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Armor/AFV: Allied - WWII
Armor and ground forces of the Allied forces during World War II.
Hosted by Darren Baker
Tasca Shermans-are they worth it?
Sabot
Joined: December 18, 2001
KitMaker: 12,596 posts
Armorama: 9,071 posts
Posted: Friday, March 11, 2011 - 03:10 AM UTC

Quoted Text

They are worth it and I wish they would do a M-24 as well

Now that would be sweet.
BillGorm
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New Jersey, United States
Joined: November 02, 2009
KitMaker: 609 posts
Armorama: 433 posts
Posted: Friday, March 11, 2011 - 04:04 AM UTC

Quoted Text

DML- by and large fit is pretty good but not perfect. It is seriously let down though by three major issues in my opinion:
1 the transmission bolted strip. If you fit this how DML tell you to and you're unlucky (which is asy as the location is imprecise) you will end up with a nasty (more than 1mm) gap
2 The idler attachments are seriously weak, a 0.5mm locating stub and hole. This means the idler has to be glued and thoroughly thorougly set before you add the track under tension (as it should be) even then it has a tendency to bend inwards if you're not lucky
3 the locating tabs on the sprockets are imprecise. you need very careful alignement to ensure the teeth run true


I just built the Dragon Sherman Mk. III as well and you're dead on with these comments. I'd add one more issue to the list - the tow cable bracket. The kit provides the bracket as a multi-part PE assembly, but not in plastic (at least it isn't shown in the instructions). So if you can't deal with the PE you're out of luck. You could show the cable attached to the towing hitch, but the instructions had you glue it on seven steps earlier. Annoying and entirely preventable with good instructions.
ChrisDM
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England - South West, United Kingdom
Joined: January 01, 2010
KitMaker: 717 posts
Armorama: 697 posts
Posted: Friday, March 11, 2011 - 04:30 AM UTC
One thing DML do win hands down is the towing shackles. The ones on Tasca kits ALWAYS break when I'm fitting them DML ones at least have a bot if spring to them
Whiskey_1
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Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Joined: November 22, 2008
KitMaker: 279 posts
Armorama: 272 posts
Posted: Friday, March 11, 2011 - 05:03 AM UTC
Well Tom, you get the idea from these other guys, but my 2 cents go the same way. Tasca's shermans are awesome. Period. I've built two so far and adding texture is more or less a choice of personalisation for me. If your standards are high, every kit has room for improvement, but OOTB most modelers could't wish for better quality. I have a dragon M4 composite, which is nice, but suffers from the usual dragonisms and to be frank, I find the huge amounts of leftovers to be confusing at times. If you have to share the space you use for your hobby and have to pack everything up ever so often the stack 'o sprues in a dragon kit becomes something of a nuisance.
Biggles2
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Quebec, Canada
Joined: January 01, 2004
KitMaker: 7,600 posts
Armorama: 6,110 posts
Posted: Friday, March 11, 2011 - 10:19 AM UTC
Roy: I'm not saying that the texture should look like the Himaleas , but it did vary from fairly smooth to downright nasty - no two ever came out looking the same. My Tasca El Alamein Sherman has absolutely no texturing - with a shot of Future it could rival model car finishes . I have an older Tasca Firefly and it does have a textured turret. Would you build a cast Sherman with a completely smooth surface? It would certainly receive criticism right here on Armorama.
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