Tanks

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Kit and model review of the ubiquitous Sherman tank work horse of the Western allies in 1/76-1/72 scale.

This article is intended to help the wargamer and modeller alike. It will highlight some of the models that are available of the Sherman M4 tank in its various guise’s. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list but merely covers the models in the authors collection. The opinions given are purely the authors, and no doubt other modellers and wargamers may disagree.

Well I’ll start with the kit that most of us I suspect have at some time made in our dim and distance past.

The 1/76 scale (plastic kit) Airfix Sherman.

A fairly easy kit for the average modeller, but is now showing its age, with signs of poor moulding and castings, it has several inaccuracies, it can however be purchased in a boxed set that includes a vehicle landing craft which in this format is reasonable value. With work (weathering) and the addition of stowage it can be made into a reasonable looking model.

The Matchbox (plastic kit) Sherman Firefly

Falls into the same scale category of 1/76 airfix kit, it is a straight forward kit well within the remit of the basic modeller. It has no hidden surprises and goes together well, with the excellent matchbox link track system, with the addition of stowage and weathering it makes a fine model, at a reasonable price.

The Armour Fast (plastic kit range) of Sherman’s,

Come in 1/72 scale, they are simple models that even a beginner can put together with little or no trouble. They do however lack detail and one of the biggest criticisms is the poor detailing of the one piece plastic cast track It is not all doom and gloom, each box comes with two models which offer fantastic value, the kit with extra work and additional stowage can be made into a reasonable looking model, which does not look out of place on the average war games table. In fact many war gamers swear by them or is that at them ?.

The Britannia resin cast Sherman

In 1/72 scale, offers the wargamer a simple resin model that comes in no more than about 6-8 pieces, the main body parts are cast in resin, the tracks and smaller items are lead alloy. Whilst the casting in general is ok, there are some quality control issue’s and some have quite bad casting finishes, especially in the one piece track sections, most of these can be overcome but require care and patience to rectify. Care should also be taken in washing the resin, as failure to do this can sometimes cause painting problems.

Dragon Sherman in 1/72 scale. Well made, ready assembled models, with good quality finishes, that could grace most model collections. The real down side for the wargamer is the cost, cheap they ain’t .They also come in limited finishes (a real problem with German tanks that all come sporting the same ID numbers), so some paint modification is required if you are fielding several, they also benefit from the addition stowage and weathering . They require careful handling on the war games table as the small finer bits of detail do tend to break off easily.

There are large numbers of other manufacturers that make also make kits and models of the Sherman, sorry for not including them and no disrespect is meant to them, but this article is only based on models in my own collection.