New Unimodel 1/72 Sherman kit

[Yorkshire man]

New Unimodel kit of Sherman V with 60lb rockets.

 

[Kingsman]

UM seem to be continuing their quest to kit every possible M4 variant and M4-based vehicle.  No bad thing.  This kit makes it 10 early hull and 6 late hull gun tanks and no less than 24 other M4-based vehicles.

 

Usefully, the drivers' hood area of the hull is a separate piece on their 47-degree welded hulls, allowing for different hood type inserts and thus allowing for different sub-variants.  The standard M4A4 kit only comes with DV hoods AFAIK.  The VC kit comes with both types and can be built OOB as a standard V, early or late - making it the best one to get (except that there's no loaders's hatch for the Firefly in their VC or IIC). 

 

This new kit seems to have only the non-DV type, but the shape isn't right for an M4A4: too square-edged and no little undercut at the base.  Those look like the welded hoods unique to Fisher-built M4A2s (and UM's M4A2 kit includes DV, cast and welded hoods!).  The M4A4's cast hoods were unique to that variant and different to all others.  With hull applique fitted there should also be applique plates in front of the drivers's hoods, which are missing here but easily added and which would disguise some of the shape error.  If the DV hoods are in the kit these can be used with applique too, but probably not with the M34A1 wide mantlet.

 

I presume the resin parts are the rockets.

 

[Yorkshire man]

The transmission cover on the new kits is usually resin now, better than the previous five part offering they had which was a pain !