M4A3 Sherman 75mm Tank

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.

Now the rivet counters types might not think highly of these kits but its a great platform to build out of the box or to try your hand at scratch building and modifying. I decided to push it as far as I can so I shaved off all the molded handles and scratch built those, scratch building the exhaust deflector and rear skirts on either side of it. Used styrene to replicate the sand skirt mounting strips, built up the right side of the turret with putty for a better profile and blended the pistol port, add styrene rods w texture for better welds on the hull, built up the welds on lift hooks, drilled weep holes around filler caps etc. The list can go on, as I said a nice easy build or a great platform to develop your skills by researching and adding lots of easy DIY details.

This model has the most options of any American tank model I've experienced. There are many accessories to include with the tank (such as ration boxes, jerry cans, oil cans, spare track, ammunition boxes, and supply packs), so an enhanced diorama is possible without buying separate accessory kits. The tank itself is detailed perfectly with options for the late version road wheels or for the mid-production version. There are two commander cupola options, mid- or late production. The three versions provided in this kit (Caballero, #50 and Classy Peg) makes it tempting to buy twice more so I can take advantage of the two I opted not to use. My favorite part of this kit is the included figures. Not only are there figures for the 4 pictured on the box (3 infantry and 1 tank commander), but there are several bonus figures. There are actually 2 replicas of the command figure in the box picture. I was able to use the second one for another tank model that came without crew figures. There is another command figure, different from the one pictured on the box. There is also a bust of a third command figure. As if that weren't enough, there are 2 busts of a driver figure. They are identical, but what a nice way to supply crew figures to other, unmanned tank model kits. This model kit has not only made a great diorama for my collection, but has also enhanced some of my other U.S. tank dioramas by supplying spare crew figures. I recommend this model kit with all enthusiasm. M. Stilwell