Hi volks
The PE sprue in this kit does not seem to have the short sandshield attachment strips for the REAR fenders... Whereas they are contained in the Sherman MkIII kit... Is this a kit fault or does it highlight my lack of knowledge of M4A2s by way of them not having these strips, maybe?
Thanks for any insight
G'nite
Brad

Brad, the two PE sheets are different and as far as I can tell, there would be no need for the sandshields on the 'Tarawa' M4a2s. What you might see are M4a2s with the attachment points for the sandshields still in evidence - I've seen this in Soviet Shermans, Reading over Pat McGrath's review, he didn't mention there omission so I guess you don't need to be worried about it....

The review can be seen:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/2125

Hmm... I completely missed that Brad. The photos of Marine M4A2s that I have do show the attachment strip. So it is a kit "fault" but not a major one as it's easily rectified with a piece of evergreen strip or foil.

I've just gone back and read my review and have to hold my hands up and apologise in that I never reviewed the pe sheet. It must be a freudian thing with me and photo etched sets.

Apologize? What on earth for?

Because I left any mention of the pe sheet (apart from the fact that it was there) out of the review
Having started modelling in the jurassic era and come back in the mid nineties I missed the beginning of the pe thing and still tend to regard the inclusion of pe in kits as a bonus not as a right but I expect I will get over it.

Pat, just looking through my Sherman III review seems as if I didn't exactly go into much detail on the PE sheets either. Could be an age thing - that we're both subconciously denying the existence of such items...

Sorry to interrupt old boys
Thanks for clearing that up... Yep, it's an easy fix, but I guess I just wanted to confirm the existence (or not) on the real tanks...
I also noticed that the MkIII PE sandsahield attachment strips have the tiny welds along the top edge, whereas the marines one does not...
(But I don't care )
Brad

"Charlie" definitely had them. I'd imagine the others did as well.

http://www.tarawaontheweb.org/usmctank.htm

Thanks for the help Bob, nice link

No problem, Bro.

I have that kit, but have several others to finish before I start it. I'm keen to know what the fixes might be before I begin it.