Dragon 1/35 M4A3(75)W: ETO, previewed by Scott Van Aken

HISTORY

The M4 Sherman was the workhorse of the U.S. Army tank fleet during WWII, even though it was the British who were the first to use the Sherman tank in combat. The USA had employed the earlier M4 and M4A1 variants in North Africa and the Mediterranean before the M4A3 began to take over as the dominant tank in the U.S. Army. The M4A3 had a welded hull and was powered by a 500hp Ford GAA V8 gasoline engine. As the Sherman was designed to be an infantry support tank, where speed was considered more important than armor, it often did not do well in tank vs tank encounters against the heavier and better armored German tanks. Only when used at very close range or in vastly superior numbers were Shermans able to defeat the German tanks.

Just as a note, the (W) in the designation means wet ammo storage.

THE KIT

Once again we have a very nicely done Sherman variant from our friends at Dragon. This one is pretty much the same as the previous M4A3 aside from the new items listed in the features below. The nice thing about the Sherman is that the kits are not quite as parts intensive as some of their other kits. This makes it quite desirable to those who are not a fan of 700 pieces. Some of this parts savings comes from the excellent DS or deformable styrene tracks. These can be painted using ordinary paints and standard cements will work when joining the links.

Here is a full listing of the kit's features:

- Delicately detailed M4A3 is newly produced
- Authentic spare barrel mount newly presented
- Newly produced accurate hull w/details
- Newly produced hatches on composite hull can be assembled open/closed
- Optional anti-aircraft MG w/pedestal mount on turret roof
- Separate pistol port can be assembled open/closed
- Detailed turret produced
- Loader's hatch and periscope covers can be assembled open/closed
- Commander's hatch with periscope assembly
- Cupola is molded in detail
- Gun travel lock can be modeled in travel or combat modes
- Air intake with multi-layer details
- Racks for spare-track links reproduced
- Authentic engine cover support blocks
- APU exhaust pipe
- Accurate gun shield with fine bolt details
- Rotor shield reproduced in accordance with Army shematics
- Two types of sprockets available
- On-vehicle tools delicately recreated
- Intricate one-piece DS T54E1 w/EEC tracks

The kit provides two markings options. One is the box art option that is pretty well devoid of markings from the 10th Armored Division in Germany during 1945. The other is from the 11th Armored Division also in Germany during 1945. There are two options for this one with large white numbers on the side of the hull.

CONCLUSIONS

In all, this is another excellent armor kit from Dragon. With 'only' 330 pieces, it should build rather quickly and give you a very accurate model of this particular Sherman variant.

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

KIT #:	6698
PRICE:	$57.00 SRP
DECALS:	Three options
REVIEWER:	Scott Van Aken
NOTES:	Smart Kit