I was woundering can I use Italerie's M4 Sherman with wading gear for normandy,
and what do I have to alter do make it so?

janwillem,
I'm going from memory, so I'm not real sure, but I think the M-4-A3 didn't appear in Europe until a few months after Normandy.
I'm sure some one with a definitive answer will be along shortly.
Joe

I believe that the later 47degree hull didn't reach europe until late 1944, and also the turret with cast-in cheek bulge that same. In which case the Italeri kit is too late for Normandy.

I believe only the Tamiya M4Early and Dragon M4A1 are suitable plastic kits for DDay Normandy. Everything else came onshore after the beachhead was established.

There are some resin DDs that will work too but they are expensive

If built as an M4A3 it's only useable from September 1944 onwards in US Army service for Northwest Europe, If built as an M4A2, I think they went to the Red Army. So no either way.

Italeri's M4A1(76) will do for the Normandy breakout, as it arrived in time for Operation Cobra. Tamiya's M4 (not really) Early is okay from D-Day onwards.

I want to do an M4 that just came of the baetch and still has it's wading gear, so what should I do

if you want to do a tank thats just come off an LCT you will need to use either an M4 or M4A1 for a US tank or M4/M4A1/M4A4 for British.

the wading gear differed depending on the mark fo sherman it was fitted to so you will be in for some scratchbuilding if you want accuracy, on the other hand im sure the wading gear from the academy kit could be modified to fit any sherman with a bit of work

regards

joe

Well, we're talking the M4 Marines Sherman here. The kit is supposed to portray a M4A2 but is not complete. Options from the box are the M4A2 with wading gear, M4A3 with wading gear or M4A3 without wading gear. No, M4A2 is not possible from the box as rear plate details are missing.

Normandy landings is out of the question. Possibilities with the kit could be to use the wading gear with either DML M4A1 or with Tamiya M4. M4A1 is correct from the box, Tamiya need work on suspension. It has later upswept bogies, but horizontal would be better. You will need to work on the adapter plates for the wading trunks as they are meant for M4A2 so dont readily fit M4/M4A1. Steve Zaloga did an article in Military Modelling, and there are two models in the ML USA WW2 gallery.

Hope this helps, MartinD