O.K. you guys made a good point. Which Sherman should I get for basically an OOTB build. I will probably get Friul's and an aluminum barrel.

DML/Dragon's new M4A2 (76) "Red Army" is pretty sweet right out of the box. It comes with PE and a metal barrel. The kit tracks are pretty good, too, so no need to replace.

Check out the review with pics here: http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/dragon/dr6188.htm

As a frequent Sherman modeller, Fruilmodel doesn't offer me anything that I want. Sure the heft of the metal is good if I'm building a Panther or KV-1 but you want straight and stiff for M4chasses. Go with RHPS but frankly many of the kit provided ones are pretty good.

I still say get them all.

:-)

I'd say dragon's Red Army M4A2.....probably the most complete Sherman kit available. Also Tamiya's M4A3 Breakthrough and 105mm are nice kits!

Martin

Ease of build,Tamiya M-4,M-4 (105), M-4A3.
Buildable and different,Dragon M-4A1.
Classic, italeri M-4A1 76mm (wet).
I recoomend the kit band tracks in the Tamiyas.The Sherman track was"live" not naturally saggy like German track.I think Fruilis are nice,but for a stiffer top run,I would prefer using Tamiyas.

(++) (++)

Yeah and avoid italeri's tracks, they are a pain in the ass!

Go for Modelkasten indie links instead. They offer several types of M4 Sherman (VVSS) tracks and you can still get that "live track" look, that you wont get from M4 Friul tracks.

Also, the AFV Club T-51 and T-48 (VVSS) Tracks are good for indie links, are well-detailed, and are a lot less expensive then either Friul or MK tracks. AFV Club has band-type T-49 tracks as well, and are very good for vinyl tracks. They have 2 sets of indie and 1 set of band-type M4A3E8 (HVSS) track sets too.

Cheers !

Alpen

I have to agree with Carl, the Tamiya M4 (105) was probably the esiest, quickest build I ever had. I thought the Tamiya M41 was easy.

Actually, I don't think there is a "bad" Sherman on the market in 1/35 scale. All build well and are relatively accurate whether you buy Italeri, Tamiya, Heller, Academy or Dragon.

Even the old MP Models M50 ISherman is a good solid kit. I guess if you stumble across the old Tamiya M4A3E8 or the Academy copy or the old Monogram M4 or M4A1, you may be dissatisfied.

I would recomend a Tamiya kti just because it is the easiest to build, already has rubber band tracks (easy to use vs. indy tracks), and will look good once done.

DML is more detail oriented, but these kits may be a bit much to bit off for a first build.

Italeri kit is a solid start, but does need some extra help and has bad tracks.

For a sherman, as said, fruils or MK's are probably overkill.