by Paul Donaldsen

This article appeared in the January 1996 issue of Boresight

The Spanish Army was equipped with a large number of U.S.-built M47 and began to seek ways to extend their life and co-exist with the M48 and M60 series of tanks that were also in service. The solution was to replace key components of the M47 with those found on the more modern MBTs.

The actual design work for the project was undertaken by BMY in the U.S., which developed the M47M. While modifications were completed by BMY, Spain opted for the work to be handled by a Spanish firm named Talbot SA. The Spanish referred to the new tank as the M47E1.

The major changes were the replacement of the original engine with the AVDS-1790-2A 12 cylinder diesel engine, a new transmission, replacing the bow machine gun position with ammunition stowage, adding a Cadillac Gage turret and weapon control system, replacing the coaxial machine gun with an MG42, and adding an engine exhaust smoke laying system along with four turret-mounted smoke dischargers.

Javier Villarroya of Spain has released a 1/35 resin conversion of the Spanish M47E1 (the Italeri M47 is the base kit). The kit comes with a new upper hull, various fender stowage boxes, hull hatches, rear plate, and turret smoke dischargers. It also comes with a beautiful .50 caliber heavy machine gun in white metal and etched brass. There is also a new barrel if you want to build the M47E2 which had a Rheinmetal 105mm gun installed.

The quality of the casting was average to good. The etched brass and white metal parts were very nicely done. I did not have a problem with air bubbles although both fenders on the upper hull were warped downward. Although I was able to bring much of this out with a hot water bath, a look from dead~on revealed the noticeable slant. Overall the fit of the parts was very good.

The instructions were adequate, mainly because the conversion was relatively simple. There were seven separate drawings that gave general pointing instructions for parts placement. Perfectionists would find much wrong with the kit, but it served a very nice purpose for me. I was able to build a different variant without having to buy a kit just to be cut up for parts and the rest relegated to the spares box. The model could also be used to reflect an Iranian or Pakistani M47M.

There were no markings included in my kit nor were any shown on the instruction sheet. The M47E1 sells for 2,520 peseta, which I believe is about $21. For more current quotes and the amount of shipping, you will need to contact the company.

Javier Villarroya also offers an AMX-30EM2 conversion (Spanish version), A Spanish M6OA3ETTS and M48A3/A5 conversions. For wheeled vehicle modelers the company offers three versions of the BMR-600 (six-wheeled vehicle); an APC, a radio vehicle (sells for 3,835, which I think is about $31), and an engineer version. All of these kits are in 1/35.

The address is:
Javier Villarroya,
Carballino 8, 28024
Madrid, Spain.