Achilles British tank destroyer

It's just as complicated with the M36, as some (at least) were built on old M10A1 hulls, so they have the earlier nose and mounting bosses for applique armour - like this one

M36

David

Hi Craig, I have just picked this thread up, looking good so far!

I took these pics at The War and Peace Show last summer. if they are any good to you let me know and I'll email you the hi-res versions. I don't whether it is an M10 or what, sorry!

I have a whole raft of photos from that event and when I get the time I want to put them up for everyone to have access to.

I'll be keeping a close eye on this one

All the best

Richard

That's a lovely Achilles Richard, perfect for the thread IMO.

You can tell it's an Achilles by that muzzle brake and the small counterweight just behind it, found on the British 17 pounder and not the 3" gun that came with the M10 before replacement.

Thanks for sharing !

Ken

Hi Ken,

yes of course, the counterweight. I remember now!

Cheers

Richard 

Wow great pics Richard nice one thanks for sharing. Well my order went in today for some much needed bits and pieces for this build including a rather nice aftermarket barrel with a brass counterweight should look cool once done i hope.

Hey Richard dont suppose they let you inside that best   ( You wish ) I would love some decent pics of the British Achilles spare round racks.

Craig

I'm a bit late on this build,,  but better late than never!!...got this kit sitting waiting to be built..

good work so far craig..

i got this pictures some time ago off a site which is no longer about,, can't recall the name of the site.. but most of the pictures went to prime portal,,but not sure!.. these show  just what your looking for  if you need anymore let me no..i'll bookmark this blog..and catch some tips along the way..

hope these help

ian..

Cheers Ian but i have a feeling ( May/probably wrong  ) but i think this is the American version where the rounds were stored in the cardboard tubes. The British ones were stored top and tail without the tubes. I believe, hey some of these guys might be able to point us in the right direction  Thanks again.

Craig

ian..

That looks more like the racks Ian. Cheers mate nice find

Craig

Both the earlier sets of photos and that last picture show the storage for the Achilles, as Ian has said.

If you look at the first set he posted, notice how one end of the rack has circles while the other end has narrow oval slots. The US racks for the 3" gun were made to hold the cardboard tubes, so each end was identical in order to accept the diameter of the cardboard tubes. The racks in the photo, showing the narrow oval slots at one end are designed to accept the pointed end of a bare projectile and not the cardboard tubes.

Similar are the racks in the turret, one end being a large hole for the butt end of the shell, the other behind a smaller hole for the pointed end of the projectile.

On a side note, after looking through this thread I noticed a lot of discussion on the different models and thought I might comment on some of the posts. The 'duckbill' counter weights do not mean it's an Achilles, US M10's can have these counterweights as well, that was just a later turret design and not something specific to the Achilles. Same goes for the applique armor bosses, M10's can be found with or without these bosses, same goes for M36 and the Achilles, it only designates whether the hull was an early or late.

In fact this picture that David posted is interesting to me,

I know the website states it's an Achilles, but I can't see the gun barrel, so how do I know it's not just a straight 3" M10 ? ( other than taking the websites information at face value ) The British did use many US M10's without converting them with the 17 pounder, right alongside the Achilles.

This picture below, found on the same website shows what is also labeled as an Achilles. Notice it has no 'duckbill' counterweights on the turret rear.