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hi . i got an usmc m4 sherman from italeri and i have look to many reviews in internet where theres many discussion about wich model it is , any way i hope some here can help and if it is and m4a3 did they use the wading trunks ??
well another questions , i have a megazine about sherman n the pacific and it talks about the camouflejes they use but most of if appear in the Iwo jima campaign. did the shermans have anykind of camouflajes in the okinawa campaign ?? can someone help me with some pictures??
thanks . juan ocana.
my email is [email protected]
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Italeri's kit is an M4A3 out of the box. They include an optional M4A2 engine deck, but they do not include the M4A2 lower tail plate, and the angle of the upper tail plate should be steeper (10 degrees off vertical instead of 15), for an M4A2. That said, most Marine tanks on Okinawa were M4A3's. Italeri does include two different bases for the wading stacks to fit the wide or narrow engine grills, so you can build an M4A3 with wading gear if you like, and the kit's "Kitano Point" decals are for an M4A3.
The turret can be improved by adding the thickened turret armor on the right front using epoxy putty. The additional armor stops short of the base of the turret, leaving a distinctive "lip" or overhang.
The hull can be improved by filling the weld beads so they are not sunken below the edge of the armor. Like most older Sherman kits, the Italeri kit's periscopes are all molded closed, so the tank is blind, as is. You can sand some of the periscope covers off and make replacement periscope heads and covers from styrene, or get them as after market resin items (Verlinden offered a resin "Sherman Update Set" that included a nice selection of periscopes and other useful bits). For more detailed fixes on older Sherman kits, Steve Zaloga's Osprey book "Modelling the US Army M4 (75mm) Sherman Medium Tank," is superb. He also has a companion volume on the 76 mm versions.