Search the Community

Sherman - The M4 Tank in WWII Casemate Illustrated Special ISBN : 9781612007397 The Sherman, its hard to think of a more iconic allied tank of WWII. There were plenty of different tanks out there but the M4 Medium Tank was the most numerous. It was used in all theaters of WWII by all the allied nations. While the Sherman may have been out gunned by the heavier Axis Armour the sheer force of numbers combined with the way it was deployed and supported won the day. This book from Casemate in their Illustrated Special range is just slightly smaller than A4 in size, hard back with 240 pages. The book is illustrated throughout with black and white photos, with some colour photos, plates & drawings towards the back of the book. The book looks all aspects of the Sherman in service, all the tank variants, and other uses,; along with post war use by other nations. Full contents of this expanded Casemate Illustrated Special are; Origins Production The Chassis Turrets Armament & Ammunition Crew Evolution for the Sherman Logistics, Supply and Backup Numbering and Markings Unit Composition & Organisation The Success of the Sherman Sherman since 1945 Conclusion This is a quality publication looking at this most important of Tanks in WWII. All aspectrs of the tank, its development, use and support are considered. There are great photos throughout which will be of interest to the modeller and WWII buff alike. Very Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

HI Everyone, I have finally finished my first diorama, as above I have called it NAAFI Break I had no plan and no idea really, Started with a Comet my first model for well over 20 years and then a Firefly my favourite WW2 battle wagons, then decided on a diorama, and found the base by accident I liked, and without any planning just added as I went along, lots of first for me on this, so overall I am chuffed to bits with it, few areas could be better especially the figures, but thanks to some great tips received and with practice the next ones will be better. Enough Waffle 😂 The Pics Well there it is, It has been a great stress reliever if not for COVID I may not have got back into the hobby. Cheers Mark

