M4A3 Sherman 75mm Tank

Recently got back to the hobby Step away from cars for a moment and built this one. The first Tamiya i ever built was the motorized easy8 Sherman. I thought it was great until i bought the M3 Lee and M3 Stuart. Wow what a difference in detail especially for kits back in those days (the 70s). Then i bought this kit and though i had built other Shermans from other companies thru the years where the details really improved immensely, this kit STILL wowed me so many extra parts (which is nice because i'm basically starting all over again collecting Sherman spare parts). It does have its cons but, to me they aren't a big deal, since the two major ones are fixable. These are: The Classy Peg and Caballero Decal aren't mirror images of the left and right so. you have one correct side and one wrong side. the fix, don't use them or make your own corrected ones (you'll find how to's on youtube for making decals). The second (which is common for Tamiya armor, is no sponson. I have no clue why, even through all these years, they continue to do this? Don't they know you can see thru the tracks to the other side? I'm sure a lot of modelers have asked them about it. But, again no big deal. Just buy styrene sheets and make your own, besides it might give you ideas to scratch build an interior i'm not too nit-picky about other details you may find in books about a fresh factory built Sherman since in combat (i'm a US Army veteran), maintenance crews will use any good parts available from a disabled Sherman and one might have actually existed in the field but was destroyed. Also, factories will use older parts when they run out of the newer ones. Again this happens in the field so, it wouldn't a surprise to see a Sherman with different sets of road wheels on a bogie. This i think adds interest in a model (which again would happen in real life). so just enjoy your build and don't be afraid to be creative, especially with this Tamiya kit

This was my first Tamiya tank kit, and it turned out to be very fun to build and paint. I have liked Tamiya kits ever since. As usual, Tamiya gives the modeler lots of extras like ration boxes, shovel, pick, axe, extra tank treads, etc. You also get options for building the kit, like different versions of the commander's hatch (either a split down the center version, or a newer, round one piece). The commander is a full figure, while the driver is just the torso. The treads are the one piece flexible type, and are relatively easy and quick to attach to the completed model. Highly recommended overall.

I have a soft spot for Sherman tanks and two of them are Italeri and the other Tamiya, two being cross kits from each model. The one is the British MkII which had its start in the 8th Army in North Africa and was the result of Lend Lease where by the U S tank forces got to spend time with the British learning tank tactics and training the British on the Sherman. My MkII is made from the Italeri hull and chassis and the Tamiya turret with one hatch blanked out as the MkII photos suggest. This is a great kit for any type of Sherman as the kit contains so many spare parts that detailing using other kits is not required.