Mission Models and Chris Mrosko of VLS are both reporting that Dragon/DML is going to re-release the M4A1 "early" Sherman in September. This is good news for Shermaholics and bad news for kit collectors who have been paying premium prices for this rare kit.

http://www.missionmodels.com/index2.htm

Good news Bob, at this stage I will get any version of the M4 I can find (its habbit forming ya know). Is this kit much different from the Italeri M4A1 ?
Thanks for the headsup!

Garry

Hooray!!! Is there any add-ons like figures, AM barrel or PE beside the old mold?

Yes, for one thing the turret and hull surfaces are textured. The turrets are completely different.

Italeri has a intermediate 76mm turret with the one-piece commander's hatch and the original style split commander's hatch relocated as the loader's hatch. The DML kit has an early 75mm turret with no loader's hatch and split style commander's hatch.

The upper hull differs. Italeri has the large driver/co-driver hatches that open at an angle. The DML kit has the smaller hatches that open at a 90° angle.

The Italeri kit has the late upswept arm support rollers. The DML kit has the intermediate support rollers that are offset.

Italeri has the vinyl tracks that are plain rubber blocks. DML has the rubber chevron individual track links. It also includes the British style 3-bar track. They are only included because you need the end connectors off of the sprues.

So really, other than both being M4A1 Shermans, there isn't much in common between the kits.

woo hoo I can dio a good M-32 now!

Well that is good news then, thank you Sabot. Awesome indeed!

Cheers,

Garry

this made my day,
i cant waite till spetmber .
thats my birthday.
so u all know what iam going to get my self lol.
so this is the sherman that is kinda famous?
how much better is it then the tamyia

YAAAAAAAAHHOOOOOOOOOOOWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...that's all I have to say......for now.

Tread.


O.K....O.K.......I can't resist.

First, many thx go to Hollowpoint for the wonderful news.
Second. Additional thx go to Major 'G' for the Intel on 'what's in the box'.
And thirdly. The listed price is only $28.95?!......man, my LHS better stock up on it is all I can say!

Now, before I get anymore excited than I already am, aside from the indy-links (I'll be replacing those thank you very much), are there any other major 'cons' to the kit?
I've never liked the turret that comes with the Italeri kit, because most of the depictions I have in mind sport the 75mm turret (would this be high or low bustle?)
Having the cast in texture is nice as well, and having the intermediate return rollers is great! (is there any other kit that supplies these?)

Here's a more 'involved' query. The Italeri M4A1 hull is just a smidgeon narrower than the Tamiya M4 hull.
Would anyone know if the Dragon/DML M4A1 hull is closer to the Tamiya 'width' than the Italeri?
Rob....might you have all three kits for a comparison?
TIA.

Tread.

Tread:

Here's an article by Steve Zaloga that should answer most questions about this kit: http://www.amps-armor.org/Boresight/article-05.asp

Lots of other kits have the same type of bogeys -- often called "horizontal return arm" as opposed to the "upswept return arm" found in Tamiya kits. All Academy "Sherman family" kits have them, i.e., M12, M10, Achilles, M36, M4A2 ... AFV also uses a horizontal return arm suspension and sells it as a separate kit (some people love AFV Club's kit; I am one who is not that thrilled). Some of DML's kits also include this suspension, or parts of it.

I really hope that dragon takes the time to fix alot of the mistakes they made on this kit before they bring it out ...It would be nice if they finally fixed their turret and they might think about adding the new suspension from their Firefly kit . I've already bought a new turret from Formations to go on this kit ,(yes I have one in my stash). I'm glad they finally figured out that we want this kit ,and just like TankCarl, I'll be getting at least one more to make a real M32. Let's hope that we'll be seeing these on the selfs for a long time to come.

Rick

Gordon:

According to the hull casting drawings the small hatch M4A1 hull (E4153) was uniformly 103-1/2, +1, -0 inches at the bottom edge. The large hatch M4A1 hull (E8595) was uniformly 104-1/2, +1, -0 inches. The M4A3E2 hull was 106 wide. Subtracting the additional 1-1/2 inches on each side leaves 103 for the large hatch M4A3. The small hatch M4A2s were also 103 inches.

Don't base measurements off kits - base them off tanks - It's less trouble!

KL

This certainly is good news! They finally woke up to the Allied interest.

So much for the near fifty dollars i paid for mine a few years ago.

Great news indeed Now if only they will re-release the M4 composite Firefly That was a nice two-in -one kit Either a Firefly or pacific war US army tank I have seen them go for over $90 on E-bay