I filled all the detail holes on the rear hull plate. The M45 Pershing displays the late-pattern Muffler / Exhaust arrangement developed for the Pershing series. Scratchbuilding the new parts was pretty easy in retrospect, with a 5/32" length of tubing forming the Muffler, and a piece of the Tamiya Pershing sprue tree that held the Turret parts sanded and drilled out to represent the Exhaust. The thick steel Muffler Guard was cut from .030" lead foil - not shown in the photo above, but is further down this page. It wasn't attached at this time because I was still handling the model quite a bit and it's a flimsy assembly.

Putty was used to replace cast texture where removed during model cleanup. I also used it for texturing the new Muffler / Exhaust and filling pinholes on the Turret rear in removing the casting plug and on the part representing canvas over the Mantlet. Taking photos of a M26 Pershing under restoration at Pony Tracks Ranch, I noted that the Tamiya model requires filling around the hull .30cal MG. The hull is a complete casting in this area, and the seams resulting from assembling Tamiya's kit needs filling. I used both Gunze Sangyo and Squadron Green Putty for this filling application.

The M45 Pershing also has a Travel Lock for the 105mm Howitzer mounted on the Ventilator Cover. Photos of this part are difficult to distinguish, but I came up with what I feel is a good representation. I used scrap parts from a Tamiya M60 model kit travel lock. The Base was used complete, and the Arm was trimmed back to the shape approximating the one used on the M45 Pershing. I cut an Attachment Lug out to mount on the underside of the Mantlet. This ring sticks out of the bottom of the Mantlet Cover. It's engaged by two more rings - mounted to either side of the top of the Travel Lock Arm. I envisioned a simple pin used to trap the ring underneath the Mantlet between the rings on top of the Travel Lock, securing it in place.

I used two resin Tow Cable clamps from Tank Workshop's M4 Hull Detail Set. With the Tow Cable stowage on the M45 Pershing being different, I only used Tamiya's Tow Cable ends. Nylon string makes up the cable itself. I used the two front Sponson Storage Boxes provided in the Tamiya kit, and cut away the molded-in handles. Replacements came from the DML kit. I opted to fit the rest of the DML Sponson Storage Boxes to my model - only having to cut a slightly larger cutout on the left rear box to get it to fit properly to the Tamiya kit.