Sherman Firefly VC 1:72 Airfix A02341 The Sherman was one of the most widely used Allied tanks during WWII, named after an American Civil War general when it entered service in the early part of the war. It was the mainstay of Allied armour, and was a reliable and rugged vehicle, but initially suffered from weak points and thin side armour that allowed a carefully placed shot to penetrate it an set the tank afire. Once identified appliqué armour was added to the vulnerable spots to improve survivability. It became one of the most produced tanks of WWII, with over 50,000 produced, 17,000+ of which were destined for British service. Originally fitted with a 75mm gun, the arrival of the Panther and Tiger tanks in the European Theatre led to tests for improving firepower to penetrate the thicker armour of these new foes. The American tests weren't as successful as the British forays into heavy armament, and it was the redesign and installation of the Ordnance QF 17-pounder gun in a standard turret that resulted in the Firefly, lead by W.G.K. Kilbourn, a Vickers engineer, that succeeded in adding the gun to the Sherman. It was capable of knocking out a Panther and Tiger at combat ranges from then on. Although the Firefly concept was initially rejected, it was pushed ahead and the improved Shermans started reaching the front just in time for the work-up before D-Day where it accredited itself well. To hide the extra firepower the length of the barrel was sometimes disguised by adding a wavy camouflage to the underside in the hope the enemy would confuse it with the weaker 75mm gun and be less cautious. By war's end around 2,000 Fireflys had been produced, and had been used effectively as part of the larger Sherman force, evolving new tactics to protect the valuable Fireflies while making good use of their heavy hitting power. Tanks with 17-pounder guns were usually known as "1C", "1C Hybrid", or "VC", depending on the basic mark of the vehicle. The "C" indicated fitment of the 17 Pounder Gun. The Firefly nickname is said to be a response to the bright flash of the gun firing. The Kit This is a new tool from Airfix and is 1.72 unlike some other small scale armour kits which were 1/76 scale. As you can expect from a new tool the moulding are crisp and clean, the plastic also seems to be a bit harder than some of the modern aircraft kits. In a departure from previous kits the rubber band tracks have gone. In this boxing both link and length tracks and single part tracks moulded with the wheels/bogies are included, it would seem Airfix are also going to release a "Simplified" version of this kit with only the single part tracks/wheels included. The first thing to do when starting construction is to select which track types you want and follow the instruction steps for that one. The main lower hull is the first step in construction. the two sides attach to the base and the front and rear parts go on. In addition at the rear the exhaust shroud goes on. Then at the front the drive housings go on. If you have elected for the simplified tracks these can now be added. If you are going for the full works then three sets of bogies for each side need to be built up, along with the drive sprockets and return rollers are added. The lenghts of track can then be added. We then move onto the upper hull. Some holes first need to be made and then the rear bulkhead with mud guards attached is added. Additional parts and tools can then be added to the upper hull . A cross beam is added to the front plate which was commonly used to store extra spares and equipment on. Jerry cans and extra ammo boxes are supplied in the kit for use in this area, or any where else the modeller wishes to use them. Additional track, and road wheels are also provided if the modeller wishes to add them to the hull in the form of spare links, and/or extra armour. Next up its the turret containing that all important 17 pounder gun. The mantlet is first added to the turret followed by the single part barrel. With careful gluing of the parts the gun will elevate. Only one half of the muzzle brake is moulded onto the barrel, with the other half needing to be added. The base is then added to the turret, and on top the large hatch and aerial mount is added. A side hatch complete the turret and it can be added to the vehicle. Decals The small sheet from Cartograf (no no issues there) provides markings for two tanks; "BELVEDERE" Staffordshire Yeomanry, 27th Armoured Brigade, Operation Goodwood, Normandy June 1944 "12" 3 Troop, A Sqn, Northamptonshire Yeomanry, Normandy 1944 Conclusion As well as Airfix's drive into 1/35 scale armour it is good to see them sticking with their roots and producing new kits for the small scale armour modeller. The kit looks really good in the box and their should be an appeal to the younger modeller with the simplified track details, or even a market for war gamers? Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi Here is my recently completed Tamiya M4A3 with improvised armour. It was painted with Tamiya and Life Color acrylics and weathered with oils and pigments. Scratch items: Timber armour - popsicle sticks Steel plate armour - .5mm styrene sheet, styrene rod (weld seams) and nuts/bolts from spares box. Tarp - lead foil from wine bottle Nails welded to hatches - stretched sprue (cut to scale at 4mm lengths) Cast steel texture - Tamiya putty mixed with extra thin cement Thanks for looking - Cheers, Greg History taken from <https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2-usa-improvised-armor-on-m4-shermans-in-the-pto> "In the Island hopping campaigns of the War in the Pacific, the major threat to tanks of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) was Japanese infantry. The stubborn island defenders had various grenades and mines at their disposal. These were often used in suicidal point blank ‘Kamikaze’ style attacks with infantry charging the American tanks armed only with an explosive device. The attackers would also climb aboard the tanks and claw open hatches so they could throw grenades and explosives inside. By the Okinawa campaign of 1945, the tactics of the Japanese had been identified. Come May of that year, it was determined that at least 64 tanks had been knocked out by infantry & mine attacks. Men of the United States Army’s 193rd Tank Battalion recorded the attack method as such: “Japanese squads of three-to-nine men attacked individual tanks. Each man in the squad filled a role. One man threw smoke grenades to blind a targeted tank. The next man threw fragmentation grenades to force the tank’s crew to close their hatches. Another man placed a mine on the tank’s track to immobilize it. A final man placed a mine or explosive charge directly on the tank to attempt to destroy the tank.” These direct, ferocious and desperate assaults led to a number of unique improvisations in appliqué armor by the USMC. The US Army would also employ these improvisations as more troops and tanks from this branch were deployed to the Pacific."

Hi All Started this while letting the Comet varnish harden, very impressive good mouldings no flash, Just one small part missing rear towing lug. did not take too long to get this far which surprised me, when assembling suspension don’t follow the instructions fully, after the first part you have to then prise the bottom open to get the wheels in, I struggle with CA on the Pe parts get it everywhere!, bit of work needed to get the bogies to fit to hull it’s very tight. missing lug on right, I made a handle for the rear doors as I broke it, and the lump with the pe was not very clear how it mounted. cheers Mark getting the bug big time lol 😂

Hope nobody minds this post ...you have all seen this before, i was so happy with the Jagdtiger and the small base i did for it i decided to do the same for the Orphan...this is the result.

Hi everyone, first time poster here. This is my 1:35 Super Sherman from Tamiya. Done with Testors olive drab, weathered with an acrylic wash and Tamiya pigments.

