Question for the armour fans......

[Army of One]

Dear armour fans.....I would like to know what type of Sherman or other American tank....M36 tank destroyer (?) would be suitable to use with the 1/35 Miniart American tank crew close quarter combat please.....? The box of figures is awesome and shows 5 crew looking as though they have just bailed out. I would like to have a go at an armour diorama and a disabled tank and crew bailing out seems to be 'simple' enough....my inspiration I have to say is the boxart.....just need to choose an appropriate type of tank.....I believe the uniforms are late war.....after D-Day I'm sure......many thanks for any help and suggestions....also,if anyone wishes to reduce their stash by the appropriate tank i'd be interested......I'm in England....

[rickshaw]

They could be used with any American tank or tank destroyer from about 1944 through to ~1953.  M4's, M18s, M10, M24, M26, M5, M8, M36, M47.  Perhaps fighting off a horde of ChiCom?

[Father Ennis]

This is the description my father gave about seeing lines of Shermans along side the roads in France after D-Day ;

     " you would see lines of Shermans along side the road ahead. We cheered when we saw them as they would give us support on the coming attack. Then as we got closer, we saw the smoke beginning to trail in the air from open hatches. As we passed we saw each had a fist sized hole in both sides of the turret. An 88 round had gone completely thru the turret and not slowed down !!!   The armor was so thin that an 88 round wouldn't explode when it hit. It was like you.g thru cardboard !!!   The crew were all killed when molten droplets of metal flew around inside the tank.

     I would suggest, your tank be broken down,perhaps from a mine taking off a track and some suspension parts and pieces.  This could be anywhere they served. 

[Army of One]

Thanks for the advice.....father E....I've read about shermans and how they brewed up easily.....I was sorta thinking mobility kill.....hole in the side of the engine compartment maybe....?? Track loss through a panzerfaust hit or mine strike sounds good though.....many thanks.....H

[Weaver]

Average casualty rate in Allied tanks was something like 2 or 3 out of 5 dead per knockout. However, that's across the whole war and all theatres: it made a BIG difference what was shooting at you!

[Thorvic]

Back to the original question, the crew appear to be late war, so Sherman, Easy Eight Sherman , M-36 Tank Destroyer, Chaffee or even Pershing. Bronco have just done the M-22 Locust light tank but i suspect thats a 4 man crew so you might want to put the 50cal gunner up behind the turret on a Sherman.

The look similar to the Tele Servalas Chaffee crew for the 'Battle of the Bulge' movie  .

Don't forget this is What-if so you could have the commandering a german Panzer or even a Panzer 46 paper panzer or you could have them with something like the Churchil Crocodile or AVRE

[Mossie]

Dragon have a T28 superheavy due out and there's Meng's A39 Tortoise as well.  T28 will probably be dear when it gets to these shores and from what I can find on the net it's not especially accurate, but it's still an impressive chunk of hardware.

[Weaver]

Don't forget this is What-if so you could have the commandering a german Panzer or even a Panzer 46 paper panzer or you could have them with something like the Churchil Crocodile or AVRE

Not so much Battle of the Bulge as Kelly's Heroes......


Just for reference, this is the set under discussion:

[Army of One]

Weaver....thanks for posting the pic.... ....I'll keep looking for a cheap tank to go with them.....maybe at MK show....a plain old Sherman would do....although I do like the tank destroyers...M36 or something....thanks for all the advice.....much appreciated....H

[Captain Canada]

I'd google 'destroyed sherman tank' or the likes in the images dept. and just build whatever one takes my fancy. Sounds like a neat idea tho. I always had plans of a dio with a crashed Hurricane and the pilot running away from it. One of these days !

[Army of One]

Tried that......don't seem to be that many that I ain't got in some of my paper library.....

[Nick]

I always had plans of a dio with a crashed Hurricane and the pilot running away from it. One of these days !

I recall the story of the crew who were found playing makeshift cricket next to their crashed Wellington or Lancaster, completely ignoring the full and armed bombload still in the burning airframe....