The early Stuarts don't have the gun shield on the turret and use a different .30 cal mount either on the rear of the turret or on the right side. The early turret also had pistol ports on the sides with a two part grouser mount (late grouser mount is continuous on the left side). The early has open spoke wheels and the late had solid wheels. The British version was basically a late with some British add-ons like smoke dischargers. The late also added the basket on the rear of the tank. There are some other minor differences. The Coolbank version is kind off a mashup of early and late features similar to other 1/16th scale tanks. Most of the lates had the fenders removed.ColemanCollector wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2024 12:56 amI'm a bit of a Stuart-rube here, still figuring out the ins-and-outs of my kit. What will you need to do to it to make it early or late or British?
Mike.
This is also information from another site:
M5 Had the radio by the bow gunner, with an antenna port above it. On rebuilds, this is filled in with a plug.
Different set of ammunition box racks in the sponsons, as the M5 was designed with earlier ammo boxes in mind.
Used an earlier gun mount, (m23 vs m44?). The earlier mount had the sight higher up on it, making it difficult to use.
Had a fire detection system that was removed in later models. A box with a red light on it was mounted above the dash.
Had a one piece engine deck, that was harder to remove. Later ones had a three piece. One for the engine, one for each fuel tank. This makes it a LOT easier to work on.
There are also a lot of later/early changes that came at various points in the M5, M5A1 series that were independant of the model changes. Sort of like upgrades as the were needed....
Removable belly pans, under the engines, make them easier to work on. A BIG HELP
Different roadwhells. Spoked, vs pressed.
Different idler wheel, baremetal vs rubber covered.
A "kill switch" mounted on the ceiling between driver and bowgunner. Disables all the all the power.
Different "track jacks", with different mounts for them on the back.
Different storage systems for spare track block on the rear.
Bustle box on the rear, came later.
Different storage locations for tools. When the bustle box came along, the shovel and axe got moved to other spots.
Sand shields, removed somewhat early. You can see weld remains on the ones that had them.
Covered AA gun came later, early exposed model did exist on early M5A1s
Pistol ports were phased out on the turret in later M5A1s.
Different types of master fire control boxes exist.
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