M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

[HERMAN BIX]

OOOoooohhhhh.....those ammo boxes are brass...............Im sure Mr Barry C could whip you up a set of those in no time

[tankme]

When I saw those PE ammo boxes I went "OH HELL NO" would I ever build those after building one of those KV lubricant tanks. I needed more lubricant tanks so I bought the resin ones instead for the rest of them.

[BarryC]

OOOoooohhhhh.....those ammo boxes are brass...............Im sure Mr Barry C could whip you up a set of those in no time

They do look nice but IMO the Special Ops resin casting look better and with no fuss!

I see that they also have two other sets referenced but apparently not finalized yet and are not listed.

[lmcq11]

Hi,

Progressing with the turret.

Although the builder will be tempted to build this model strait from the box and assume Tamiya got it perfectly, some areas still need correction and major improvements for an accurate model.

I will not install the search light on my model, Vietnam tanks are rarely seen with it. The mount is sometimes still there, sometimes completely removed. I decided to show the mount, but Tamiya got the forward arm completely wrong, see encircled.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

An hour of work can improve it using an M1.2 bolt, 2 nuts and a plasticard part easily crafted using a hand file.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

The M551 has a rotating cupola, electrical with a manual bypass. This feature of the cupola has been totally ignored by Tamiya.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

Tamiya wants you to glue the cupula strait flush on the top of the turret in a forward facing fixed position, as if the commander could only shoot his M2 strait ahead. This is a big miss from Tamiya. The cupola should have at least been allowed to rotate by hand for positioning. I therefore decided to not only reproduce the feature, but also give it some simple RC function.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

A base is created in plasticard to which a rotation roundel can be attached, creating with a thin plasticard strip and glued to the base while the cupola is inserted in its turret ring. Then the base is made hollow. Periscope glass will be added later after painting.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

Instead of being flat on the turret roof like Tamiya is indicating, the cupula should be shown raised a bit.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

This turret is quite small, very angled and the Tamiya recoil and elevation servos and units installed on the bottom half are quite big. But there is just enough room in a back corner of the roof to install a micro servo, stripped out of all features, its corners rounded and glued in place. It provides around 60 degrees of cupola rotation using a pull rod. Its enough to bring the cupula alive, move it from left to right and shower the frontal arc of the vehicle with the M2 machine gun.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

Every millimeters is counted to make room for the cupola servo and push rod, and clear the other elements. I must have repositioned the servo ten times, in various arrangements, before I found one position that works, and allowing the turret halves to close correctly...

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

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Continuing on following post.

[lmcq11]

Instead of providing the ugly RPG mesh screen, Tamiya should have put focus on providing a good commander cupola, with a complete set of front and rear shields. Tamiya provides only the center parts but thankfully, these are the most complex ones. The missing components are pretty flat and easy to repro.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

View of the rear component of the cupola shield.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

Both gun shield and rear cupola armor can be easily reproduced. The gun shield is the Verlinden M113 Acav shield reduced in size to match the M551 shield size seen on pictures.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

Notice that Tamiya provides a clear part for the 152mm gun muzzle. I cannot imagine how this can be of any serious purpose or help to the modeller who pay a fortune for this kit and do not appreciate cheap gizmos. Maybe its for the gun flash to be brighter for builders who do not paint their models. But then, who wants a glass gun ?? I find Tamiya can make weird designs. A muzzle with the highly visible rifling of the real gun would have been a lot more interesting to have.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

The back of the cupula is easily reproduced in 1.5mm plasticard using references and figuring the dimensions and functions the best I could. And the ugly molded-in solid handle on the gunner's hatch has been replaced by a 1mm brass rod. That's another corner that Tamiya cut in 1/16 scale, as if we were still in the 1970s.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

Notice the molded-in tie-downs on the turret roof. These will likely all have to be replaced by better ones in 0.5mm brass rods.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

Ah, I need to add bolts for the attachment points.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

I removed 7mm from each side of the Verlinden shield, and re-glued the sides to the center section. I also put the sides over boiling water in order to bend the corners a bit more.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

continuing on following post

[lmcq11]

Interior of the gun shield. Highly visible ejection pin marks will need to be masked.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

I want to show my model with the common field unit modification of adding a machine gun for the gunner. Close study of two pictures seems to show that an M2 gun mount, similar to the ones installed on M113, is positioned sideways in front of the turret. The M551 MG mount is too large to fit the area so I figured the next best thing for the crew was to ask for an M113 gun mount.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

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M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

Capture13c.JPG (42.02 KiB) Viewed 4036 times

An M113 look alike M2 machine gun mount is created in plasticard. Temporarily placed until the M2 machine gun is ready, this is how I think the mount is installed, sideways and clearing the periscope view.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

Overview of the model as it stands today.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

Next step is to create the turret basket as seen in Vietnam on many M551.

Regardds, Louis

[Jimster]

Your build threads are great to follow because of all the good detailed photos and good narrative. Watching your modeling methods encourages me to go back and make improvements on my humble attempts.

[B_Man]

Great work on the cupola. The rotation mod is genius.

[lmcq11]

Thank you Jimster and B_man

Got the turret servos I ordered to replaced the Tamiya ones that do not come with the static version. Although some original Tamiya servos can be ordered from Asia, I got these similar good quality Hitec Hs-422 standard size servos from Robotshop.com for about half the costs, and at least one month faster. They fit perfectly into their position for recoil and elevation.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

A pull rod is installed as per Tamiya RC instructions. I like these adjustable pull rods that can be ordered from eBay for a few dollars. Very useful for testing and adjustments, when there is enough room for them, here barely enough though but it fits. Just need to remove a bit of plastic on the turret base.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

Gun elevation servo is installed, even the brackets and screws to hold the servo in place are provided on the static kit. Everythings ready in a few minutes.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

Gun flash is provided by a 5mm LED with resistor on the +, and is being inserted inside the metal gun. I had to trim it a bit to fit in. Notice the weird clear plastic gun muzzle from Tamiya. I have never seen this before and I am annoyed by it. The gun barrel should have been all metal.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

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Its only now that I am realizing how big these servos really are. Normally, micro servos are enough for recoil and elevation. Tamiya had me purchase these big servos to fit their mounts and I am now getting concerned about the setup with the Clark TK-40. That recoil servo can probably rip apart the gun mount if I am not careful with the initial setup. Why would Tamiya designer put such big servos for recoil and elevation when both mechanisms have barely any resistance and travelling. Elevation is on ball bearings and the gun is so short and quite loose... Another bizarre Sheridan design from Tamiya...

I provided the coax machine gun flash with a 3mm LED and a small bracket to hold it in place is provided. The turret halves are held in place with magnets.

M551 Sheridan Airborne light tank - Vietnam - build

Regards, Louis

[Panzerjaeger66]

Stepped for the first time in this thread; as usual you're doing a really great job at this tank again, Louis!
I agree, it's a weird gun muzzle; the LED will be very bright and you have to apply more layers of color to hide the flashing through the plastic.