thanks for the heads up. sure looks like a very nice kit

Been looking for this one for a while. Hope the Early Tiger I is not far behind. Michael

It will be interesting to see how improved this new kit is over the original Imperial Series kit and the recent Orange Box release. I have both kits in my stash and the OB kit is a far cry better with all the new bits and pieces from Dragon's other Sherman kits. I'll probably end up grabbing a couple of the new kits just for comparison Cheers jjumbo

Ipicked up one of the orange box kits, but will probably get one of these to support the "Allied cause" lol Darryl

Nice kit and I am looking forward to it but I hate to tell Dragon there was no co-driver/radio operator in a Firefly. The radio was moved into the back of the turret bustle extension and the position was filled with ammo stowage. Just throwing this comment out there before we see 10 of these at a contest with that hatch open and a crew figure in it... Also fairly certain the hatch was welded shut but I might be wrong on that point. Still welcome kit release regardless of the description. Already ordered one for myself. Rob

Also fairly certain the hatch was welded shut but I might be wrong on that point. Still welcome kit release regardless of the description. Already ordered one for myself. Rob [/quote] You're right of course I never picked up on tha, tbut as far as I know they didn't weld the hatch shut as I think some of the ammo was loaded that way.

Pat, I wondered if it was welded shut ever since I saw the picture of a VC with that hatch open and a guy with his head out of it. Wish I could find it but its stashed somewhere in a book or on one of my disks. I have all the Formations parts to build one of these already but I am going to pick up one of the kits anyway.

You didn't imagine it. The New Zealanders restored that as a crew position in some vehicles in Italy and some even had the Box Machine gun added. I have heard of similar in British Regiments and where vehicles were repaired and returned to service. Al

Hello/Bonjour, Pictures of a pre-serie Ic hybrid kit can be seen on LINK As sherman fan and like most of you, I am always happy with anything new about the M4. And this Dragon new Ic can't be anything else but better than the old Dragon's Firefly Ic (9037). I built two so I can remeber...). This release will also be ahead of the last "orange box" (nothing new in it, except the new DS track and the para figurines, is not it ?) But I am working on turning a Dragon M4 Composite PTO into a Firefly Ic and the new upper hull is not as perfect as expected. For sure it is much nicer than dragon previous try in 9037 (overdone surface, recessed lines...). But the new front section looks a bit to squarish to me and few details are still wrong compared to differents plans (Hunnicut, Firefly from barbarossa book...). For example, at the front on the right (view from the tank), the circular base is not raised enough and located too much on the exterior... I did build the old ADV/Azimut conversion (with italeri and old Dragon Vc parts), I also updated the former Dragon IC with the beautiful Formations Model composite upper hull and if it was not the price and the fact that resin is not so easy to manage (for me, I mean) , I will also had given this new project a boost with an another hull form Formations model. Also answering to one of you expecting an M4 17 pdr, may I advice him to buy a Dragon brand new M4 kit (in normandy on the box) and fiting it with a great Firely turret from ABM or Formations models ? I am also working on that , and it is sending my old Tamiya M4 "Firefly" back to the middle age... Mtbk