i saw this tank in finescale modelers march 2005 issue and immediately fell in love with this tank does anybody know if they make it in 1/48 th scale and if you have any background info on it

Haven't seen one in 1/48th yet, but there's always the chance that MR Modellbau or TMD will bring out a resin conversion if the 1/48th wave carries on.

The closest kit right now is the old Bandai M4A3 76(W) that was reissued by Frog/Fuman in the 1990s. Not impossible to find on eBay, but you'd have to change the back deck and rear hull to make it an A2 from an A3.

I'm unsure of any conversions for it, but if you check out the links at http://www.track48.com, they may have some information as to upcoming aftermarket conversions.

MR Modellbau are promising a Firefly conversion for the Tamiya M4 as well as British and US upgrade sets

http://www.mrmodellbau.de/mr/d/1-48.html