Hey Guys,
I just seen the the Jumbo Sherman By Tamiya 1/35 scale .I want to know has anybody built this kit is it any good, should I keep clear of it ,will it need to many after market products.I heard Its better to buy theresin kit than the plastic kit.

What to do?I cant resist it I need to buy All the Sherman kits!!!LOL


Also can the new Academy kit M4A2 Sherman be used as a US tank I like US and British tanks better than Russian.any modifications did to the tank that might show up on the Academy kit and Dragon one that has not been released yet.


Thanx

Hi jackalone,
This is from a review from AMPS;
U.S. M4A3E2 Jumbo Very poor. Turret is totally the wrong shape! Other parts are "stick on" over a normal M4A3 kit, and once again, double the cost of the earlier kit. The Tank Workshop makes an accurate turret and hull from this model.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Joe

I've built the Tamiya Jumbo and, while easy to build, it only bears a passing resemblance to the real thing. The turret's shape is wrong in almost every possible way, there is no additional armor for the transmission housing, and the tracks are the wrong type for this tank (as far as I can tell from available photos). It's best to steer clear of this kit and get the Tank Workshop conversions or, if you have plenty of disposable income, get the Blast Models conversion.
As for the Academy M4A2, the first version being released is a 76mm armed variant which was only used by the Soviets in Europe. I don't think that the US or British used this particular version anywhere in combat.

Ed's right.

The turret is really the wrong shape on the Tamiya M4A3E2 Jumbo kit. Tamiya's add-on armor thickens the hull pretty well -- it can look decent if you work with it a bit. Besides the turret, the other problem is the final drive housing -- it's too thin for the Jumbo and Tamiya doesn't give a solution. With sheet plastic and putty, it is possible to fix it yourself.

As far as the Academy M4A2 goes -- the 76mm version was ONLY used by the Soviets. If you want to make a U.S. Marine or British version, you can swap turrets between the Academy kit and a Tamiya or Italeri M4A3. You'll end up with an M4A2(75) and an M4A3(76). The Academy kit has a few issues with the rear hull angle and turret details; and the Tamiya M4A3 hull and turret can also use some tweaks, but overall this would be a relatively easy conversion of two kits into two different vehicles.

some british M4A2s used the early low bustle turret, with the M34 narrow mantlet.

theres a couple of pictures in 'the british soldier, d-day to ve day' by jean bouchery

cheers

joe