Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies

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Rob1970
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Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies

Post by Rob1970 »

Question for those who know; Did duckbill threads only come with specific Shermans (Or Fireflies)? Kinda leaning towards making two complete tanks, and I want to get the right bottom for either the 105mm or the Firefly. And I kinda like the looks of the duckbills...

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Rob
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Jofaur86
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Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies

Post by Jofaur86 »

:D the high ground pressure, of the Shermans tanks, limited their movement on marshy ground, unless they were equipped with these famous extensions duckbills or "Duckbill" only drawback, this made the tank had to reduce its speed, under penalty of breakage of its famous extensions
it seems that was not possible on any type of Sherman? :'(
Jofaur86
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Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies

Post by Jofaur86 »

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Rob1970
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Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies

Post by Rob1970 »

So... if I interpret this right, anyone who could get his hands on duckbills, installed them? ;D
Sherman M4A3/Stug III/Panzer III/Panzer IV/Tiger/King Tiger/KV-1/T34-85/Leopard 2A6/Abrams M1A2/Walker Bulldog/Pantiger
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... No, I do not have a problem....
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Herr Dr. Professor
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Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies

Post by Herr Dr. Professor »

From the books I have on the Sherman (quite a few) I get the impression that duckbills were used in winter. I, e.g., would like to put some on the Sherman I painted for winter whitewash. (Similarly, the Germans used "Ostketten" and "Winterketten," the former for the eastern front; the later for winter. I believe "Winterketten" were longer and more likely to break than the somewhat shorter "Ostketten," but I may be in error.)
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jhamm
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Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies

Post by jhamm »

You be in error...
"Ostketten" and "Winterketten" are one and the same thing.
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Rob1970
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Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies

Post by Rob1970 »

Well, I was told by someone with a lot of Sherman knowledge that I would be fine with putting duckbills on the Firefly. So the Firefly is getting duckbills. And it's own hull. No more sharing with the Sherman 105mm
Sherman M4A3/Stug III/Panzer III/Panzer IV/Tiger/King Tiger/KV-1/T34-85/Leopard 2A6/Abrams M1A2/Walker Bulldog/Pantiger
Under construction; Sherman Firefly IC - M3 Grant - Sherman BARV
... No, I do not have a problem....
john1970
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Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies

Post by john1970 »

Image
Biasphere1
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Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies

Post by Biasphere1 »

The Shermans with duckbills both side of the tracks were designated E9's, they had a stand off and the front sprocket had a hole in the middle.
The VC Fireflies were the longer body M4 , don't forget that.
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Son of a gun-ner
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Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies

Post by Son of a gun-ner »

Biasphere1 wrote:The Shermans with duckbills both side of the tracks were designated E9's, they had a stand off and the front sprocket had a hole in the middle.
Correct, the "stand off" was four inches, a quarter of an inch in 1/16th (6.35mm).
Biasphere1 wrote:The VC Fireflies were the longer body M4 , don't forget that.
The M4A4 also had an extended chassis, 63 and 3/8 inches* between bogie centres (1.61 meters) 100mm is close enough in 1/16th scale.
* I measured this myself :D
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