Page 1 of 3
Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 5:56 pm
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...
TTFN,
Rob
Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 6:43 pm
by Jofaur86
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?
Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 6:48 pm
by Jofaur86
Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 8:34 pm
by Rob1970
So... if I interpret this right, anyone who could get his hands on duckbills, installed them?
Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 8:38 pm
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.)
Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 8:43 pm
by jhamm
You be in error...
"Ostketten" and "Winterketten" are one and the same thing.
Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:10 pm
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
Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:34 pm
by john1970
Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:28 am
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.
Re: Duckbill tracks on Shermans and Fireflies
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2021 11:13 am
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
