The role of the light tank has always been a challenge for military forces. The US entered WW2 with a series of tanks that were thinly armored and lightly armed compared to rival nations. A crash progam resulted in the M3/M4 Medium Tanks but the US retained the light tank in its doctrine as a scout and infantry supprt platform.

M3/M5 Stewarts performed admirably in light formations but the Army wanted a better gun than 37mm and more armor so work continued to add a 75mm cannon and better cross country performance. Caddilac developed a new vehicle using the same power plants as the M5 and a version of the M3 75mm cannon developed for the B-25G bomber. Once in service the M24 was rushed to units in Europe and saw action in the Battle of The Bulge and later. Well liked for its automotive performance and fire power the vehicle served many countries after the war as well. Some vehicles serving untill 1999.

The vehicle featured a torsion bar suspension and was very low profile. Herd to believe it had a crew of five….

This vehicle started life back in 1994. Imagined by Ron Bair the vehicle moved on to the Bay Area Tankers and now back to DAK vie the LA TANKS crowd.

Laid out for glamor shot the vehicle looks great on the table. The Vehicle was assembled from Lexan and all the details are scratch built.

The tank has the flash in the barrel and both .30 cal barrels are the later Tamiya ones that feature fiber optic so they can fire. I have started a program where all my tanks .30 cals will light up.

Distinctive Chaffee transmission cover in detail.

Great work was done on the headlights and brush guards.

You could eat off the engine deck..The only gig I have for rivet counters is the engine grills are mesh when the real ones were louvres. Need to consider that…. later

The hatches on the turret are workable. They shoe the micro servo and speaker setup. Nice Work!!

The workable loaders hatch hinges need a little work as the real ones had some torsion bars etc. All cosmetic.

The battle system LED goes through the mantlet and some of the turret details are non standard. Most war time Chaffees had their .50 cal on the turret rear and no forward mount. I willard antenna mount and spotlight.

Sprocket is custom made and featured Kenny Kong Panzer 4 track.

Drive train is based off components from a Tamiya Leopard 1A4 and the road wheels were turned down on a lathe and had the Sherman rubber stretched to fit.

Inside is a tight package with Standard Tamiya Sherman Electronics and custom chain drive gearboxes based off drill motors. An Interim owner added a charging system and a speaker switch.

Custom turret ring used a small ring gear and motor but their is a problem. The ring is out of round and fails to purchase the teeth of the turret ring, Several teeth are broken. To the drawing board!

Fascinating chain drive! All scratch… all one of a kind.

Like I said, cordless drill motors! One of a kind and kind of irreplaceable.