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Armor/AFV: Allied - WWII
Armor and ground forces of the Allied forces during World War II.
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Tasca set to Release a new Sherman Firefly!
Totalize
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Ontario, Canada
Joined: February 04, 2009
KitMaker: 743 posts
Armorama: 549 posts
Posted: Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 11:48 PM UTC
Fantastic news for Shermaholics and allied armour lovers. Tasca will be releasing a Sherman IC Firefly Composite.

I have no details other than the picture at the Shizouka hobby show. Hopefully we shall see more information soon.

Smokeyr67
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Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Joined: November 01, 2006
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Posted: Friday, May 18, 2012 - 01:41 AM UTC
There will definately be at least one of these in my future!
Biggles2
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Quebec, Canada
Joined: January 01, 2004
KitMaker: 7,600 posts
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Posted: Friday, May 18, 2012 - 01:58 AM UTC
The market is already saturated with every type of Sherman. If the manufacturers are trying to figure out what to do with Sherman suspension sprues I'm ready for a new M10! Hint...hint.
vonHengest
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Texas, United States
Joined: June 29, 2010
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Posted: Friday, May 18, 2012 - 02:11 AM UTC
It's actually not as saturated as you think, but yes it would be nice to see some Sherman-based vehicles surfacing as well as some of the Sherman variants that we haven't actually seen in kit-form.

Tasca has also pretty much reinvented the 1/35 Sherman kit, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them release every variant economically possible regardless of whether or not they have already been released. I'll buy most if not all of them just because they are so well done, and I'll certainly buy one of these because the composite/hybrid hulls are my favorite.
ericadeane
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Michigan, United States
Joined: October 28, 2002
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Posted: Friday, May 18, 2012 - 04:46 AM UTC
I'm in full agreement about the M10 or M36 GMCs however. Tasca is the perfect candidate to do them justice. Tasca-made M3 Lees or Grants wouldn't be turned away either!
ChrisDM
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England - South West, United Kingdom
Joined: January 01, 2010
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Posted: Friday, May 18, 2012 - 05:30 AM UTC

Quoted Text

The market is already saturated with every type of Sherman. If the manufacturers are trying to figure out what to do with Sherman suspension sprues I'm ready for a new M10! Hint...hint.



As far as I am aware there has only ever been one version of this particular sherman before: the recent DML kit. I'll take a tasca over a dml any day of the week
Totalize
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Ontario, Canada
Joined: February 04, 2009
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Posted: Friday, May 18, 2012 - 06:09 AM UTC
Hey I would love to see an M10 and M36 too but I suspect that Tasca being a relatively small company versus one like Tamiya and Dragon have to design their product that makes the best use of their existing molds from an economy of scale standpoint.
There's a term used in manufacturing called re-purposing which is to say a company tries to re-use much of its existing capital equipment/molds to produce additional products in order to realize an ROI for that equipment. I think Tasca is doing this here with the added investment of producing an entirely new upper hull. Keep in mind too that they would have probably also incurred another cost for the investment they made on molds for their new M32B1. An M10 or M36 would mean a much greater investment in capital equipment/molds (not to mention research and design) and being a small company Tasca may not have achieved their ROI completely on their M32 and perhaps even some of their Sherman molds. I may be completely wrong or partially correct but this is what I have seen in the technology industry.

I think they should be commended for announcing this product so soon after their M32B1 launch.
ALBOWIE
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New South Wales, Australia
Joined: February 28, 2006
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Posted: Friday, May 18, 2012 - 10:30 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Hey I would love to see an M10 and M36 too but I suspect that Tasca being a relatively small company versus one like Tamiya and Dragon have to design their product that makes the best use of their existing molds from an economy of scale standpoint.
There's a term used in manufacturing called re-purposing which is to say a company tries to re-use much of its existing capital equipment/molds to produce additional products in order to realize an ROI for that equipment. I think Tasca is doing this here with the added investment of producing an entirely new upper hull. Keep in mind too that they would have probably also incurred another cost for the investment they made on molds for their new M32B1. An M10 or M36 would mean a much greater investment in capital equipment/molds (not to mention research and design) and being a small company Tasca may not have achieved their ROI completely on their M32 and perhaps even some of their Sherman molds. I may be completely wrong or partially correct but this is what I have seen in the technology industry.

I think they should be commended for announcing this product so soon after their M32B1 launch.



They could easily release quite a few diffrent variants with very small additions to existing moulds etc.

in the M4 Family they could offer a cast hood M4dv and Firefly 1c Welded using the M4A2 dv with M4 Decks and rear from their M4A1 kits.
They could also offer a 75mm M4 Hybrid with existing parts.
With a simple modification they could offer a very late M4A1 with cast in Applique etc
Not to mention doing an M4A3 75, M4A3 105 and M4 105

As long as they keep releasing Sheremans I'm happy. An M10 , M, m7, m36 or M3 Med would just be Christmas come early

Al
Big-John
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Ohio, United States
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Posted: Friday, May 18, 2012 - 10:32 AM UTC
That is good news! Maybe we can see some M4 Variants come after this one.
U2FanNick
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Florida, United States
Joined: December 21, 2011
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Posted: Sunday, May 20, 2012 - 01:35 AM UTC
Awesome ! Anyone know what site is going to sell this kit or even the older VC kit?
Biggles2
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Quebec, Canada
Joined: January 01, 2004
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Posted: Monday, May 21, 2012 - 03:22 AM UTC
As long as they are releasing different Shermans which require new toolings for upper hulls and turrets, it would not be any more difficult or expensive to design an M10 or M36 upper hull and turret. Still waiting...!
jowady
Joined: June 12, 2006
KitMaker: 1,027 posts
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Posted: Monday, May 21, 2012 - 01:35 PM UTC
I have a cybermodel 1C that is just horrible, I'm still trying to get the top hull on without a 1/4 inch gap at the transmission cover. Now I can feel safe to part the darn thing out. Yes, I have come to appreciate Tasca. There are still things that I think are better on DML Shermans like the periscopes, and I really appreciate one piece barrels. But some of the detailing on the Tascas is better (curiously though I find that the texture on their hulls and turrets is way too uniform, but I hit that with a coat or two of Mr Surfacer). Since I don't need a working suspension I just glue it in place (no more cutting that damned foam for me!)
pseudorealityx
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Georgia, United States
Joined: January 31, 2010
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Posted: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - 12:43 AM UTC

Quoted Text

As long as they are releasing different Shermans which require new toolings for upper hulls and turrets, it would not be any more difficult or expensive to design an M10 or M36 upper hull and turret. Still waiting...!





Open top AFV's require a lot more work, as the interior needs to be designed. A new turret is 2 main parts, and maybe some slightly different fittings. A M10 or M36 is a fairly complex turret shape, and then a complete gun breech, full turret interior, and then hull. And as Tasca doesn't really "half ass" their designs, it would be a lot of work.
Biggles2
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Quebec, Canada
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Posted: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - 03:09 AM UTC
Too much work for Tasca? Both AFV and Academy both accomplished that although, admittidly, it could have been a bit better! Both Bronco and Dragon did decent jobs on their open top Archer and Priest, respectively. The money spent in R&D is always returned in sales...hopefully.
KenLawrence
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California, United States
Joined: December 14, 2002
KitMaker: 123 posts
Armorama: 116 posts
Posted: Thursday, May 24, 2012 - 09:18 AM UTC
We import & distribute Tasca kits. You can ask your local hobby shop to order any Tasca items from us or if you don't have a local shop, you can order direct from us.

www.pacmodels.com [email protected]

Thanks,

Ken Lawrence
Pacific Coast Models, Inc.
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