Let''s take a no-holds-barred, warts & all look at this new entry into the Sherman market! Warning: this review is certainly not aimed at the TL/DR generation...

Read the Review

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Hurrah for more Allied stuff! While I might chiefly build Axis gear I'm thrilled when the manufacturers pause and offer the other side something worth building. Like this.

This arrived at my door last week and the number of parts was staggering compared to the Tamiya offering. Can't wait to get into it and make it a Canadian mount in Korea.

You don’t say?

With 1000 parts for the tracks, that still leaves 500 for the tank itself! But the more I get stuck in, the more I'm loving it. I dug an early deflector out of the spares box and will back-date mine to a Feb/March arrival. I added the mantlet cover hardware from 0.020 rod and 0.040 squares. Still undecided about any interior, as I do like having hatches open...

@ barkingdigger - Tom,

Thanks so much for a well researched and detailed review. I had no trouble ordering myself a copy to build with a few aftermarket items to add to the kit. Looks like another winner from the RFM farm.

~Eddy

True is that this offering is further with many small details than all previous Sherman offerings, but you don’t see many of these when finished.
The surface of the rolled armour plates is quite strange, whilst only MENG and Dragon on some kits tried to depict something like that before, I am still more than happy with Tasca/Asuka and Tamiya plain surfaces. So no improvement her in my opinion, actually the contrary.
The engine compartment bulkhead is missing, while the kit construction and warping of many parts would make it quite useful as it is much more difficult to be built properly aligned than any other from the similarly constructed competition.
As you wrote, the kit is late WW2 version, but with the T80 track, which was quite rare then. This configuration is wrong for the Paper Doll marking. For post WW2 appearance you need some more appropriate bits, for the WW2 one the possibility to choose between the T66 and the T80 tracks would be nice. In this regard - Tasca/Asuka T66’s do not fit the RFM sprockets without some surgery, their teeth are too thick.