tankme

What do you get when you mate an M551 Sheridan and an M41 Bulldog?

You get a T49. Since it was an experimental project I will have some creative license with it. I'm not going to bother narrowing or fixing the major flaws with the Bulldog hull. It's just a fun, simple conversion project.



Derek

tankme

Wanted some low hanging fruit and I got it (as in a non-complicated build). Installed the recoil, Taigen High Intensity Flash, and the servo elevation. Still need to install the MG LED and the IR LED. Also got the ammo boxes printed and mocked up in place. I need to fabricate some glass panels for the commander's cupula.



All I needed to adapt the turret to the HL rotation was to remove the ring from the old M41, drill a few holes in the Sheridan turret floor, add some M3 10mm long standoffs and it was good to go.



Finished up the days work with an installation of a smaller Visaton speaker in a box, added the receiver, added the volume adjuster, soldered in the new XT60 connector, extended the motor wiring, and installed the Clark TK50SP. All the components were velcro'd to the hull after removing the battery box and pouring about 4oz of resin in the hull for support. Everything tested good.

tankme

Got some further work done on this guy also. I cut and shaped all the glass pieces for the commander's cupola fashioned from some 1/8" acrylic sheet I had. Each window had to be hand fit after cutting to a rough shape.





Also got the IR battle system installed. I installed the IR LED in the optics tube, but lengthened it a little to get a proper 9-10mm setback for the LED.





Close to final wiring layout done. I'm having issues with the LEDs that came with the tank drawing too much current. Only half of them turn on. I have some micro LEDs I'm going to swap in to see if that solves the problem.

tankme

Had some recent updates to the Ugly Baby T49 prototype...

The smoke dischargers had printed kinda rough so I reprinted them in ASA. They came out much better. The whole turret was primered so I removed the cupola glass. I'll reinstall it after the painting and weathering is done. This was just supposed to be a fun little build without much thought toward accuracy as it was just an experimental tank. It's just kind of a "what if".




I replaced the tool box handles with a resin 3D printed version I found on Cults3D. The US used the same tool box handles on the M41, the Pershing, and the Abrams. There are probably others. https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/art/...le-pre-support



Closer shot of the Vietnam era .50 cal ammo boxes I also found on Cults3D and printed them in resin. I used some small strips of masking tape to make the straps. The buckles are metal and came from a scale horse website. The loops used to secure the ammo boxes to the turret were also found on Cults3D and printed in resin.



The commander's hatches printed really poorly in filament so I reprinted them in resin. When closed they still cover up the apple mount.



I also applied some cold bluing to the metal tracks. I'm not a real stickler for tracks as they get weathered the first time it's outside in the dirt.



All the rubber has been pulled off the road wheels to metal prime and prep them for painting. I'm thinking of doing some sort of camo on the tank. Since it's a "what if" I might as well go wild on it and make it cool. 8)

That's all for now...

Crius

Wow, love the details. Are you going to just airbrush it in OD green with everything in place? That's what I would do, then a bit of shading and highlighting. What are you using for paint? I love the straps and buckles. I'll have to check out that horse place for buckles. Have you tried the duct tape trick for straps? You can see them on my AA Bulldog below. The M41 can be a great platform for all kinds of projects. I can't wait to see yours painted with all the cool stowage.

Tankme, I'm pretty sure you've seen this one, but a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away) a guy named Rex Ross dared me to make an M41 AA variant with the quad .50s from a torro M16. It's got a clark board (TK20) and I really like the sounds they did for the Bulldog, especially the .50 cal. Unfortunately, only one of the LEDs in the muzzles is working, but in a way that's not completely terrible, since on the soundtrack it's quite obvious you're hearing a single .50, not four of them. One day I'll try to fix that, though. I also built the rear deck stowage rack so it's hinged, so you can lift it up to get at the engine hatches. I figured they'd use screen like that for airflow (don't want to overheat the engine), and it's a perfect place to stow extra ammo and a pair of replacement .50 cals. The tubes on the side are for the camo netting rolled up on the right side (with the duct tape straps). I figured if you're gonna shoot at airplanes it might be best if it's hard for them to see you, can ya dig it?

I've also decided to go just a wee bit crazy on the truck I'm using to haul the M5. In addition to the period correct cab I'm going to use the new truck board kit (not so new any more, eh?), with sound since it has the speaker, and the two speed tranny. I have all the parts layin' around anyway, might as well put 'em to use. That board will also run the ramps on the trailer. And tail lights, too. I've got some tiny red LEDs that should work perfect with the tail lights that are on it, or I can swap in the WWII tail lights like the ones I used for the Q-60 (and others). Haven't yet decided if I want to try tail lights on the trailer. One thing I don't like about the trailer is that the stands aren't functional. If I can figger a way to make those functional and the 5th wheel servo release I might try it, but that will require a more sophisticated board and more channels.

Anyway, here's my paper bulldog (note that the driver's viewports have been corrected, that always bugged me about this tank). I have metal roadwheels w/rubber tires and metal suspension arms, just have to get around to it. Already did it to the Pershing, the WB is next. Oh yeah, I also have a complete upper hull with turret so I can swap them back and forth pretty easy any time I need a stock M-41.




Had to have a bucket!


The canvas bedroll behind the spare ammo is made from supplex. If you're not up on that stuff let me know, and I might even be able to send you a square. The RC sailboat guys turned me on to it and it makes the most excellent scale canvas.

EDIT: This is not what the photos looked like in the preview, where they were full size, not these stupid little thumbnails you have to click on. Sometimes this website really ticks me off, can ya dig it?

tankme

Yeah, I've seen the AA build of yours. First thing I did was correct the vision blocks on mine. I used masking tape as it's thinner than duct tape. The buckles are pretty small. Originally I was using some really small flat leather, but that was on my T34/85. I actually had to use my dremel to thin the leather down to get it to go into the buckles. Masking tape is also a little more forgiving when it comes to sticking to itself. I could reposition it if needed. I don't think I could do that with duct tape. I will be painting it with everything in place. Things like the ammo boxes, MG, straps, and tools will be painted by hand after the camo goes on.

tankme

It's always a great day when you are finally able to get paint on tank. Even if it's just the base coat of Model Master Olive Drab. I scuttled some away when supplies started to run out.



Still deciding what camo scheme I'm going to use.

That's all for now...

tankme

Decided to have a little fun with the camo scheme. Just started painting and this is what I ended up with. May add some black...haven't decided yet.






That's all for now...

tankme

I liked the camo without the black, but I think the black adds just a bit more variation to the pattern, IMO. After all, it's supposed to be about hiding the vehicle and not just how awesome it looks, right? :haha:

So I did decide to add the black. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Just need to add some markings/decals, touch up some areas with the airbrush, add the commander's cupola vision blocks back in, paint in some details (like ammo boxes/straps/pioneer tools), do some slight weathering and clearcoat the whole thing. I did put it back together last night to do a complete functions test and everything seems to have survived the build process. I still want to wire up both sets of headlights on the front of the tank. I do need to figure out what color I need to paint the straps adn the ammo boxes.





That's all for now...