GPM Nr 189
M25 Dragon Wagon
Michael Cittadino
First article in a series,
Photos by the Author
The Vehicle:
The M25 was designed to transport the M4 Sherman
The M25 "Dragon Wagon" was developed to provide the US Army with an all-wheel powered, off-road capable tank retriever during the later years of WWII. One of the largest American vehicles used in World War II the "Dragon Wagon" is probably the best known tank transporter from any period. The transporter consisted of a M26 6X6 tractor and a M15 trailer.
The Knuckey Truck Company, of San Francisco, designed the vehicle. This company had been specializing in mining and quarry truck designs, and the resulting tractor was gargantuan, boasting a length, with trailer, of over 58 feet and a loading capacity of 40 tons the vehicle was nicknamed "Dragon Wagon". The first production models were turned over to the army in late 1943. In addition to Knuckey Pacific Car and Foundry Company, of Renton Washington, which ended up manufacturing most of the Dragon Wagons over its 5 year production period, also manufactured the vehicles. The first tractors were armored for battlefield recoveries but when tank recovery under fire didn't prove the case in actual use in Western Europe a second unarmored model with a canvas cab roof (M26A1) was developed by 1944 and took the place of the original armored model on the production lines. By the end of its production run there were over 1,270 of both models completed.
A M26A1 unarmored cab
Designed to recover the M4 Medium Tank from frontline battlefield conditions, the "Dragon Wagon" could tow the tank if the running gear was intact, or haul the entire tank up on the flatbed trailer. Though the vehicle was rated to transport 40 tons (the weight of the M4 Medium Tank) the "Dragon Wagon" often hauled far more and loads of up to 100,000 pounds were not unusual.
The operational life of the "Dragon Wagon" extended to the Korean War, and even during the 1960s, the US army still had some in its inventory. The contemporary successor to the M25 is the 70-ton capacity M1070 Heavy Equipment Transporter (HET) designed to carry the M1A1 Abrams main battle tank.
The M1070 HETS
The Kit:
The model comes printed on A2 size paper in booklet form. The kit consists of 2350 parts printed on 16 pages of card stock and one page of formers for the wheels on letter weight paper. In addition to the parts there are 7 pages of construction diagrams and 2 pages of photos of a completed model. There is also a page each of printed instructions in Polish, English, and German.
This is the only Polish kit I have seen where additional language instructions were provided. Quite frankly I do not know if I would have attempted this model if this were not the case. While there are other models with larger parts counts from the standpoint of construction complexity this has got to be the most complex model I have seen. It is certainly the most complex model I have attempted. I think that trying to build this model from the diagrams alone would be extremely difficult. While the diagrams are detailed, as is typical for GPM, they are incomplete and do not convey any sense of the order of construction. The many construction photos are an essential supplement to the diagrams and really help to fill in the models details.
The printing quality is excellent and the model exhibits the shading and weathering that is typical of GPM. The markings, including the "nose art", appear to be copied from the Tamiya plastic kit. My one criticism of the kit is that I think that the model is printed too dark. The model is printed considerably darker then the prototype in the accompanying photos. This overly dark printing obscures some of the models finer details. This is especially evident in the wheels where the printed bolt heads are barely visible. Based on my initial construction experiences I would consider the parts fit to be very good but not excellent, however given the complexity of this kit I think it is a considerable achievement that the parts fit at all.
Given the parts count and construction complexity this is not a model to tackle unless you are willing to devote a considerable amount of time to it.
Assembling the frame
Model assembly starts with the frame. Even though the frame will gain strength from being glued to the cabin floor pan I decided it needed to be strengthened. I cutout slots in the frame rails so that I could run crossbeams inside the frame cross members. I also added internal cross pieces along the inside of the frame rails as circled in the photo. These insured that the frame rails assembled with even spacing along their length.
The frame is ready for assembly. The internal cross beams have been glued to one rail ready for the cross members to be placed between the rails.
After the frame is assembled it is attached to the cab floor pan. The underside of the engine and transmission are also assembled to the floor pan.
After the frame has been completed the subassemblies that will be attached to it are built. Shown here are the unassembled pieces to the transverse gearbox which will be mounted on the frames center cross member. The top circle in the photo highlights where the side skins are backed with 1mm card stock. I like to do this for pieces that are assembled by wrapping a skin around two end pieces. The backing strengthens the whole assembly as well as providing a secure lip for gluing the outer skin. In addition to the 1mm formers the bottom circle highlights the addition of cross braces to maintain even spacing of the parts two end pieces.
The completed gearbox. I decided to defer attaching the various subassemblies to the frame until I was ready to complete the axles and suspension.
Following assembly of the frame and its subcomponent construction proceeds with the axles and suspension. You have the option of making the front axle steer able and I choose to do so. I also decided to revise the manner the wheels are attached to the axles. The kit would have you hinge the front wheel assemblies by running a straight pin through the brake shoe and axle and the front wheels would be attached by simply gluing them the brake pad end former. I decided this method would likely fail over time with the wheels separating from the axle. To strengthen the front wheel attachment I decided hinge the wheels by bending a soft wire hinge around the front axle and running the wire through hole in both the brake pad end former and the back of the front wheel assembly. The wire was bent around and glued to the inside of the front wheel rear former. In the photo you can also see that I left the top of the steering knuckles open to allow attachment of the tie rod. To secure the tie rod I made a small 3mm washer of cardstock and glued this washer to the tie rod inside each steering knuckle and then completed gluing the knuckle together.
The completed front axle with the wheels and tires mounted. After completing the front axle I decided to depart from the instructions and complete assembling the wheels and tires before proceeding with completing the frame and suspension. This will be covered in the next article.
Summary:
| Model: |
Nr. 189 M25 "Dragon Wagon" |
| Publisher: |
GPM |
| Designer: |
Waldemar Rychard |
Scale: |
1/25 |
| Difficulty: |
Rated 3 on a scale of 3 |
| Number of Parts: |
2350 |
| Instructions: |
Polish, English, German |
| Diagrams: |
7 pages |
| Fit: |
Very Good |
| Coloring and Artwork: |
Coloring Very Good
Artwork Excellent |
| Printing: |
Excellent |
