The British received far more M4 medium tanks, approximately 17,000 (roughly 34% of all M4s produced), than any other Allied nation. The British practice of naming American tanks after American Civil War generals was continued, giving it the name General Sherman after Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, usually shortened to Sherman. The US later adopted the name and the practice of naming tanks after generals. In British usage, Sherman I=M4, Sherman II=M4A1 and so on. Additional letters denoted other features; A for 76 mm M1/M1A2 L/55 gun, B for the 105 mm M4 L/22.5 howitzer, C for the OQF 17 Pounder gun, and Y for the wider tracked HVSS type suspension.  The Sherman III, and subject of this kit, was the M4A2 with 75 mm M3 L/40 gun. Shermans replaced the older Grant and Lee tanks, and were, in turn, replaced by the Comet in some units.

As the Sherman is available in so many different variants, it has been a popular subject for armor modelers. Dragon has produced a variety of Shermans over the year and the number of parts not used as shown in the sprue diagram is indicative of this. Thanks to the use of the DS (Dragon Styrene) tracks, the parts count in this kit is only about 330 bits and pieces, making it one of the quicker builds in the Dragon 1/35 inventory. It is comes up to a box full of parts as you can see in the image.

Molding is superb, as one would expect from Dragon. The kit provides detailed suspension, all the surface detailing you could wish for and a number of options. One of the more interesting is the inclusion of etched bolt heads for detailing the back area of the tank. One also can have the various view ports built open or closed, and this goes for the main hatches as well. Photo etch is used for the front and rear fenders, headlight guards, and storage bins amongst others. Optional idlers are provided and there is also an optional drive sprocket that, though shown as not used, was used on some versions of the Sherman III. This will prove useful if one picks a scheme not provided by the kit. The slide molded gun barrel is nicely recessed, making drilling out barrels a thing of the past.

Instructions are very nicely done with well drawn construction steps and color references using Gunze and Model Master references. The lone decal option is the 3rd County of London Yeomanry, as operating in Sicily during 1943. The colors are an overall tan with field grey splotches. I've also seen kits that show this as being OD with mud spread over the tank to form a camo pattern, so your choice on this one. The small sheet is well printed and should work quite well.

So here is another fine armor kit from the fine folks at Dragon. It is sure to make into a superlative model and I know you will not be disappointed.

http://en.wikipedia.org

May 2008

My thanks to the great folks at www.dragonmodelsusa.com for the preview kit. Get yours today at your local shop or have them order you one.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and fairly quickly, please contact the editor or see other details in the Note to Contributors.

Back to the Main Page

Back to the Previews Index Page