Spotted this one on Fcebook this morning, for December release apparently:

This is my M4A3E8 SHERMAN "Easy Eight" from Tamiya - is my second scale model and first tank I made. On it I tested different primers (as on previous model had some issue). Kit went nice even for a begginer like me. Those are general pictures - can add more detailed ones later if necesary

Kit - Tamiya. Paint - Mig acrylics (OD Modulation set), Tamiya acrylics & enamels, Humbrol enamels. Decals - Star 35-C-1048 M4A3E8's, 6th Armoured Division Extras - Legend 'Fury' stowage, Verlinden M4 Stowage, various Tamiya, Historex & Italeri pieces. M4A3E8 Sherman 68th Tank Bt. 6th Armd Div. Near Leipzig, Germany. May 1945 Started in September 2018 after a good friend realised he just wouldn't be able to 'do it justice', he also included the Legend resin stowage set - which is vast, I put it to one side in early 2019 to start another project and then lost the enthusiasm. So after spending most of last year on the 'Shelf of Forgetfulness' I brought it back to the bench in November, and have grabbed a few sessions here and there since then. This was the first time I'd used Mig acrylics - the full OD modulation set, also included by my friend - not surprisingly I was VERY nervous about this entirely new (to me) way of painting an AFV, but by watching a number of excellent YT tutorials and having a new bottle of 'brave pills' to hand I simply tried it and... well I think I got lucky, first time out. After the decalling I simply weathered and faded the model in the usual way with a pin wash, overall washes, oil-dot filter and finally pigments (ughhhh). Used another 'new' product for the final matt coat - Migs' Ultra Matt 'Lucky' Varnish (A.Mig 2050). Really scary when I tested it on the underside, as it immediately went-on 'milky', but after ten mins it dried so matt, that light simply falls into it - nil reflectivity, bl**dy marvelous stuff but only apply in VERY light mist coats. One of Tamiya's very best and an utter joy to build. Won't be to everyones' taste and definitely will upset some Shermaholics I'm sure. No matter please feel free to ask any questions, make any comments or pass-along any criticisms. Best from NZ. Ian.

Time to declare my build for this first armour STGB. It has been a bit of a struggle to decide what to build and I've been torn between several different scales and manufacturers before going back to my original choice. I've re-decided on Eduard's reboxing of Tasca's M4A1 (Tasca kit number 35010). I've recently completed another 1/35 build which I thoroughly enjoyed so thought I'd stick in the same scale. So this is the kit box: ..........you can also see I've recently picked up the Haynes Owners Workshop Manual for £6 Good timing from the Works! I'm going to build the kit as “Goldie”: ...which landed at Normandy on June 9th and took part in the Battle of Bloody Gulch near Carentan, France, a week later. As I mentioned above the kit is a reboxing of Tasca's kit but includes some nice Photoetch from Eduard - although the version I'm building doesn’t use all of it: Looking forward to the weekend. Kind regards, Stix

Can anyone tell me how many holes there are on the adapter used to fit the british all round vision cupola to the sherman turret? My best guess is 16, but it is difficult to tell from the single photograph that I can find!

