IPMS WEST DES MOINES CHAPTER

Trumpeter's 1/72 M4A3E8 Sherman (T66 Track) Tank By Joe Lotz

Kit

I think due to the fact that the Sherman is one of the most famous tanks of all times I can skip the background info. The kit comes in a box showing an assembled tank on the front. The sides show a color drawing of the tank with Chinese and English descriptions (Trumpeter needs to stop using Babblefish for translations). Inside are 4 sprues molded in a light gray soft plastic, a set of decently detailed vinyl tracks and a decal sheet for different vehicles. The detailing and breakup of the parts shows that this kit is more for the beginner or wargamer.

Construction

The assembly of the kit is straight forward. It starts, as is common for tank models with suspension. The builder has the option of either using bogeys with the out wheels already attached or were the wheels need to be attached on both sides. Next is the assembly of the rear panel and the attaching of the rear panel to the lower hull. In the next step the headlights, horn, travel-lock and bow machine gun are attached. Except for a crank on the rear panel, all tools are molded on. After mating the upper and lower hull and attaching of the front and rear tow hooks comes the turret assembly. Again, the part breakup is held simple again with a total of 8 parts for the whole assembly. The is a prominent seam running around the turret where upper and lower part meet that requires some filling. Here is also given the option of either a .30 cal or .50 cal machine gun. I opted for the latter. The instruction call out for the tracks to be gluable with regular plastic glue. Liquid cement didn't work and neither did super glue. The third attempt with regular plastic glue and some strong clamps helped enough to keep the tracks together until I put them on the suspension.

I painted the model overall Tamiya XF-58 Olive green and highlighted with a mix of Olive Green and Dark Yellow. After a coat of Future I put the decal on with were nicely printed but very thin and tended to fold. I lost a few that way, but there are enough on the sheet. After a gouache wash I sprayed a clear flat coat and weathered with Bragdon Powders and Tamiya weathering Master.

Conclusion

I enjoyed building this kit. It's a simple kit for the beginner and with a little work can be built up into a nice looking kit. I would like to thank Kent Kirkpatrick of Internet Modeler and GreatModels for the review kit.

©2006 West Des Moines Plastic Surgeons