Re: M26 Pershing
Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 5:55 pm
Have to edit my post.
The first M26's in the ETO came with a different track type but were slowly upgraded to the metal dual pin chevron type yours have but most still had the single pin tracks at wars end. Just remove the phone box and mounting plate, fill any holes there and the rear two slots in the front blower housing and yours is a WW2 ETO that has had the turret bracket near the mantle torched off. The extra periscope mounts for the front started to be removed and covered with steel plate by the end of the war. I've have seen pics of of a Korean war Marine unit with them and the WW2 type tracks and without the phone box. Plus some of late arrivals to the Korean war units had a very slight difference in the front hull blower casting ( a little larger to take a larger blower setup with the 2 additional slots ) .
Since the M26 received so many upgrades to its drivetrain and main gun during the Korean conflict ( enough to having it be called a Patton rather then a Pershing ) in a very few years before in was removed in favor of the M47, it seems just about any M26 model could be considered a Korean or WW2 version as most shipped to Korea were stateside units still in their WW2 configuration.
Both the HL and Tamiya models are actually more Korean war versions of the M26 then WW2 versions mainly due to the change in the hull blower housing casting and all the spare ammo cans stored on the fenders which were a Korean war in the field modification.
One interesting thing I saw while stationed in Germany was a restored and running WW2 M26 made up from tanks being brought into the tank gunnery final qualification range to be used as targets. The only thing they changed was to install rubber padded dual pin track off of M47's that were also slated to be targets.
The first M26's in the ETO came with a different track type but were slowly upgraded to the metal dual pin chevron type yours have but most still had the single pin tracks at wars end. Just remove the phone box and mounting plate, fill any holes there and the rear two slots in the front blower housing and yours is a WW2 ETO that has had the turret bracket near the mantle torched off. The extra periscope mounts for the front started to be removed and covered with steel plate by the end of the war. I've have seen pics of of a Korean war Marine unit with them and the WW2 type tracks and without the phone box. Plus some of late arrivals to the Korean war units had a very slight difference in the front hull blower casting ( a little larger to take a larger blower setup with the 2 additional slots ) .
Since the M26 received so many upgrades to its drivetrain and main gun during the Korean conflict ( enough to having it be called a Patton rather then a Pershing ) in a very few years before in was removed in favor of the M47, it seems just about any M26 model could be considered a Korean or WW2 version as most shipped to Korea were stateside units still in their WW2 configuration.
Both the HL and Tamiya models are actually more Korean war versions of the M26 then WW2 versions mainly due to the change in the hull blower housing casting and all the spare ammo cans stored on the fenders which were a Korean war in the field modification.
One interesting thing I saw while stationed in Germany was a restored and running WW2 M26 made up from tanks being brought into the tank gunnery final qualification range to be used as targets. The only thing they changed was to install rubber padded dual pin track off of M47's that were also slated to be targets.