binder001
Command Sergeant Major
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2005
- Messages
- 2,729
Being a notorious GI freak and Shermanoholic I was awaiting the local arrival of the "revised" M4A3 Sherman. I recently got my "enthusiast edition" and couldn't resist a few comments.
The new sandbags casting for the glacis is pretty good. The real sandbags in photos seem to vary a little in size, depending on how full the crew filled the sack. These represent full bags, but the overall effect looks good (to me). There are a couple new items of stowage, the canvas with packs looks a little anemic, but is well sculpted, the boxes are a nice addition, but they cast the group of boxes as one piece. There are ammo cans and a lube oil can (the small drum).
This edition comes with four figures, the tank commander is the same as previous editions, but there are three new tank riding infantrymen. These are nicely sculpted and posed. One little oddity, all three men ar wearing the "assault vest" issued to some Rangers and infantry units that spearheaded the Normandy invasion on DDay. THese vests were an interesting idea, but proved unpopular with the troops (you either had ALL your stuff on or NONE of it). It's interesting to see these rendered in 1/32nd scale. For those of us who might want to do other than Normandy, one can swap torsos with Airfix figures.
The other nit-picky problems are that FoV chose the M4A3 with early hull. Despite the Army's preference for the M4A3, most of these were initially held in the CONUS for training. The bulk of M4A3s in Europe were the later hull "wet stowage" types arriving in late summer through fall of 1944. Due to high tank losses in the Ardennes campaign a number of the early hull M4A3s were sent to Europe in 1945, so FoVs tank is truely correct only for the last few months of combat against Germany. They also didn't get the pattern right for the applique armor (the extra "patches") on the hull, the added the little upper hull vents back by the taillights that only belong on the M4 or M4A1, there's a groove near the muzzle of the 75mm gun, and their sprocket sits low (the track shouldn't have that pronounced down angle from the bogies to the sprocket). Those are not out of reason for a diecast tank and those of us who are real picky can deal with them.
Overall, not too bad of a value considering the overall visual appeal of the tank, the extra stowage and the unique figure provided.
The new sandbags casting for the glacis is pretty good. The real sandbags in photos seem to vary a little in size, depending on how full the crew filled the sack. These represent full bags, but the overall effect looks good (to me). There are a couple new items of stowage, the canvas with packs looks a little anemic, but is well sculpted, the boxes are a nice addition, but they cast the group of boxes as one piece. There are ammo cans and a lube oil can (the small drum).
This edition comes with four figures, the tank commander is the same as previous editions, but there are three new tank riding infantrymen. These are nicely sculpted and posed. One little oddity, all three men ar wearing the "assault vest" issued to some Rangers and infantry units that spearheaded the Normandy invasion on DDay. THese vests were an interesting idea, but proved unpopular with the troops (you either had ALL your stuff on or NONE of it). It's interesting to see these rendered in 1/32nd scale. For those of us who might want to do other than Normandy, one can swap torsos with Airfix figures.
The other nit-picky problems are that FoV chose the M4A3 with early hull. Despite the Army's preference for the M4A3, most of these were initially held in the CONUS for training. The bulk of M4A3s in Europe were the later hull "wet stowage" types arriving in late summer through fall of 1944. Due to high tank losses in the Ardennes campaign a number of the early hull M4A3s were sent to Europe in 1945, so FoVs tank is truely correct only for the last few months of combat against Germany. They also didn't get the pattern right for the applique armor (the extra "patches") on the hull, the added the little upper hull vents back by the taillights that only belong on the M4 or M4A1, there's a groove near the muzzle of the 75mm gun, and their sprocket sits low (the track shouldn't have that pronounced down angle from the bogies to the sprocket). Those are not out of reason for a diecast tank and those of us who are real picky can deal with them.
Overall, not too bad of a value considering the overall visual appeal of the tank, the extra stowage and the unique figure provided.