With the varnish still drying, I'm calling this one done and photographing it. Aerials need to be fitted and, rather distressingly, I appear to have lost a small part that fits on the rear of the commander's hatch This is Dragon's Sherman Firefly 1c. I've had it in my stash for years, always meaning to build it , but put off by the individual track links. I haven't the patience to put them together, and bought AFV club's T62 Track for M4 VVSS. No idea if it correct for this Sherman, but I wasn't about to put those links together. Having bought the tracks, I put them somewhere 'safe', which meant I 'lost' them, then 'found' them, only to 'lose' them again as I didn't have time to build the tank. Roll of a few repeat iterations and years, and I finally manage to get both together, start the build, then stop the build for house improvements i.e. double glazing and replacement kitchen. I finally get up the gumption to restart the build, got to the point of painting it olive drab, only I discovered I had sprayed faded olive drab - a sort of sand. Back the tank went to the shelf of doom as I figured what to do. I normally do aircraft, and turn to tanks when I get fed up with the rigours of getting perfect finishes on planes. However, my tanks are usually completed as fresh out of the factory i.e. a simple paint job, with no weathering. I finally worked up the enthusiasm to get going on this tank again, and decided to spread some sort of dark green over it in a desperate attempt to make it look sun faded. Basically I sprayed a little, brush painted a little, dry brushed a little, splashed it all over a little, and relied heavily on transparent burnt sienna and burnt umber for the rusty bits. I don't really have a clue what I am doing, as I normally go for a pristine finish. After about a half a day elapsed time of faffing around like this, I'd had enough and decided it was time to fit the AFV tracks. First a clean with soapy water. Then a coat of Halfords Flexible Vinyl spray. I find it is gives a good base for paints. However, when dry fitting the tracks I noticed they looked a little tight...too tight in fact to fit the tracks. Undaunted I simply stretched the tracks, and soon one began to fit better, and then the other one snapped in half! The air turned blue for several minutes. In the end, I worked out a plan. Stick the broken track together with the overlapping joint provided by AFV. I used superglue, rather than the technique of applying a hot screwdriver to melt the nibs on the joint. Then I offered the track up to the tank, ensuring the broken end met over a lower wheel. The track was then stuck to the road wheels with copious quantities of super glue. I wasn't really enamoured by the Dragon kit. Attachment points seemed vague to non-existent, while the front sprockets wouldn't fit; needing a bit of hacking. It also seemed over engineered. You can see part of the problem with the left front track. It looks splayed, much Wall-E when he got squished. You might also note a little raised bit in the middle of the right track. There were a few other areas which caused me much lip pursing. I like my old, simple Tamiya tank kits. I sort of painted the yellow triangle, but tried to make it look as is this was a tank that had gone through quite a bit, with the crew having to repair and paint bits. I didn't bother with unit markings. Quite a few photos I see of Fireflies show no unit markings; either deliberate or simply hidden under much grime. Also, it occurred to me that if you were in Panther or Tiger country, the last thing you need is a nice bright, colourful unit insignia to make it easier to spot you. Alternatively, I could have loaded up the tank with all sorts of equipment, and thus neatly hide any unit markings. I was too lazy to do so. I have another, exciting, tank to be getting on with. I photographed the tank in the garden in full sun. In many ways this was a mistake. The sun tended to remove contrast and sort of bleach out the colours. The faded tops and sides do not look as sandy as on the model, and the green I splashed about is simply not green enough. Sigh. Better efforts required next time. Just for the record. My camera/lens combo is a Canon 800D with a Sigma 150-600mm contemporary. I simply stood about 3m (10 feet) away from the tank, zoomed in, and photographed it. I had a minimal field of depth. It seems to work, and provides a nice hazy background. I was too lazy to switch lenses. The overhead shots were obtained by me leaning out of the first floor bedroom window. 🙂 🙂 🙂 Glad none of the neighbours were about. I shall now take my next, continued build, from the shelf of doom. A King Tiger (Late). I have the turret built, but that's about it. I will complete this one, before tackling a Tortoise and then Crocodile. Angus

I've got a load of US Shermans to paint for the Flames of War game and just want to check what Olive Drab base colour to use. I remember building the Tamiya 1/35 M4 Sherman kit when it came out in the 90's (nice kit too!) and I'm sure it quoted AS06 (spray paint) Olive Drab. I've ran this through the Ultimate Paint Conversion Chart and the closest match in Vallejo (which is what I mostly use) is Brown Violet (RLM81 in the Model Air range). Now Brown Violet or RLM81, does look similar to Tamiya's AS06 if I remember right. What do other people think about US army olive Drab in WW2? thanks Mike

Hi, This is a 1:35 model I finished 2 month ago, the Sherman M4A3E8. This is Tamiya KIT no. 35346. I made it as movable model and also all hatches are openable (the film about how can it ride is at the bottom). Additional parts are the Friulmodel tracks, small accessories and decals. Constructive criticism is encouraged. To dispel doubts - darker areas on the hull are the camo and not a failure of painting

Hello all. Today i want to show my old project, this model build during 11 years (start 2003 end of 2014). In model i used add parts: Aber PE set & Bronco track link set. Best regards. Michael.

M4A1 SHERMAN 1/35 ITALERI Hi Pals, here is the Sherman for the occasion, finally finished, not exactly as I thought at first, but IMHO, it's not bad at all .... As I mentioned in the thread of the GB, I had problems with the choice of what the kit would look like, first, U.S. Army of choice of Italeri, then U.S. Winter Camo, and finally something with a British accent ... more or less with the resources that were available ... What to say about the tracks, the ones that the kit brought, when they were already fixed and painted, ended up collapsing ... damn ... fortunately, I had the others from the same kit that I did about 1 century ago (I really did them in the last century ... lol), and interestingly they had better quality than the most recent ... "Twilight Zone ....". Some shots in detail... Some shots closer... Thanks for watch and comment as always, cheers mates

Greetings Sherman Fans. My entry for this GB will be this Photo for discussion only from the excellent walk round HERE. I may also make an instructor figure as this is a driver instructor in the Israeli Army.... After that I assure you things will go downhill.... This is what I'll be starting with My big box of unloved Sherman bits left from several stalled and abandoned builds. Fortunately there are enough bits to build this vehicle but I will be replacing the horrible HB tracks with THESE from OKB Grigorov and using his drive sprockets HERE. The HB tracks are a little narrow due to overthick drive sprockets. But they seem right for the slightly narrower items fitted to the T29...... The M4A1 upper hull has had an engine bulkhead added to keep the lower hull aligned and it's engine deck removed for another project which, as you may guess, never got finished. Roll on the 30th!

