The weirdest-looking of all Sherman variants...

[JCON]

This has to be among the weirdest-looking of all Sherman variants.

It is the T31 demolition tank, which began its life in 1944 after a request for an engineer vehicle armed with two 7.2 inch rocket launchers in the turret.

These launchers were encased in their own armored compartments on either side of the turret. Two .30 caliber machine guns were also added to the turret for close-in defense, as well as a .50 caliber.

Interestingly, a dummy 105 mm howitzer barrel was fitted in the center of the turret. Many sources state that this was indeed a working weapon, but this is untrue. There were also plans to install a flame thrower, in case three .30 caliber machine guns, one .50 caliber machine gun and two 7.2 inch rocket launchers weren't enough.

A single prototype was completed in 1945, but due to problems in testing and the end of the war the project was cancelled.

[Beekster]

There's very little information out there on this beast. Hunnicutt's Sherman book has a couple of pages and three photos, the largest of which is the one shown above. There's also a copy of the original profile drawing, but some iterative enlargement work would be required to get it to approximate a scale drawing. The ground track of the suspension would be a convenient reference point to work from. The hull was a late M4A3, with no bevel to the top of the glacis and the lift rings at the edge of the plate. At the rear, the rectangular engine doorstops were fitted but the torsion bars were not. The TC's cupola on the turret was the standard Sherman vision cupola, raised three inches above the roof for better visibility. It would be a challenge to scratchbuild the turret, but there's (barely) enough visual information in Hunnicutt to give it a try.

The single prototype was finished in August of 1945 and shipped to Aberdeen for testing. It didn't go well. The rocket launchers were a revolver type with five rounds. The left one froze completely, and the right one could only be rotated by hand when loaded.

Hunnicutt also has images of the T33 flame tank, three prototypes of which were converted from M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo assault tank hulls that were converted to HVSS. This one too could be scratchbuilt. The turret shape is unusual, and the thing has two separate mantlets: One for a 75mm M6 gun with coax .30cal MG, and another for the flame gun.

[Dukemaddog]

That is a very unique tank indeed. UM Models actually makes a kit if this tank in 1/72 scale; I'll have to look into getting one.