Hi all.

I have been doing a lot of looking at photos of British Sherman Vc Firefly tanks in Normandy and one thing I noticed is that a lot have the T48 tracks, many have T54E1 tracks, and only a very small number have the T62 tracks...yet all the model manufacturers (Dragon, Tasca/Asuka and Tamiya) only include T62 tracks in their kits?

Friul models even has on its T62 track boxes "T62 British Sherman tracks"...

Were T62s really THE standard Firefly Vc track?

If modelling a particular Firefly in Normandy where the track type is not known, would an accurate guess be to put T62s on it?

Thanks!

I just grabbed by Hayward book on the Firefly and at a quick glance, I'd say half the Firefly VCs have the T-62 tracks. You're fine.

Fruil is mistaken though. THey weren't "British" tracks. They simply were a very common track issued to tanks made at the Chrysler Tank Arsenal -- which happened to make all the M4A4s -- most of which went to the UK. It's only coincidence.

It's been while since I've seen the kit, but I think one of the Fireflys used a different track. The kit came out as a special version with a set of ModelKasten tracks for the one off.

Just found my translation notes. When it came out (Tasca), the kit had markings for the New Zealand 4th Armored Brigade in Italy. This tank used T48 tracks. Looks like Asuka version no longer has that marking.

Thank you Roy for the info. That is very helpful indeed! I think I must get that book!

Gary, yeah, I have the Tasca/Asuka 35009 and 35011 kits (both Firefly Vc kits) and both only come with the T62. I think one of these has the New Zealand 4th Armoured Brigade in Italy version but only has 'rubber band' T62 tracks.

I'm very relieved that T62s are OK for most Normandy Firefly Vc's!

Hi Mike,
A quick rule of thumb about British/Commonwealth Shermans. The British preferred steel track so since nearly all M4A4s and a good number of M4A2s were supplied as lend lease you see mostly T62,T54,or T49 tracks on them. That of course would include Firfly conversions. Most M4 composites were manufactured by Chrysler(a few were made by PSC) and since Chrysler was primarily supplied with T48 tracks that was what they used. Some of these also became Fireflys and first appeared in Normandy. The M4 welded hull type also were used to make Firflys and did see action in Normandy too. They were made by several different companies and track type on them could be anything. From the front it is hard to tell them from an M4A4 especially if they have Hessian netting or stowage piled on them. That would account for some of the different track types seen on Fireflys in Normandy. And yes the Tasca kit 35009 does have markings for a New Zealand 4th Armored Brigade tank and T62 tracks are accurate for it. Hope this helps a little. A good source for Sherman info is the Sherman Minutiae Page.
Hope this help!
Regards,Bob

http://the.shadock.free.fr/sherman_minutia/index.html

http://www.theshermantank.com/sherman/the-sherman-variants-the-design-matures/

Great resource for detail photos, thanks for mentioning that.

Thank you so much Robert and Doug!

I really appreciate the information!

An easy tell between an M4A4 and M4 from the front is the M4A4's "squashed" radio antenna pot on the right side of the glacis. On the M4s, they are much more angular. You can look at M4A4s and see the difference (funny thing, you can also consult the Tamiya M4 -- they mistakenly used an M4A4 as the basis for their glacis, and produce a very good representation of the M4A4 antenna pot -- too bad it's inaccurate). Also, all M4A4 had the three piece final drive assembly (FDA). Only some M4s had the 3-pc FDA.

Most Firefly ICs come into theater post Normandy as they were produced mostly after the Firefly VC conversions were completed.