Unboxing: Fate Of A Nation – M51 Isherman Tank
August 21, 2018 by dignity
TANKS! John gets his tank hat on to talk with Justin about Fate of a Nation's new M51 Isherman tank!!!
You better prepare yourself for a good old-fashioned tank talk because John is about to lay down the law on everything Isherman: the origins, its construction, if it looks good in purple. But we also get an insight into how these tanks were used in the Arab-Israeli wars. Oh, and the guys might take a look at the miniature as well including some hacks for dealing with the ridiculous barrel on the Isherman!
If you were walking on the beach on a moonlit night what romantic words would you whisper to your tank?
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Like John, i think this is a Frankentank but i do love it. I saw a Tamiya 1/16 scale of this and it’s beautiful. The end of the line of Sherman development but the israeli’s made some nice conversions on the Sherman chassis that look even more ‘insane’ but it works ( the kilshom SAM killer or l33 Ro’em 155mm SPG ) but shows ingenuity at work.
I do love the Israeli tank re-design philosophy.
Nice background story John in your inimitable style, funny as ever.
Nice article. The history of how Israel ‘acquired’ their first Shermans is really interesting; at one point the British army, in preparation for leaving Palestine and handing it over to the Israelis, was decommissioning their tank stock by driving them over a cliff rather than spend money shipping them back to the UK. The Israelis managed to grab one before it was ‘decommissioned’.
The M51 used the French 105mm/L51 D-1508, the M-50 (an earlier modified version of the Sherman) used the 75mm SA-50, derived from the German 75mm/L70 KwK 42 from the Panther.
You know I just watch these to hear John talk about everything BUT the model half the time, Between these and the “Inside the Chieftain’s Hatch” on YouTube you find out about all things to do with tanks (for example I never knew the Commander in a British Crusader tank sat BACKWARDS)
“Inside the Chieftain’s Hatch” sounds like something I should be wary of Googling on the work wifi
was this the tank in Fury ?
I’m with John … “Super Sherman” is “best” name. Indeed the Israeli “armoured” forces really had to start from bare-bones scratch. In their very first war, the 1948-49 War of Independence (waaay before the Super Sherman), the famous 7th Armoured Brigade was called “armoured” because they had concrete poured into the doors of their trucks. 4:12 … if memory serves … The M50 has the 90mm, the M51 has the French 105mm. According to my sources both are called Supersherman. The one in the kit is definitely the M51 105mm. From the 2017’s 50-year anniversary article series on the Six… Read more »
From what I can remember, the M50 were in service in small numbers as early as 1956 Sinai War, the M51 was in service for 1967 Six-Day War. But yes, reserve regiments of Supershermmans were in action as late as 1973 Yom Kippur, I think they were stil in the IDF OoB for 1982 Peace for Galilee in Lebanon but I don’t think they were engaged. Abrams is designed in the 70s, rolled out to first battalions in the early 80s. Interesting note on the searchlight. I suppose this would be an additional drawback when the Soviets start supplying IR-equipped… Read more »