Gun Motor Carriage T35 1942 Year 1/72 Scale Plastic Model Kit UniModel 464

Official Designation: T35 Gun Motor Carriage Alternate Designation: 3″ Gun Motor Carriage T35 Design Started: 1942 First Prototype Built: 1942 Stage of Completion: One prototype built, redesigned and completed as 3″ Gun Motor Carriage M10. When it became clear that the T24 and T40 projects, for quite objective reasons, did not imply the desired result, in January 1942, the project began under the T35 index (full name 3″ Motor Gun Carriage T35). Unlike previous samples, the new anti-tank self-propelled guns were created on the basis of the hull and from the M4 medium tank, which entered production in the same year.

The main provisions that the Tank Destroyer Command (Tank Destroyer Command, TDC) correspond to the self-propelled guns based on the M3 medium tank are as follows: too high altitude, limited horizontal tilt angles, low mobility. It was not possible to solve the problem radically radically, since in this case the tank would have to be completely redesigned. But two other problems have been successfully solved. Instead of a "hard" carriage, it was decided to install a 76.2-mm T12 military tank gun (later standardized as M7), developed for the M6 ​​heavy tank, in a rotating turret. The specific shape of the tower - at its base, it was assembled from two halves, which had the shape of a truncated cone, with the lower part having a reverse slope. The roof covered only a small segment in the front. The hull for the self-propelled guns was completely transferred from the M4A2, with the only difference being that the frequency of reconfiguring the fighting compartment increased sharply due to the changed specifics of using the vehicle and the new turret. The chassis and power plant also did not change and completely switched from a medium tank. It can be said that in general, the youth did not have self-propelled guns, and a small-sized tank with light armor increased and increased in size with a gun. But most importantly, acceptable mobility arose at the heart of the M4A2.

In the course of tests carried out in the first half of 1942, it was finally established that the T35 was significantly better than the T40 self-propelled guns, work on which was fully returned in August. At the same time, the TDC has increased self-propelled security requirements, which includes the T35E1 prototype, which received a completely new hull and a new pentagonal turret with the same gun. Already in June 1942, after successful tests and a number of improvements, this machine was adopted by the US Army and standardized as a 3 ″ Gun Motor Carriage M10, also combined under the definition of "Wolverine" (Werewolf).