Super Pershing: Scratch Conversion |
| By Roy Chow |
| Started: | Jun 28, 2003 | | Updated: | Jul 11, 2006 |
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The Super Pershing was one of the most interesting tanks fielded by the US in WW2. It was an up-gunned version of the battlefield newcomer, the T26 Pershing. After the introduction of 90mm-armed T26E3's into the European theater under the "Zebra Mission", an up-gunned Pershing was also sent over in March '45 to see how it would fare under combat conditions.
This "Super" Pershing (designated T26E4) was the mating of the pilot model of the T26E1 with the longer caliber T15E1 cannon. This cannon was to be on equal par with the deadly German KwK 43 L/71 88mm tank gun mounted on the likes of the Tiger II and Jagdpanther.
I found the best reference material for the Super Pershing to be in R. P. Hunnicutt’s “Pershing, A History of the Medium Tank T20 Series”. There are development pictures of the T26E4 as well as a great series of photos of the SP just at the end of hostilities. A brief description of its deployment is included, as well.
For additional background info, you can read Belton Cooper's "Death Traps". It is his excellent memoir of his experiences as a 3AD maintenance officer. He was actually in charge of the armoring up of the T26E4 and there are interesting construction notes. Also, John Irwin's "Another River, Another Town" is a memoir of a 3AD gunner. In the closing weeks of the war, Irwin and his crew actually manned the Super Pershing. He tells of its ease of use and handling. He gets three tank kills while in the SP. Both are very compelling reading.
A commonly known photo of the SP exists in the Squadron "Pershing In Action" book. When reading Cooper’s "Death Traps" you see that this was only a preliminary photo. Upon the first trial, it was discovered that the mantlet armor threw the turret traverse and elevation off balance. They had to improvise and the addition of the "batwing" armor solved the problem. Irwin says that the much heavier SP functioned just as easily as his earlier M4A3 76mm. Camouflage and markings are apparent in the Hunnicutt pictures. In Zaloga's "US Tank Battles in Germany" there is a color rendition of the SP. The camouflage pattern looks right but there are some detail inaccuracies in the drawing, however (rear turret bustle missing, incorrect .50 cal MG mount).
With all this in hand, I decided to have my go at this unique tank. I had access to the Accurate Armour full resin kit of the Super Pershing. It is a fine kit but I decided to attempt a full scratch conversion with the great Tamiya M26 Pershing. I set out at the onset to replicate the SP as it might have appeared just before the end of hostilities – using the photos from Hunnicutt’s book as my main source of reference.
Besides the obvious up-armoring and long gun tube, there are a series of steps required to make an accurate SP. First, the Tamiya M26 needs to be backdated to the T26E1 pilot model. Then the up-gunning and up-armoring can take place.
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| Chapter 12 - End of the road | Jul 11, 2006 |
| This project has definitely been a labor of love. From the initial planning, to the first major surgery on the Tamiya kit, to constantly adding little details as I discovered them (thanks to Steve Zaloga and Mike Land for facts gleaned from their Super Pershing builds), to final completion and finishing... more |
| Chapter 11 - Near the end: Crew figures. | Jun 23, 2006 |
| The Super Pershing was readied for combat in March of 1945 with the 3rd Armored Division. John Irwin and his crewmates were given the tank as a replacement vehicle on April 10th after losing their M4A3 76W to a Panzerfaust earlier that day. The full crew was Sergeant Joe Matira (Commander), Sergeant... more |
| Chapter 10 - Small details again | Jun 2, 2006 |
| It's funny how the eye is drawn to small details on models. As usual with most US WW2 subjects, the crew stowed their gear on the external racks, decks and grab handles. I added rucksacks, a few bedrolls, some boxes and some spare machine gun ammo boxes to various logical positions on the T26E4.... more |
| Chapter 9 - Painting and weathering | Apr 9, 2006 |
| I detailed up the hatches as much as reasonable with wire, Tiger Model Designs periscopes and periscope housings. I blanked off the commander's view ports with vinyl masks from the Calibre35 Pershing cupola. The excellent WW2 Productions resin click link tracks were very easy to use. I added Liquitex... more |
| Chapter 8 - Small details to the back end | Mar 22, 2006 |
| If the particular subject that I'm building is well covered in photographs, I end up trying to replicate a good amount of it (sometimes this can be a curse!). The T26E1/T26E4 has several items near its back end that are different than the donor Tamiya kit. On the back end, I've gone ahead... more |
| Chapter 7 - Revisiting the Front Fenders | Nov 27, 2003 |
| I tend to sometimes be a stickler for scale representation of thickness -- especially when it comes to sheet metal or thin armor plate (Hmmm... I'd like to ride around in a 1/35 Universal Carrier with scaled down 4" thick armor panels!). A technique that I've only recently become comfortable... more |
| Chapter 6: Nose Armor | Jul 29, 2003 |
| I spent a lot of time getting the right look of this complex, two-layer, two tier add-on armor. Using .020" styrene sheet, I cut out the two inner slabs and then the outer ones. I mounted them according to angles cited by Cooper. I added flame-cut edges and weld beads where appropriate. Eventually,... more |
| Chapter 5: Hull: suspension and fenders | Jul 28, 2003 |
| The great thing about the Tamiya M26 is that you can articulate the suspension. This is important for the SP because it had a definite nose-heavy look due to all the added weight of the add-on armor. The Tamiya hull and suspension builds up very nicely. I removed the telephone mounting from the rear.... more |
| Chapter 4: Turret: Finishing Details | Jul 26, 2003 |
| Having finished the major work, some fine details needed to be added. I used the excellent clear resin Calibre35 replacement cupola (which will fit any of my Sherman projects, too!). I added details to the MG pintle and texture to the loader's hatch ring. Some wire handles, other small details... more |
| Chapter 3: Up-Armoring the Turret | Jul 25, 2003 |
| Belton Cooper recalls the mantlet armor being 2' by 5'. Given photos of this, I don't think he was correct. It scales out to more like 1.5' x 5'. I carved out a rectangle from .040" styrene. In reality, this was a piece that was cut from a Panther glacis (maybe I'll... more |
| Chapter 2: Up-gunning the Turret | Jul 24, 2003 |
| The T15E1 cannon required external recuperator springs with mountings and a counterweight at the rear of the turret. I estimated lengths and diameters of the springs and their mounts from available photos. I fabricated them from styrene with brass actuators. The mounting points were just carved styrene.... more |
| Chapter 1: Backdating the Pershing Turret | Jul 22, 2003 |
The T26E1 pilot model had some large differences from the production T26E3, depicted in the Tamiya kit. These differences are:
Split loader's hatch rather than Oval loader's hatch
No shell ejection hatch on left turret wall
Did not have secondary antenna mount on roof
No centrally mounted... more |
