US OOB 12 corrections/suggestions (v.6)

[Pibwl]

Few suggestions of additions:

- M5 High Speed Tractor (from 5/43) - existing M4 HST (#381) was a tractor for heavy artillery, while M5 was most common.

There were also used by the Army:
- Amphibs:
- LVT 1 (combat debute in 11/42),
- LVT 2 (unarmoured, produced from early 1943)
- LVT(A)2 (armoured, produced from unspecified time in 1943, rather later that year)
- LVT(A)2 modified in 1944 with 37 mm automatic aircraft gun on a pintle
- Amtanks:
- LVT(A)1
- LVT(A)4

More comments on LVTs will be in USMC OOB notes.

I'm attaching mentioned pictures of 75mm M1 howitzer on M3 carriage

[Imp]

Originally Posted by Pibwl

Few suggestions of additions:

- M5 High Speed Tractor (from 5/43) - existing M4 HST (#381) was a tractor for heavy artillery, while M5 was most common.

There were also used by the Army:
- Amphibs:
- LVT 1 (combat debute in 11/42),
- LVT 2 (unarmoured, produced from early 1943)
- LVT(A)2 (armoured, produced from unspecified time in 1943, rather later that year)
- LVT(A)2 modified in 1944 with 37 mm automatic aircraft gun on a pintle
- Amtanks:
- LVT(A)1
- LVT(A)4

More comments on LVTs will be in USMC OOB notes.

I'm attaching mentioned pictures of 75mm M1 howitzer on M3 carriage

From memory the LVT series will be hard to model, esp the A versions if I remember.
Bristling with MGs but most need passengers on board to fire & or do not cover the front arc. You could perhaps include them with a short range as additional close defence.

[Pibwl]

Originally Posted by Imp

From memory the LVT series will be hard to model, esp the A versions if I remember.
Bristling with MGs but most need passengers on board to fire & or do not cover the front arc. You could perhaps include them with a short range as additional close defence.

They are already in USMC OOB, so it's nothing new.
By the way, a visual difference was, that Army LVT had large stars, while the Marines usually have none (by "Amtracs in action" or similar Concord book).

[Pibwl]

There could be also added late-war M4A3(75) and M4A3(76) with sandbags on hull's front and sides, which were quite common sight (from around August 1944?). There is already a drawing pm27729.lbm of such M4A3E8.

Michal

[Pibwl]

I've found in "Sherman in action", that there were applique kits of 1in plate for Shermans fronts (with new hulls) introduced late in the war (early 1945 or even earlier).

[cbo]

Originally Posted by Pibwl

There could be also added late-war M4A3(75) and M4A3(76) with sandbags on hull's front and sides, which were quite common sight (from around August 1944?). There is already a drawing pm27729.lbm of such M4A3E8.

Michal

Problem with sandbags is that it works something like ERA - i.e. it protects against the first hit, but is blown apart and away, leaving the tank with only the main armour to deal with the next rounds. Dont know if the game engine can handle that type of protection?

[Pibwl]

Originally Posted by cbo

Problem with sandbags is that it works something like ERA - i.e. it protects against the first hit, but is blown apart and away, leaving the tank with only the main armour to deal with the next rounds.

Maybe not exactly. First, the next hit would have to be in the same area. Secondly, I believe, that a thin HEAT stream makes a hole in a sandbag, and then loses its energy on sand inside. Some sand spills through the hole, but sandbags from above should drop a bit lower then, filling a gap.

Michal

[cbo]

Originally Posted by Pibwl

Maybe not exactly. First, the next hit would have to be in the same area. Secondly, I believe, that a thin HEAT stream makes a hole in a sandbag, and then loses its energy on sand inside. Some sand spills through the hole, but sandbags from above should drop a bit lower then, filling a gap.

The jet is not the problem - it is the huge bang when the HEAT round goes off. While part of the explosive force is directed, the rest is not. The secondary effect is considerable.
German tests vs add-on-armour in WWII showed that a 75mm HEAT round could shatter armour plate and rip the mounts apart, so even that would only be a one-shot-protection.

Rather than a little hole in one bag, you would have the entire side or front of the tank stripped of bags, leaving large areas unprotected.

Try looking up some HEAT detonations on the web to see the effects

Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y_WAOp8WMA