I’m working on the AFV Club Stuart and I’d like to model the vehicle specific to SGT Curtis Culin’s - of hedgerow cutter fame- during Operation Cobra. He was part of the 102nd Cavalry (NJNG) which was attached to the 2nd Armored. There’s a photo of him in the drivers hatch that shows sand bags on the glacis plate but not much else. The NJ NG museum doesn’t have any photos and the historical society for his home town didn’t give me much either. They said his tank was named “Rhino” but I suspect that they are confusing it with the general term for hedgerow cutter equipped tanks. As it looks like I’ll be doing some “best guesses”, I was wondering if it would be appropriate to use the black camo scheme common to 2nd Armored vehicles at the time. Any other info would be greatly appreciated!
I believe he wasn’t a tanker but a mechanic.
The photos that you see of him in a tank are just for propaganda.
I did find a newspaper article dating from wartime that refers to him as a tank commander but that could be wrong. I guess I’ll just have to use some artistic license!
Well, I did some googling and it looks like I’m wrong- Curtis G. Culin - Wikipedia
This might help- United States military tank M5A1 driven into heavy hedgerow with a Culin hedgerow...HD Stock Footage - YouTube
Or maybe his tank was named “Rhino” and because of that, they started to call all of them “Rhino.”
Ken.
I am currently in the process of building one of the old, OLD Tamiya Stuarts with the hedge row cutter. I noticed that in this kit at least, the cutter seems to just hang/pivot on the two lifting points on the front of the vehicle. I have always assumed the cutters were rigidly welded to the transmission housing???
Could someone set me straight on this question?
If you watch the video, several soldiers appear to just attach the device to the lifting points.
I took these photos several weeks ago in NOLA at the WWII Museum. It appears to be mounted the same way on the Sherman, with a “stabilizer” piece to keep it level. Of course some could have been welded, but my feeling is they did not hold up well.
I believe they were done both ways. The welded on version would be sturdier and more secure, but difficult to repair or replace.
Ones mounted to the lifting eyes would be less rigid/secure, but easy to replace when they got damaged. Ripping through hedgerows that are hundreds of years old would tear them up in short order.
Ken
Thanks
I take it NOLA has gotten themselves a Stuart. When I was there it was just an E9 Sherman and a Deuce. (And of course the FLA and Seep in the front room.)
