American Panzerjager

Historical Background

In the aftermath of the Battle Of France, the US Army perceived that in the face of the German Blitzkrieg tactics, its units are expected to be faced by large numbers of German tanks attacking on a relatively narrow front. The enemy was expected to break through the thin anti-tank gun screen. Therefore it was decided that the main anti-tank units, the Tank Destroyer battalions should be concentrated and made mobile. This was later turned into the so-called tank destroyer doctrine and was championed by Lt. General Lesley McNair, Commanding General, Army Ground Forces. Under this doctrine, the tank destroyer battalions were to be held as reserve at the corps or army level and to be moved quickly to the site of enemy armoured breakthrough, using aggressive tactics to destroy enemy tanks. This led to a requirement for a fast, heavily-armed vehicle. Although equipped with a turret, the tank destroyer was more heavily gunned, but, in order to be more maneuverable, more lightly armoured than a regular tank, This doctrine was considered to cause the delay in introducing the M26 Pershing heavy tank and limited the Sherman's armament to just 3"/76mm.

The first prototype of a standardised tank destroyer (as there already existed the half-track M3 75mm GMC and the truck-based M6 37mm GMC) was based on the M3 Medium Tank chassis but it was later decided to use the M4 (Sherman) Medium Tank chassis. The first M4-based prototype was designated 3-in Gun Motor Carriage T35. It was armed with a M7 3-in (76.2mm) gun in a circular, open-topped turret (developed from the defunct M6 heavy tank project) and placed on top of a M4A1 chassis. The second prototype, the M35E1 used the M4A2 chassis and used a pentagonal turret with flat, sloped sides, frontal 'beak' and inverted-slope rear face. The turret and the hull plates were held in place by large nuts. In June 1942 it was standardised as the 3-in Gun Motor Carriage M10 and was ordered into production. The M7 gun fired a number of anti-tank rounds including M79 AP, M62 APCBC, M93 HVAP and the APHE. The last mentioned, despite its shortcomings were included in 54 rounds carried. Two large counterweights were carried at the back of the turret because of the weight of the weapon and the lightness of the turret. An M2 .50-cal machine gun, along with 1,000 rounds can be mounted at the top rear of the turret. The weapons were supplemented by the crew's personal weapons for self-protection. Being an M4A2-based vehicle, the M10 was powered by a General Motors 6046 diesel engine rated at 375hp. Later, the M10A1 variant were produced, these differed from the M10 by being based on the M4A3 chassis and used a petrol engine and the last 300 vehicles were armed with a M1 3-in gun with a better performance than the M7.

The M10 first saw action during the final stages of the North African campaign in 1943. The vehicle was successful as it was able to destroy most German tanks in the theatre. The M10 however did not conform to the actual tank destroyer doctrine, and in mid-1944 was supplemented by the smaller and lighter M18 Hellcat. The M10 later faced the Tiger and Panther tanks in Europe, whose frontal armour was proof against the M10, unless a HVAP round was used. In theory, the open-topped turret is a liability in urban or forested areas, making the crew vulnerable to grenades, mortars and artillery. However the turret was liked by the crews as it allow better visibility and communication with the infantry. And should the vehicle be disabled, the open turret allowed them to escape more easily. The doctrine of using armoured vehicles working in close support with the infantry also helped protect them from enemy infantry. Some individual vehicles rigged extra armour to act as a roof, protecting them from mortar and artillery fire. Towards the end of the war, the armour of the M10 was proved to be too thin and was vulnerable to German infantry anti-tank weapons such as the Panzerfaust and the Panzerschreck. To help bolster protection, crews started to pile sandbags on the frontal plate and baulks of timber for the sides. Another weakness was the slow turning rate of the turret - it took 2 minutes to make a full turn, because of manual traverse. However since they operated in larger numbers, and generally being more maneuverable than their opponents, the weakness was not really a distinct disadvantage.

Several hundred M10s were delivered to the Allies as part of Lend-Lease. The British designated their M10s as '3 in Self- Propelled' or 'M10 3 in SP' and was operated by the Royal Artillery. The British M10s saw action in Italy and North-West Europe, many being upgraded with the QF 17-pounder anti-tank gun as the 17pdr SP Achilles. 54 M10s were delivered to the Soviet Union, although there were few records of them in action. The Free French Army also operated M10s, where one M10 named Sirocco, assigned to the Regiment Blinde de Fusiliers Marins, disabled a Panther tank during the liberation of Paris. The Panther was parked near the Arc de Triomphe, with Sirocco at the other end, at the Place de la Concorde. Requiring a snap shot, Sirocco managed to get a first-round hit when the gunner remembered the textbook length of the Champs-Elysses, dialed the range and fired.

A total of 6,706 M10 and M10A1s were built between June 1942 and December 1943. 300 of those were turretless M10A1s designated Full Track Prime Mover M35 used as artillery tractors. Apart from the M18, the M10 was also supplemented by the M36 GMC, armed with a 90-mm gun.

