The Rochev is on hold. Need to sort out a few issues.
Hope All is Well,
May G-d Bless and Watch over You 
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Ok, decided to jump on board. With an Academy M51 Sherman in a side by side build with a Dragon M50, which is being done for the Shermania-campaign.
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I finally decided what I want to build for this. I thought about doing an M51 with a bunch of stowage but as I was poking around in my IDF AM boxes I found some things I’d forgotten I had, namely a Tiran 5 conversion and a dozer kit for it. A little more rooting around and I’m set.
IMG_4355 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
I bought the Skif T-55 a while ago for the very basic interior parts so I could leave some hatches open on a build just like this without showing empty black spaces.
I scored the tracks at IPMS Nationals here in Texas and am looking forward to using them. The rest of the stuff is stash bait.
I will be basing this on a very nice build by Adam O’Brien that graced the cover of Meng’s AFV Modeller back in 2007.
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I’v used those tracks one several T55s and was happy with the results. Pretty trouble free.
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Ron
I have one question for you.
Who`s the best kit. Academy or Dragon?
TIA
Josè
Tamiya M-51
The Dragon M50 has turret shape issues and is a bit outdated, needs some aftermarket stuff and some extra hours of work to show
The Academy kit has scale size issues, the gun detail is somewhat off and could use some photoetch details. It is an easy kit to build if you do not care about accuracy and detailing.
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I’ll let you know when I am done.
So far; the Dragon M50 is the only M50 kit I know of, has some better details in places then the M51, but also has a hard kind of plastic, as previously mentioned.
The Academy m51 is easy to work on, not as complicated as the M50. Easier/more forgiving plastic too.
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Thanks!!!
I will purchase a Tamiya Kit. I try to make an M51 and a M50 in Chilean markings
Thanks for your repply.
I’m back with the Rochev. Got hung up on the strips that go on the front glacsis. The kit would have you use very narrow strips of PE. To me, they looked too small and too flat. My solution was to use.015 round plastic rod which I think looks much better. Let me know what you think. Thanks.
I ran out and still need one 5mm piece. I’ll need to clean up the glue marks but that will be easy enough.
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Keep in mind that the M50 turret is different from the M51. You cannot get an M50 from a M51 kit.
Plus the hull is an M4A4 and thus longer then the regular M4.
Gets my vote 
there were M-50 built on any type of Sherman hull, no worries there 
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I was refering to the difference between these 2 kits.
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Build of the Rochev is complete. Added the small fittings to the front glacsis. Most of the parts had no locating holes although the parts themselves had pins. There were no indications on the instructions that these needed to be drilled out. There are no clear parts for the optics.
There were many misnumbered and mislabeled parts throughout including at least one instance of PE. Lots of clean up on the majority of parts. The best that can be said overall is that this kit might have been good for a mid80s-early 90s release. For a 21 century kit it leaves much to be desired.
Up next will be the paint booth. Stay tuned.
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For all the pain that’s given you DV, you have made it into a real gem. Great work, patience and detailing really turned it around into a real winner. Be great to see the paint on it
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Thanks, but I don’t think my level of detailing even comes close to yours.
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