Bolt Action – M26 Pershing into T26E4 Super Pershing

It's been a while since our last Bolt Action tank review. The last one we covered on here, was the Sd.Kfz. 250 combi-kit that allowed us to build multiple variants (250/1, 250/9 and 250/11) and currently in progress are the new plastic kits for the Humber AC and Sd.Kfz. 222/223. And while I already showed you the current status of my Pershing(s), I thought it would make sense to show how I got there and what the resin kit by Warlord Games is all about.

So far Warlord Games only offers a resin kit of the M26 Pershing at 33,50 GBP / 40 EUR RRP. I bought this one a while ago - when it was noticeably cheaper in 2016.

The M26 Pershing was intended as a replacement of the US Army "workhorse", the M4 Sherman. But due to a prolonged development it only saw action in Europe in small numbers, for example the first batch did only consist out of 20 tanks and arrived in Antwerp, Belgium in January of 1945. With the final production of the M26 beginning in November 1944, more than 2,000 units were produced by the end of 1945. While the initial pattern of the M26 (T26E3) was more powerful than the M4 Sherman and thus being able to tackle German Tiger I and Panther tanks, it still had its problems with the Tiger II heavy tank. For that reason about 75 units were converted into Super Pershings, uparmoured T26E3 or further uparmoured / improved Super Pershings. Only a single Super Pershing saw action in World War II - this is important for this article further below.

Beyond World War 2, the M26 Pershing saw action afterwards in the Korean War. Yet the reclassification from heavy to medium tank came earlier, in May 1946 when the U.S. Army's tank conceptions were changed. It was the base of the Patton tank series, which replaced it in the early 1950s. The M26 was - in "tradition" of US American tanks, named after a general, but unlike Lee, Grant and Sherman, not an American Civil War but General John J. Pershing, who led the American Expeditionary Force in Europe in World War I.

As this is a resin kit, you receive the main parts in fully casted resin pieces, with additional details casted from metal. These smaller bits were packed in a zip lock bag (covering the hatches, the turret and hull MG, the driver, tow pieces and the main gun) and everything was wrapped in bubble wrap for proper protection. In addition, Warlord Games adds a leaflet on handling resin with (most of) their resin kits, for example preparation and handling of warped pieces.

The cast was very well done, no air bubbles and pretty good fit. No need for a warmth treatment to re-align the  side tracks. A bit of super glue on the sides and they were in place.

As for the turret, a brief dry run showed that it would need some sanding, as there was too much material for the turret to properly align with the body. This is not unusual and not a quality flaw, as many resin kits (for example Forge World) have casting aids, that need to be cut away / sanded off, for a proper fit.

I added the hatches to the main body. Optionally you could build them open and add the crew. Warlord Games includes a driver in this kit, but have a set for additional US tank crew as well. You'll find further options by third party companies in metal, plastic or stl files.

At this point I began converting the kit into a T26E4 Super Pershing. My Western Europe projects of a mixed Allied force and Germans are both late war, Battle of the Bulge and later, in the regions of Northern France towards (North) Western Germany, and I have a fable for field conversions - so this really appealed to me. The single T26E4 Super Pershing that saw action in the very last moments of World War 2 in Europe, was converted from a regular M26, adding further improvised armour along with a more powerful gun, replacing the 90mm M3 with the 90 mm T15E1.

The front armour was further strengthened by using a salvaged Panther front plate. I cut a piece of plastic card in the appropriate size and glued it to the front, along with further smaller detail pieces, like the tows and another sheet of armour for the hull mg. The tow equipment in the back were the regular pieces from the resin kit. I added a bit of plastic putty along the edges to recreate the rough welding spots, I saw on the references, I found online.

As for the turret, I added a rectangular plate in front of the gun mount, along with the "ears", from plastic card. I added the welding lines again with the plastic putty by Vallejo.

As the 90mm T15E1 is noticeably longer than the 90mm M3, I prolonged the barrel with a plastic rod, repurposing the muzzle from the original gun. In addition, the turret was prolonged by adding a plastic crate to the back. This is something we've seen on many tanks that got uparmoured, for example the Sherman Firefly.

The very first uparmoured Super Pershings, most dominantly the one with the bunny ears, had external springs, who supported the heavier gun. I didn't have access to a 3d printer at that time, but I scratch build the springs themself by using two Bazookas from the US Army weapon sprue. I still need the casing on top of the turret. I can probably scratch build that from plastic card as well, as it is a box with angled corners on the top and overhanging roof.

I noticed rather quickly that the gun was front heavy and began to bend down, so when I built the regular M26 from the Rubicon plastic kit, I swapped the longer barrel from that kit with the one I scratch build myself.

And here is the T26E4 Pershing in comparison with its "stock" M26 version.

Along with a comparison with the IS-3, Tiger II tank (JTFM and Warlord) and Centurion, to show you how the heavy/medium tank ranks next to other late war beasts of battle.

And two pictures of the built vehicle. This could be one of the later ones, where the springs were removed and placed inside the turret, but I think it will look more complete and "familiar" if I add these again.

Conclusion

Back in the day this was the most reasonable option to get your hands on the M26 Pershing. Quick to build, easy to access through the Warlord Games trade network (so even if your FLGS doesn't have it on shelf, they could easily order it for you) and the only competition was Die Waffenkammer, roughly same price range but much lesser availability.

But with Rubicon extending their range into post-war settings like Korea or Vietnam, they now offer a M26 Pershing plastic kit for about 25-28 EUR, which is a lot less than this resin kit and will probably speak to more people being plastic. Availability can be an issue in certain regions. For example, I import my kits from the Netherlands, as availability in Germany is still an issue.

Yet, building a Super Pershing is still a bit of conversion work, as I didn't find any kits or even 3d printing bits for this. Most conversion kits are for 1:35 scaled model kits, and the few files I found were 1:100 and lacked a lot of details for upscaling towards 28mm / 1:56. I think things like these would make for a great what-if addition to Bolt Action, yet I understand that Warlord Games is busy as they already are, but maybe this could work as a mail-order only kind of Forge World spin off, with E-Series, paper tanks and a more linear addition to the rather wonky Konflikt 47 range.

Bolt Action is a brand of Warlord Games.