M4 Sherman

A second edition to support my US Airborne. A late production M4 (welded hull with a cast nose and wider gun mount).

The M4 or Sherman is probably the best known of all of the Allied tanks from WW2. Over 40,000 (including variants) were built. It may be dismissed, by historians (both professional and arm-chair), it may not have been up to the standard of some of the German and Soviet designs (particularly late war designs), but there were lots of them and it was reliable, easy to maintain (unlike the German Panther) and the up-gunned versions (in particular the British Firefly), gave it a little bit more of a fighting chance against it's opponents. This version is mounting a 75mm main gun, 2x .30 cal machine guns and .50cal machine gun for AA defence.
    

This model is from JTFM and once again I picked up my copy from Wargames Command Post (incidentally Bob from WCP has posted today on TMP that he will no longer be stocking JTFM products). This M4 is originally a Chieftain models master, and the detailing is superb. The model is resin, and only the .50cal on the turret is metal. You get the hull, turret and tracks. The tracks have a lug which fits snuggly into the hull. The commanders hatch comes as a two piece cast, allowing it to be modelled open or closed and this is my only gripe with this model. The two pieces did not fit very well, despite there being  a lip on the inside of the open hatch hole. I had to cut a small piece of circular card and place that inside the opening, glue the hatch covers on top of that and then used 'green stuff' to give it a more secure looking fit. The kit comes with about twenty pieces of resin stowage, none of which I used you will notice.

This beauty has been painted/weathered in much the same way as the M5A1. Except I also sprayed Tamiya Khaki on it but only on select areas to give the appearance of faded paint. I also used two of the MIG filters on it, which resulted in a greener/brighter appearance (I'll put up separate posts soon about the filters etc. for those who are interested). The aerial is a plastic broom bristle.

I did not put any stowage on the model because I wanted to paint it first and then add the stowage. I did the same with the M5, then painted and glued on the stowage. But after completing the Sherman I quite liked it 'clean' so left it as you see it. I may add stowage in the future, but not just yet.

Here is comparison shot of the M4 and M5 to get an idea of size.

Both of these models are 1/56th scale.