The M4 Sherman was the first of series of US medium tanks
that incorporated a larger turret ring to facilitate a larger
main gun in the turret. Its predecessor also had a large main
gun, but this was located in the bow while a smaller caliber
gun was placed in its turret.
The Sherman was also a result of a US combat strategy where
tanks were not intended to fight other tanks, rather they were
designed to create and exploit weaknesses in enemy lines attacking
softer targets and reinforced positions. The job of killing
German armor was left to the infantry, who quickly adapted
a number of tank chasses to carry high-velocity armor piercing
guns.
In reality, the Sherman faced off against German armor and
held its own through a series of improvements and field modifications
designed to counter improvements in enemy armor.
The Kit
Over the last several years, Academy has been producing and
improving their series of M4 Sherman tanks. This latest installment
is a special edition which not only includes the 'Easy Eight'
Sherman, but also a set of Masterbox infantry figures as well.
The kit is molded in light gray styrene and presented on eight
parts trees, plus a separately provided lower hull, one sprue
tree in brown containing the special edition figures, and one
small fret of photo-etched parts. A set of vinyl 'rubber band'
tracks round out this release.
Construction starts with the HVSS suspension system as well
as the six-piece drive sprockets. You have two types of drive
sprockets to choose from in this release. With the suspension,
drive sprockets and return rollers mounted to the lower hull,
the transmission cover and rear hull plate are assembled and
added to the lower hull.
The kit features separately molded periscopes that are mounted
into the hatches. The periscope guards are finely molded and
will require care during removal from the sprue trees. The
lift rings and light guards will also be delicate to remove
from the sprue trees. Some of these parts are optionally provided
as photo-etched parts, but you can build this model without
photo-etch, so the skill level needed to build this model is
much lower than the DML release of the M4A3E8. The pioneering
tools are all separately molded and are mounted to the upper
hull along with the various hatches and guards.
This kit shares some of the same sprue trees from previous
releases of the Sherman including one with the .50 caliber
machine gun. Academy also includes their superb .50 caliber
machine gun set that was developed as a separate kit, so you'll
have a super-detailed machine gun to mount on the turret pintle.
The 76mm main gun is styrene and mounts to the three-piece
gun mantle. Some builders might prefer a seamless turned aluminum
gun available from several aftermarket companies, but the kit's
main gun parts will suit most modelers.
Assembly of the turret is straightforward as with the rest
of this kit and still incorporates nice detailing including
separately molded periscopes and the commander's direct vision
cupola. All of the hatches on the vehicle are positionable
should you want to crew up your Sherman.
As mentioned above, this kit is rounded out with vinyl track
that gets the hot screwdriver treatment to create a 'rubber
band' that slips onto the wheels and sprocket. Some modelers
may prefer individual track links, but the rubber band track
is easier and can still be effectively painted and weathered.
Besides, you can always change the track sometime in the future
should you find a decent set of track links to upgrade your
tank.
The Masterbox figure set includes four figures in nice action
poses. One figure is posed on his back as if he'd just been
wounded and a second figure is posed as if he's pulling the
first figure to safety by his equipment harness. The third
figure is posed aiming his rifle to provide covering fire whilst
the fourth figure is posed in the obligatory grenade-throwing
stance. The figures are nicely detailed in themselves and will
really stand out with a good paint job.
Markings
This kit provides markings for three examples: two Shermans
circa 1944 with different styles of US markings on the hull
and turret; and one Sherman with the red eyes and sharkmouth
from the Korean war circa 1951.
Conclusions
Academy has turned out another nice variant of the Sherman
family, and the Easy Eight is one of the more popular variants
of this series. This kit will definitely be popular with modelers
that shy away from the super-detailed (read this as hundreds
of tiny styrene and photo-etched parts) kits when they want
to build the Sherman. The aftermarket detail sets will appeal
to those that might want more features like an aluminum barrel
or track links, but still have a kit that won't take lots of
time and cyano to assemble. As I said above, this kit is great
for the average modeler and the experienced modeler looking
for a nice and easy build.
Definitely recommended!
My sincere thanks to MRC for this review sample.
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