B. HEAVY METAL SHERMANS’
After a year in development, here is K&C’s newest all-metal fighting vehicle available with two options.
As many collectors know King & Country has been producing 1:30 scale fighting vehicles since the early 1990s. A major part of the reason for this was that back then we had started several different WW2 series of figures and realized that as this war had been very much a mechanized conflict it was essential that our toy soldiers needed to have all kinds of different military vehicles to accompany them and help tell the authentic history of the war in miniature.
It’s no coincidence that the first model we chose to make was the
M4 Sherman, the iconic American-made tank that was supplied to virtually all the Allied forces and served in every
‘Theatre of War’ that erupted between 1939 and 1945.
EARLY EFFORTS
Between 1991 and 1999 K&C produced a number of hand-carved, hand-painted wooden M4 Shermans that at first were made in
China and then in the
Philippines. These first wooden tanks looked pretty good for the period but were also very fragile and quite expensive.
Looking for a more durable
and less expensive alternative we discovered a very useful, flexible and moldable material called
‘Polystone’ (a combination of marble dust and resin) in China. We also found a gift company in the
PRC that was willing to produce a relatively small number
(200) of these M4 Shermans in our 1:30 scale and built to our specifications.
Over the next two decades we worked with a number of different factories in China who helped us improve and develop hundreds of different military model
fighting and transport vehicles to work with all of the many WW2 series K&C were and still producing.
Now, jump forward to mid 2021, in the middle of
COVID, when K&C decided to take a giant leap forward and produce our first all-metal, diecast models complete with moveable metal tracks and running wheels with full suspension. We also increased and improved crew hatches on the vehicle that could fully open and close. Not only that but we also included essential crew figures to add to the realism.
The successful release of our all-metal
‘Winter’ and
‘Kursk’ Tigers in 2023 ensured that our third release would definitely be an Allied vehicle and had to be the classic
‘M4 Sherman’.
DD381(SE) M4 Sherman (#17)
This all-metal M4 includes all the unique features that made our last two
‘Tigers’ so popular and collectible…
This model belongs to the U.S. Army’s
6[SUP]th[/SUP] Armored Division which landed in Normandy at
Utah Beach on 18 July 1944 and immediately went into action in the
Cotentin Peninsula, driving through
Avranches and helping to liberate the great channel port of
Brest and the clearing of the
Brittany Peninsula.
Later in December 1944 the 6[SUP]th[/SUP] and its Shermans were heavily involved in
‘The Battle of The Bulge’ and the defence of
Bastogne alongside the men of the
101[SUP]st[/SUP] Airborne.
On the 25[SUP]th[/SUP] of March 1945 the
6[SUP]th[/SUP] crossed the
Rhine and drove towards
Frankfurt after which it helped free Allied prisoners of war and assisted in the liberation of
Buchenwald concentration camp.
By the end of the war the division had reached Leipzig and halted pending the arrival of the Red Army.
Our K&C all-metal
Sherman is painted in the standard U.S. Army
‘Olive Drab’ and could be utilized in any of the battles and events between D. Day in June 1944 and the defeat of The Third Reich in May 1945.
This model also includes 3 x Crew Figures and 6 x individual sandbags.
Just 200 pieces of this model are available.
DD382(SE) M4 Sherman (‘TONTO’)
This particular M4 was one of several Shermans utilized by
Capt. Bill Dwight, the assistant
S3 and liaison officer of the
37[SUP]th[/SUP] Tank Battalion of the
4[SUP]th[/SUP] Armoured Division.
Like almost all of the tanks in this battalion it had a painted image on both sides of the hull depicting
The Lone Ranger’s sidekick
‘TONTO’ from the popular radio show of that time.
After D.Day the
4[SUP]th[/SUP] also landed on
Utah Beach but earlier on 11 July 1944 and went into action on the 17[SUP]th[/SUP] of the same month capturing the French city of
Nantes on 12[SUP]th[/SUP] August.
Later in the year, during
The Battle of The Bulge, the
4[SUP]th[/SUP] Armored Division, as part of
General Patton’s Third Army attacked the Germans at Bastogne and relieved the besieged city.
Among the most famous members of the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] Armored Division during WW2 was
Creighton Abrams who commanded the
37[SUP]th[/SUP] Tank Btn. and would later command all U.S. Forces in
South Vietnam from 1968-1972.
Returning to this
M4 Sherman ‘TONTO’ each model comes with 3 x Crew figures, a backpack of supplies and is a
‘Special Edition’ of
300 pieces plus a numbered certificate and a full colour, presentation box.
AVAILABLE: Late June / July
To avoid disappointment place your order now!
