US M4 Sherman Medium Tank

This is a review of the Tamiya U.S. Medium Tank Sherman (1/35) (Early Production) (Item 35190). The model was rated on a scale from 1 -10 with one being very bad and ten being excellent. I will rate three areas; detail, instructions and the provided Paint and Marking guide. My first impression is that I like the model and it was fun to put together. I would rate the model a 9 based on the scale mentioned above. My comments are as follows: Detail: Tamiya has done an excellent job with the detail on this model. The outside of the tank was given a texture that resembles ruff metal. This has provided a very realistic look. There were many additional parts in the kit such as oil drums, wooden creates, helmets, backpacks, jerry cans etc. The wheels were well made as was the provided rubber track which had good detail and has the appropriate look. The 75mm gun was well thought out but there was one part (E25) that was broken when the box was opened. However it was easy to fix due to where it fit into the model and a replacement was not necessary. The men provided with the kit were realistic and once painted were a great addition to the model. Overall I would give this area a 10 on my scale. Instructions: The instructions were generally easy to understand and follow with only a couple of problems noted which I will talk about a little later. The trees were very well designed in that they followed a logical pattern making finding the pieces quick and easy. The vast majority of the illustrations were easy to read and the assembled of the parts were in the correct order. As pointed out above there was one part that was broken at the time of purchase. One area that did cause me a little confusion was the assembly of the wheels. The kit comes with two sets of wheels (24 total) and instructions for their assembly are on page three; step three. The confusion has to do with which wheels to use; the pressed wheels (part A1) or the spoked wheels (part D32). The instructions did not clearly illustrate that I had a choice to make as to which wheels I wanted to use. As I looked at the instructions it appeared to me that I needed to use one pressed wheel and two spoked wheels. This caused me to waste time trying to figure out why I had 24 wheels but only 12 places to put them. On page four; step four the instructions misidentify the drive sprocket as a bogie. Overall I would give this area an 8 on my scale. Painting and Marking Guide: The guide was adequate. On page two you are provided a list of all the colors made by Tamiya you will need. It would have been nice if a list of other paint manufactures had been listed as there may be times then Tamiya paints may not be available. On pages 9 and 10 you are given illustrations on the paint patterns and the placement of the decals. Which bring me to the final issue I had with the model; placement of the decals. Earlier I mentioned the inclusion of pieces such as jerry cans, creates etc. Tamiya provided suggestions where to locate the parts but did not also state that the placement should wait until the decals were placed on the model. I know that it should have been apparent to me,my bad, but as I followed the instructions there was nothing to alert me to the fact that placement of some of the extra pieces would interfere with the placement of decals. As it turned out only one decal did not get placed on the turret and did not detract too much from the overall look of the model. The illustrations were okay and provided good detail. Overall I would give this area an 8 on my scale. General Comments: I had a good time putting this model together and I was very pleased with the final outcome. I believe Tamiya did a very good job in researching the Sherman and their final product. The model is everything that I expected. Overall I would give this model score of 9 out of 10 on my scale.

Tamiya's attention too the fine details has produced a great kit that builds into an excellent representation of this well recognized tank. The additional crew figures, external crates packs, and fuel cans etc. are a nice touch that really enhances the finished result. Though the detail on the exterior is impresive their is no interior, but using the crew members to fill open hatches more than makes up for that. It is an enjoyable build and the result is as rewarding as it is realistic.

I bought and built this kit for a British North African diorama, it took very little effort to convert it. A typical Tamiya quality kit, lots of stowage. Parts fit. Instruction clear. a very nice build