There is a further 6 in black vinyl, a set of full length vinyl T51 track, one sprue from the T48 individual track set (AF35038), plus a turned 90mm metal barrel and recoil spring with a length of twine for the tow rope.
Standard of moulding is very good overall with crisp clean details and a minimum of pin ejector marks but some of the mould seams are fairly prominent and will need careful cleaning but details such as weld seams and bolt head details are nicely rendered.
Lower Hull:
The lower tub has the sponson fillers included but is straight from the M10/Achilles
kits and has the underside panel details for the diesel engine and not the
correct layout for the petrol engine of the M36/M4A3 but the escape hatch
has been moved to the correct side from that in the earlier hulls. There
is an excellent shot of an overturned M36 in Allied-Axis Issue 12 page 70
that clearly shows the underside layout of the M36.
On the inside is the fighting compartment floor with nice tread plate pattern
and rear compartment bulkhead as well as forward transmission bulkhead and
gearbox that fits inside the nicely contoured later cast transmission cover
which has a separate upper attachment bolt strip and subtle cast surface texture
with fine casting numbers included. Added to the interior are the two crew
seats with side mounted supports and the sponson mounted radio, driver’s
instrument panel and separate 90mm rounds.
The rear hull plate is that from the M10 kit with just a pair of M10A1/M4A3 type exhausts and the louvered deflectors added and you will need to change the other details such as central hatch panel to the correct configuration.
The suspension again is straight from the earlier kits with the straight
arm, raised roller bogies with pressed solid spoke road wheels which still
have the hollow backs as do the solid spoke idler wheels. The bogies are okay
but many photos show the raised roller arm type bogies on M36s and you many
want to substitute these?
The assembled bogies are movable and have excellent details and are probably
the nicest bogies available this side of the Tasca sets. The
overly thick rubber sections of the road wheels are also still present and
you may want to thin these down a little.
The drive sprockets are the open fancy type and while there are few photos of M36s with this type of sprocket the vast majority of M36 photos show the full simple plate type sprockets and again you may wish to source these elsewhere.
The track consists of vinyl ‘rubber band’ type T51 Rubber Block track which has quite nice details for this medium but strangely you are given a single sprue of individual links and end connectors for the T48 Rubber Chevron track from AFV Club set AF35038 to use as spare track mounted on the hull side racks.
Upper Hull:
This large moulding is again from the M10/Achilles kits and while it has separate
crew hatches also has the incorrect engine deck layout of the diesel M10
and not the correct deck for the petrol M10A1/M36/M4A3. The engine deck
doors are separate parts but again are the wrong
type for the M36 and I
will refer you to my previous article on converting the M35
engine deck to the correct configuration which will also be needed
here.
Other details on the hull are quite nice with separate crew hatches with separate hinges for good definition although there are a couple of small pin marks on the insides if shown open as well as separate periscopes and covers.
The head and tail lights are separate parts with respectively thin bush guards for plastic items as well separate lifting eyes, hull side grouser racks and spare track racks plus separate large bolt bushes on the front plate, note these were not fitted to the hull sides on the M36. Also included are the foul weather hood storage bracket and first aid kit fitted to the M36.
The upper rear hull plate is also a separate part and includes the folding barrel clamp and revised tool layout for the M36 with all the tools separate but with moulded on tool brackets.
Turret:
As you would expect this is completely new with the turret shell in upper
section and lower turret ring with these featuring very nice weld seams
around the rear bustle and turret sides as well the correct contours for
the bustle undersides. The engraved detail on the top of the bustle is very
well done with screw heads and mounting brackets but there is some minor
mould seams that will have to be removed from the rear corners of the bustle.
The interior is very well detailed with the partial turret ring and floor section that has the crew seats and all the main traverse and elevation controls as well as the main gun sight and other fittings for a very busy and well populated interior.
Added to this is the large multi part gun and breech which again is very
nicely done with the metal barrel and recoil spring trapped between the two
gun halves if you feel like playing with your gun later. The full length barrel
is finely turned aluminium with a very well defined end thread protector and
rifling in the barrel with many smaller detail parts added to the breech for
another well detailed assembly. There is a small step at the last section
of the barrel which isn't on the normal M3 90mm barrel which is smooth all
the way along the barrel.
On checking all sources it appears to be a latter
M3A1 barrel without the fume extractor was used as a basis for the measurements,
this may also explain the incorrect engine deck if AFV
Club used a post war
vehicle as a basis for this kit.
The gun assembly fits between the turret side trunnions and held in place
with separate mounting pins just like the real thing but you should attach
the gun before fitting the lower turret ring which incidentally has no locating
pins for a clean inside appearance but makes aligning the upper and lower
turret parts a little tricky but you shouldn’t have any real problems.
The large mantlet matches available plans in width and contours but the raised
bulge in the middle above the barrel looks a little too large but may not
be noticeable on the finish kit and there are some mould seams along each
end that will need careful cleaning up.
At the back are separate ammo racks plus intercom, electrical boxes and fire extinguisher on the turret walls to finish things off while on the outside are the upper grab rails and .50 cal pedestal and spare barrel clips on the bustle and a quite passable .50cal MG in plastic as well as a spare barrel to fit into the clips.
Decals:
The decal sheet has makings mostly is white but with some dark olive drab
stars to use as these were often over painting to reduce the “target” effect
of the white stars.
Markings are provided for four M36s;
Conclusion:
The new turret parts and the metal barrel are very well done with many nice
details around the hull plus the nice suspension bogies but as mentioned AFV
Club have again given us the M10/M4A2 style engine deck as they did with the
M35 and clearly have not been listening. This is a real pity as many of the
details in the kit are more finely rendered than those in the recent Academy M36 which did give you the correct engine deck layout.
As the kit is labelled WWII type and with only the early 90mm barrel there will be work needed to build a late M36B2 as these had the later large M26 type muzzle brake or the M3A1 90mm gun with revised single baffle muzzle brake and bore extractor on the barrel as well as fitted with roof armour, either way there will be some effort required to build an accurate M36 or M36B2.
Recommended.
The Sprues:
| M10 and M36 Tank Destroyers 1942-53 New Vanguard No 57 Osprey Publishing  |
US Tank Detroyers Walk Around Squadron Signal Publications #5703 ISBN 0-89747-456-2  |
M10/M36 Wydawnictwo Militaria No.115 ISBN 83-7219-080-1  |
| Allied & Axis 12 Ampersand Publishing Soft cover, 96 pages  |
US Tank Detroyers in action Squadron Signal Publications No.2036 ISBN 0-89747-385-X  |
US Technical Manual M36B1, M36B2 CD Easy 1 Productions  |
| US Tank Destroyers of WWII photo CD Enygma Graphics  |
SHERMAN A History of the American Medium Tank R.P.Hunnicutt. Presidio Books ISBN 0-89141-080-5  |
Modeler's Guide to the Sherman MMIR Special. Ampersand Publishing Company, Inc  |
Thanks to my Credit Card and the quick delivery from Hobby Easy for the review kit.
Page Created November 21, 2005