Hi all
I fancy doing a Sherman Firefly and having built the Dragon kit a few years ago i desided to try the Tasca kit.
What i would like to know is are both the Tasca kits the same?i know one comes with cheek armour but apart from that are they almost the same kit.
Tasca Firefly 35009
Tasca Firefly 35011

Many thanks
Karl

I know just the man to answer a question on Tasca Shermans, I will hit him until he answers you.

What I was wondering is the Tasca kit worth the money and if so what is it that makes it so special. It is around twice the price of the DML kit.

Only the minor turret changes

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/tasca/tasca35011.html cheek armor and deleted pistol port
http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/tasca/tasca35009.htm original Firefly VC

the Tasca Sherman series is beautiful -- most accurate Sherman OOB. Some say the best Allied 1/35 kits extant. Dave Budd: ask Santa -- really treat yourself to one of these. The M4A1 series is equally beautiful. Take it from a dedicated Shermanaholic

I am currently building the "cast cheek" kit, and its a beauty ! - I initially planned on doing a review, but it boiled down to 20 lines of praise, so it was way to boring to print.

Its better than the Dragon kit, but if its so much better as the pricedifference can be discussed from now to .... I am in no doubt, any further shermans from my hand will be a Tasca if the appropiate model is availeble.

Cheers

Thanks for the info guys.

I found one on lucky models so i orded it.after reading the reviews roy posted i did not know it only had the plastic gun barrel(bummer).so what replacment barrel would you recommend?

Many thanks
karl

The kit barrel is very well made -- you don't really need a metal one, IMHO.

I agree with Roy, The Tasca kit is really good, I'm sure you would enjoy it!

John

I was dissatisfied that it was a two-piece plastic barrel OOB... I hate cleaning up the seam-lines. Lionmarc makes barrels specifically for both the Sherman M4a1 and Firefly: Click here for the firefly barrel.

You can also try PMMS for aftermarket reviews on kits.

Whilst the Tasca Kit is up to twice the price of DML Vc it is far superior. As an unashamed Shermaholic and one whose favourite Shermans are UK / C'wealth Variants I am really keen on this variant (either release).
The money you require to spend to bring the DML kit up to the same standard (not to mention the grief of those horrid individual links is better spent on the Tasca one which can be had here for $20 more than the $50 DML one. Despite being the third incarnation of DML's Vc they still have errors in the kit and some really stupid ones like the hollow backed Idlers and the resized flared antenna pot which is way too big IMHO. The Turret is based on their old Vc and not up to the standard of Tascas.

The Tasca one is almost perfection - despite what DML and their Shills, bloggers etc may wish to say. It is a much more pleasant building experience although if DML were to do a new variant with the Brit PE set (or a new one), one piece t62 tracks (and a set with EEC) plus a metal barrel (can you say premium) it would be a pretty fine kit in its own right. If you want an AM barell then check this review which compares a few of the available ones: http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/aber/aber35l57.html
Cheers

Al

The new kit has cast-in cheek armor and the deleted pistol port on the left turret side, correct for a casting from mid to late 1943.
What you do get is very nice indeed. Tasca started from scratch with good references, so they are not having to improve an existing mold and make compromises to hold down tooling costs. Fit is very good, as you would expect (though the lower hull is a flat, multipart assembly, not the slide molded tub we have been used to for the last forty years). However, it is a very bare bones exercise. Texture on cast parts is so subtle as to be nearly nonexistent. While US tanks weren't as pockmarked as Soviet castings, most builders will want to add more texture with Mr. Surfacer or similar. There are some photoetch parts, but only a few, and the choices of parts selected for this treatment are sometimes odd, so a more comprehensive aftermarket set is still advisable. The soft plastic tracks seem more repellant to hobby paints than Dragon's new DS styrene. Many builders have vented their frustration on these and other boards at their inability to get the tracks to retain a coat of paint (Panda or AFV Club to the rescue--or Model Kasten, though that way lies madness).
What you don't get: any kind of interior parts, not even a gun breech (which even Italeri used to include thirty years ago), and with the enormous turret hatches of the early Shermans, this is painfully obvious (a sore point with Dragon's Shermans as well--if the Panzer IV E can get an interior, why not their Shermans, but I digress). The Tasca M4A1 and M4A4 models are directly comparable in quality to Dragon's most recent M4A2 and M4A3 Shermans, and should be priced in the same range. At the present price point, though, I would expect a hell of a lot more (and no I ain't paying US retail, I'm buying them from Hong Kong like any sane man). I got the first M4A1 and Firefly kits, but I doubt I will buy any more unless there is some drastic change in the price or the kit contents.

I can only add to the praise so far heaped on the Tasca kits, they are worth every cent. I did replace the barrel on my firefly with the Lionmarc one which is quite cheap.

As for the latest DML Sherman kits being comparable well their latest M4A3 still has the annoying grouser covers peculiar to the M4A2 that have to be shaved off, nothing like that on the Tasca kits.