Ive been bitten by the 1/48th bug and this is a lovely little kit to start on!

ive blanked off the sponsons with sheet styrene, and added parts from the lion roar set, only the barrel and grouser box covers visible in the photos.





i tried adding the PE parts for the .50 cal but messed up the firing handles. it now has a scratchbuilt wet weather cover on it

it will be finished as a guards armoured machine using decals from the universal carrier, ive already made tarps and other bits of stowage to go on the rear deck.

any comments welcome

Joe

Joe
Looks great so far I take it the fit is good? I haven't gotten this kit yet

Hi Joe

Great looking Sherman. I've been thinking of giving these new 1/48th scale kits a try. Looks like I may have to try one.
Harry

Thanks for the comments fellas,

Chad,

as far as i can tell its basically a scaled down version of their 1/35 kit-with some changes made to suit the scale. The fit and detail are no different to the 1/35 kit. in a word excellent.

Harry,

i would recommend it, very nice kit.

It does have the same failings as the 1/35 kit, ie open sponsons, upswept return arms wrong for an early, but these are fairly trivial.

The one thing i dont like is the metal hull. I cant really see any need for it, and i found it i best to use a fast setting superglue to fix parts to it.

TWS make a drop fit resin replacement, so i intend to use than when i get hold of the M10

Regards

Joe

In fact the return rollers and the front antenna mount are two items Tamiya have corrected from their 1/35 M4 early. Its still said by some to have the wrong layout of welds on the front however.

HI Joe

Nice looking sherman

Couple of questions

How are the tracks assembled , individual lengths or links ?

What marking does the kit come with as standard ?

Thanks

Ian

If you follow the Tamiya 1/48 link on this site, http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/plamo/ , you can see the contents and instructions for most of the range.

Geoff,

The hull still has the recessed hull welds, i didnt bother adding raised ones as its not that visible once the kit is stowed and painted.

Ian,

The tracks are link and length, but are very well engineered. there is a locator pin on the first return roller to make sure the top run is lined up properly.

The markings are all for US machines, im at work now so cant remember the exact schemes.

Regards

Joe

Maybe I didn't make it clear. The 1/35 M4 early has the incorrect upswept roller arms. They have corrected that error in the 1/48 example, it has the straight arms with pillow block. Yes, it does still have the recessed welds but it's said the layout on the front is more appropriate for the M4A4. The central weld in between the drivers hoods should not be there, instead there should be a weld immediately next to the inside edge of the hood.

Geoff,

you are correct about the roller arms, i was obviously not paying enough attention when reading your response.

The weld issue is interesting, ill have a look through some references when i get home.

I want to add some track sections to the hull front anyway, so this should cover any problem with the kit.

Regards

Joe

Looks good Geoff
Are they PE air intake grilles I see on the deck? This is another improvement over the 1/35th kit if so