Hi all, While I'm usually a wings and rotors man, I decided to try my hand at an armour kit for the M3 M4 Medium Tank GB here. So to ease myself into it, I went for one of the Meng Toon tanks - very small kit so here's a link to the very small build thread ! And if that wasn't enough modelling heresy, I finished it as an Oddball Sherman from Kelly's Heroes. (well, with my own surname being Moriarty, I guess I had to!) I suppose you could call it a What-the? kit of a What-if Sherman.. First time i've tried weathering a tank and mostly homemade bits for the stowage/loudspeaker/gun tube. The crewman is from Tamiya, donated by a fellow modeller. Meng M4A1 Toon Oddball_Sherman_Done by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Meng M4A1 Toon Oddball_Sherman_Done (7) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Meng M4A1 Toon Oddball_Sherman_Done (5) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Meng M4A1 Toon Oddball_Sherman_Done (4) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Meng M4A1 Toon Oddball_Sherman_Done (8) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Will finish a small base for it shortly too. Thanks for looking and comments welcomed. Woof woof! Dermot

So after getting the ok from the Sarge (thank you), I'm in with this one.. Meng M4A1 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Just three sprues, two vinyl tracks and some decals Meng M4A1 contents by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Going to add a couple of Tamiya figures, kindly donated by club colleague and Sherman guru Pat. He also sold me the kit (cheers Pat). Tamiya crewmen by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr I know it doesn't have a scale and looks a bit odd in this company.....but thought it might be something to have a bit of fun with! Cheers, Dermot

Hi everyone, really looking to getting this one going! This is the kit, The contents of said box, The extra bits dragon have included in the kit the side fenders are photoetch which is nice and looking at the instructions the road wheels rubber bits can be slipped on later which will mean no masking!! The suspension seems workable and there's a barrel for the 105mm gun which is nice. The only problem is that the way the rubber/vinyl tracks have been stored is that they are stuck on this position. The plan is maybe to do the USMC machine as I like the yellow on green but Ill have a look for decals if not I'll just go for kit ones. Joss

HI Pals, Now I have an interval of time and I'm going to start with the Sherman kit I have for Britmodeller's GB. It's all about an oldie, the M4A1 at 1/35 of Italeri. I had it stored in a closet about 15 years ago, and I did not buy it at the time, it came as a gift for deliveries in a collection of Osprey house books on armored vehicles. It's not my favorite Sherman, because it combines cast iron hull with 76mm long cannon, for my taste, hull with straight sides and short barrel, it attracts me more, but at the moment it is what I have available (I should not buy more kits until I do site ... lol). For the time that this kit has, it is not so bad, it includes a lot of detail, although the tracks will surely give me problems, because I have already finished other kits "brothers", and have almost always ended up breaking, because the plastic must be bad for the passage of time. I think I can get a decent result at least, although from what I've seen a little, there are already many models started (some finished), and the average level is very high. I hope to hurry, because there is less time ... Cheers mates

Hello all, Here is my recently completed Sherman diorama I entered for the M3/4 group build - M4 Sherman meeting up with an advance party of the 2nd SAS Regiment, Normandy 1944. The build thread is here The Sherman is Tamiya's great M4 'Early' kit with Legend stowage set and some other odds and sods. The SAS jeep is Italeri's Commando Car, with Dragon figures and some extra kit from the spares thrown on. The base was pre-made and bought of a famous auction site. Thanks for looking, Dave

Hi there, I've setup my workbench and found my kit, so if glue and paints are not dry, I should survive my umpteenth comeback to modelling, this time after four years. For this Sherman GB, here's my choice. Dragon M4A3E8 "Thunderbolt VII", which will... not be build as "Thunderbolt VII", but I won't tell you more, at least for the moment. I used to review each kit I build, but not this time, as Terry Ashley does it very well. I've got a few books to help me during thid build. Well, it's about time.

Dear fellow Britmodellers, just finished this one over the holidays - Dragons 1/72 M4A4 Sherman in British service, Normandy 1944, built from the box with the addition of CMK stowage. Painted with Gunze/Mr.Hobby acrylics (H304), weathered with artists' oils and pastel chalks, photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. Greetings from Vienna.