The Kit

Until 1999, the only 1/35 kit of the M10 was the 1960s-vintage Tamiya kit (and its Academy copy). The kit has only basic detailing and is oversized, being more of 1/32 scale. In that year, AFV Club, the Taiwan-based scale model manufacturer released this new-tool kit. The kit consists of 332 plastic parts, 8 vinyl parts (2 track runs and six components for the suspension), 1 nylon string, 1 turned aluminium barrel, 1 spring and a decal sheet. The kit is well-moulded and having good detail, although it, like Tamiya Shermans, has hollow-backed road wheels. Being an open-topped vehicle, AFV Club has included a fairly complete interior, which was way better than the Tamiya kit. No ready rounds are included in the kit and AFV Club suggests a separately available brass ammunition set.  The M10's distinctive applique armour bosses are moulded separately, with tiny raised circles moulded on the hull for their placements. The separate bosses make it easier for modelers to hang goodies on the hull and the turret, without cutting them off first. Grouser racks are also included, together with 26 grousers. The tracks are of the T49 three- bar steel cleat style. AFV Club also suggested the alternative (separately available) workable T51 rubber padded track. Recoiling gun gimmick was included through the use of the supplied spring. Decals provide markings for six vehicles:

1. 'Pistol-Packin' Mama', Tank Destroyer School, Texas 1943
2. 634th Tank Destroyer Battalion, Germany 1944
3. ROC Army, Jinmen Island 1958
4. 'Le-Malin', French 2nd Armored Division, France 1944
5. 'Lion', France 1945
6. 'Essling', France 1945

Construction

Since the M10 is an open-topped vehicle, construction started at the interior. Not much however is included (and as I have never seen the actual interior, it's rather moot actually). What were there however was nicely detailed. There are seats for the driver and his assistant but no control columns were included. The instrument panel was painted and drybrushed (although I shouldn't bother, really). The ammo rack on the sponson is already moulded on but thankfully the tubed rounds are separate, avoiding the ugly moulded-on ammo of Academy's M18. The beautifully-detailed transmission were next. After assembly, it was cemented to the transmission cover and the whole thing was mated to the main hull. The interior then received a rather heavy dark wash. Moving on to the suspension, AFV Club's VVSS suspension has a bit more breakdown than other companies' allowing more articulation especially for dioramas (which I don't need). It was quite tedious but strangely enough, after all the effort making the suspension articulate, they have the wheels with hollow backs.....The rear plate and all the fittings was then fitted to the hull, although I left the exhaust for the time being.

Before doing anything else to the upper hull, the applique armour boss were assembled (they were of two-piece affair) and cemented to the hull. Faint raised circles mark their locations. The driver and co-driver's hatches can be made moveable but I decided to cement them shut as there were no figures to fit there nor there were interior to speak of. The rear plate was then cemented but the tools placed there were left off until after painting has been done. The same goes with the track grouser racks and the track grouser themselves. Before I forgot, the fire extinguisher was painted it was placed on the left hull as per the instructions. Unlike my previous armour builds, the upper hull and the hull pan was not mated prior to painting. Holes were drilled into the transmission cover after which plastic rods were inserted to act as support for timbers used to hold sandbag armour in place. The sandbags were made with two-part putty and while I *think* it looked better than the earlier sandbags on my M13/40 and M5A1 models, there are still plenty of rooms for improvement!

The turret was a multi-piece assembly with separate walls. The details on the walls were cemented first onto the respective walls. AFV Club however did not include the ready rounds and I have to turn to my stash to fill the turret racks - they are however 76 mm rounds instead of 3-inch, so some artistic license was used here, besides, I have no idea of the differences between the two calibres! As mentioned before, AFV Club included the recoil gimmick for the gun but the weight of the metal barrel made the whole assembly quite wobbly so I just superglued the gun in place. The inside of the turret was painted before assembly while the applique armour bosses on the turret walls were left off temporarily while I worked out the stowage

Painting And Decalling

Again, if it's a World War 2-era US vehicle, it will be in Olive Drab. Tamiya XF-62 was the paint used this time while the tyres were painted using XF-63 German Grey. The tracks and grousers were painted a base of XF-64 red brown and given a wash using AK Interactive track wash while the tools (still on their sprues) were painted Steel and Red Brown. The 'timbers' holding the sandbags in place were unpainted and were just given a wash of red brown. As for markings, although the French M10s have colourful insignias, I prefer to have the M10 in its 'native' user's markings and therefore went for a US Army vehicle. I also preferred a front line vehicle and so the first option was out of contention also, leaving the rather bland and boring second option (the majority of M10s have rather boring markings anyway!). The sandbags were painted XF-57 Buff and given a brown wash.

Finishing

The panel lines, engine grille and the armor bosses were given a pin wash. the track grousers were then placed on the hull racks. Note that there aren't enough of the grousers to fill the racks.For accessories, items from Tamiya Allied Vehicle Accessories Set were selected, painted XF-49 Khaki, given a wash and were then cemented to the turret sides - the rolled canvas however needed sanding down (as it was meant to go on a rounded surface, like a Sherman turret perhaps) in order to avoid gaps between it and the turret. There was a slight gap remaining so I slotted a canvas bucket, also from the Tamiya set between the canvas and the turret wall. Other additional items include C-Ration boxes (also from Tamiya), generic boxes from Academy and gas cans from Hero. These were placed on the engine deck. Not much weathering was done, just applying Mig Productions European Dust on the lower hull and tracks.

Conclusion

The AFV Club M10 was considered to be the better of the two M10 kits available at the time I bought my copy. I have not seen the Academy one so I really cannot make a fair comparison. Nevertheless AFV Club kits are bit 'fussier' to build and apparently the shape of the turret is a bit off but to my eyes, it still looks very much like an M10. Nowadays, modellers would probably pick up the new Tamiya kit of the M10 but the AFV Club is still a good alternative. My nitpick with this kit is the lack of rounds for the turret ammo rack and the lack of personal weapons, otherwise it is indeed an excellent kit.