Hey all, I need to know who makes a good sherman kit that isn't incredibly expensive. I'm not going to be using the turret, so I'm just concerned with the hull and running gear. I can't tell one sherman from the next so I don't know which sherman I'm after....it doesn't really make a lot of difference, but I was thinking maybe a cast-hull sherman as opposed to the welded hull. Oh, and do any of them come with good one-piece track?

then yore best bet would be any of tamiyas sherman's each has a nice on peice track, the only problem is the hulls are welded. italeri has a casthull but it lacks the cast texture. which brings us to DML all of DML's sherman are nice and cheep, but the indy link can be daunting. lucky AM tracks are cheep for shermans. and afv club has a set of one peice tracks that work for just about any sherman. good hunting stug

All of them are good, decent kits except for the Nitto M4A1 and the old Tamiya M4A3E8 (and Academy copy). All three are out-of-production and are hard to find. The one that will fit your bill is the Italeri M4A1 Sherman Allied Standard Tank kit. Decent detail, fit is good, it has the cast hull, gun is wrong, but you don't want the turret. It is also readily available and one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest Sherman on the market today.

Tracks are one-piece vinyl and are rather stiff. The the boogie arms are made to rock back & forth. Cement them in place or the last wheel will "lift" off the ground because of the track tension. The same lower hull was used with their M-32 recovery tank kit, it comes with all sorts of goodies too.

Have to agree with stug
From all the manufacturers steve just named I have several shermans and I think they are all pretty good. Now I`m not a rivet-counter and I don`t care that much about it. built them normally just OOTB but if you want a nice sherman for a nice price I think you have to look for it in the Tamiya-Italeri-DML corner

My resoning for recommending the Italeri kit to Grifter are:
1. Comes with a cast hull (he asked for a cast hull)
2. Relatively cheap, usually can be found for $10-12 online or less than $20 in stores (he asked for an inexpensive one)
3. Readily available
4. One-piece vinyl track (he asked for one-piece track)
5. Good detail on the hull (except for the tools), texture to the hull can be done easily by strippling with liquid cement
6. Very nice build straight out-of-box (except for main gun tube, but he said he doesn't need the turret)

My reasons for not recommending DML, Academy or Tamiya:
1. Tamiya doesn't have a cast hull Sherman
2. Tamiya Shermans are not cheap ($30+)
3. DML does have the best cast hull M4A1 Early Sherman, but it goes for $45-60 and is extremely hard to find (been OOP for a while and again, not cheap)
4. DML doesn't have a one-piece track Sherman kit, all are individual link
5. DML's other cast hull Sherman is the M-51 Isherman (#3529) which is also OOP and runs $30ish. It has HVSS with individual link track too.
6. Academy's only cast hull Sherman is the M-51 Super Sherman (#1373). It has HVSS suspension too, but I do not know anything else about Academy Shermans. I am unsure if it has vinyl or individual link tracks. I also do not know the quality of their Sherman kits first hand. I do know it is OOP and ran about $30 when it was released.
7. Buying AFV Club vinyl tracks will cost $7-9, thus increasing the overall cost of the project

It would be a different answer if he asked for the best Sherman kit.

For me the best option may be the DML Shermans. They are cheaper than the Tamiya Sherman and they have a very well done texture and fine details. The only thing with them is that they require some job with the traks because they are link by link. I built three of them and they look great.

Right now i'm finnishing the tamiya M4A3 and i love it !!!! and not all of would agree with that but thats my oppinion!!!

http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/plastic/135militaryminiatureseries/35250.html

Have to agree with Sabot on this, the Italeri Sherman is the best bet within the parameters mentioned. Besides which, it builds up very easily and doesn't have open sponsons, a major problem OOTB of all Tamiya shermans.

Coop

Thanks for all the advice guys, that was a huge help. Now I have a place to start. It's a little bit confusing trying to pick a sherman kit when they all look the same to my untrained eye.

Just think of them like Ford Mustangs or Chevy Corvettes. Different model years look slightly different from one another, and as you go down the line the look varies considerably, but each still looks like a Vette or a Stang.

Sabot , the academy m=51 super sherman is an great kit. It has one piece tracks also. the casting and weld seams are well molded into the kit.

I'm definately going to have to agree with Rob (Sabot) on this. The Tamiya Shermans are nice, but they do not have cast hulls. The DML Shermans are great, but the cast hull ones are 1) extremely rare, 2) extremely expensive (see #1 for clarification), 3) because they are so expensive, I for one would have a hard time not using the turret, and 4) come with single link tracks. The only one that makes sense in this context is the Italeri M4A1. It is cheap (I got mine on sale at Model Expo for $5), it is a good representation of a cast hull (no it doesn't have the texture, but after only 5 minutes of effort mine did and besides I have heard a lot of bi***ing about the DML hull having over-exagerated texture), and it has one piece tracks. No it is not Tamiya or DML, but the kit goes together great and looks damn good with a bit of work and besides if you are just going to leave the turret off this is a great kit as the worst part of the kit is the gun.

I like DML and Tamiya just as much as the next guy, but to give you an idea of how much I thought of the kit (which I was very skeptical to buy, but for $5 couldn't pass up), I ended up buying 2 more after I finished my first one. They are great kits considering their age. With just a little TLC, they can stand up against any Sherman kit on the market.

Hi Grifter


This could be a quote from me as well!
In the armor section here, one of the threads is the Italeri Sherman group build. There are about 10 guys built this tank recently and they have described each step as they went along and addes photos as well. You should take a read through this and you will learn quite a lot and is as good a starting point as any. I have mines almost complete and will add photos soon.
I agree with the other guys about the Italeri sherman. For the price it turns out a lovely model and a fun build even straight from the box!
Good luck!