RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

ColemanCollector wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2024 12:56 am

tankme wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2024 12:04 am My twins arrived today also safe and sound. The box with both of them is about the same volume as a regular HL tank. Can't decide if I'm going to do an early and a late or an early and a Brit version.... Decisions, decisions.

I'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.

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.

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.

Epubs has some decent Stuart books on file. https://epdf.pub/search/stuart+tank

tankme wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2024 3:16 am Epubs has some decent Stuart books on file. https://epdf.pub/search/stuart+tank

Thanks very much, Derek for the detailed reply. I was following along with your details and getting confused about what was on my Coolbank Stuart and then came to where you said it was a mishmash of parts. That explains it all, LOL!

Downloaded much from that site. Time for a few more!

Thanks again,

Mike.

I was going to do a British version because I couldn't find the late version of the Classy Hobby kit in the US, but just found it at a place in Cali so I think my first one will be a late US version. I did notice that the tracks on mine seem really loose. I will probably be removing a couple of track links to shorten them up.

Oh, and I don't have to modify the files for the Sherman to get the proper solid block tracks as there is already a version of them on cults in 1/16 scale for free:

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/1- ... y-mc160016

Same guy has also posted a solid rear idler wheel to print:

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/1- ... dler-wheel

And...early wheels with the spokes welded shut:

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/1- ... 5a1-stuart

The late Classy Hobby kit has the late cast wheels so I may convert the kit wheels over.

Periscope holder for the M5:

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/1- ... 5a1-stuart

Then the I would use the periscope from here in the holder above as the periscope is the same for the Sherman and the M5:

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/m6 ... lk-sherman

Thank you for the link to the epubs, tankme! I have already made use of it, for it is far more useful for detail than, say, the instructions that came with the CoolBank M5 are for anything. (One semester of Mandarin fifty years ago just won't get me through those instructions. )

Found these pics online showing the stuart wearing the Chevron style tracks that the coolbank version has, any idea of the timeframe that these would have been used?

Cheers,Lee.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

tankme wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2024 4:18 am ... I did notice that the tracks on mine seem really loose. I will probably be removing a couple of track links to shorten them up...

Mine are very loose, too. I did notice what looked like functoning tension adjusters, but I'm not sure they'll take up enough slack. I detest mundane life chores that get in the way of exploring a new tank!

Mike.

I removed one link and it was enough.

Kaczor wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2024 3:52 pm I removed one link and it was enough.

Sounds good, I'll try it on mine too.

Here's a rough drive test video of mine. No links removed, the tracks never detracked.



My observations are on the Hobby Squawk tank subforum. When this video was taken, the barrel had been jammed back. Later I pulled it out so the recoil worked correctly.