by Steve Zaloga

This article appeared in the September 1996 issue of Boresight

At long last, we finally have a decent dry stowage M4Al Sherman tank. DML has brought out the best Sherman kit to date with their latest release. On first opening the box, the big surprise is the sheer amount of plastic. The reason for this is that the kit contains a great deal of extraneous parts, mainly from their earlier M4A4 release. For example, there is a full set of the M4A4 metal block track as well as new rubber block chevron track: these are provided as the common end connectors were molded with the track blocks. Presumably, it was cheaper for DML to provide these extra parts than to cut entirely new molds.

The good news is that DML has gone and done a new suspension, representing the mid-war VVS suspension with the horizontal return roller arms. This is a useful item by itself as it makes it possible to correct the recent Tamiya M4 kit which had the later up-angled return roller arms. Secondly, the kit provides an intermediate transmission housing, as well as the earlier three-piece transmission housing found in their M4A4 kit. The whole hull is new including a new lower hull pan and of course the new upper cast hull. The cast hull effects are superb, giving a rough irregular finish without overdoing it. The small detail is excellent- compare for example the driver's hatch on the DML kit with the recent Tamiya kit. The turret is the same assembly provided with the M4A4 kit, meaning that you get both the early M34 and later, wide M34A1 mantlet.

The kit comes with rubber block chevron tracks. These are a royal pain in the butt to assemble, but the finished results are very attractive. I wish that DML would mold the long top and bottom runs in single long strips, and leave the individual links for the rounded sections. This would combine the attractive effects of single link tracks with greater ease of assembly. I like the separate end connectors, as the finished effect is much better than on vinyl tracks. I spent an entire evening just cutting off and cleaning up track. Fortunately, the new track does not have the prominent knock-out pins that have marred some earlier DML tracks.

The instructions are intended to have you built a late 1942 production M4Al. I have always wanted to do a 3rd Armored Division M4Al from Operation Cobra in August 1944 during the St. Lo breakout. There are several classic shots of these tanks motoring down past a destroyed column of panzers from the SS Das Reich Division. This is easy to build from the kit with a few minor additions. These tanks had the hull applique armor. The kit provides the hull applique panels for an M4A4, but these need some modification to fit the curved hull of the M4Al. I also chose to use the later M34A1 mantlet provided in the kit. I added the Cullin hedge-grow cutter from the recent Kirin conversion kit, as well as some of the stowage provided in that resin kit. The C-ration boxes are from the Hudson & Allen sets. The 3rd Armored Division usually welded some metal bars around the turret for added stowage, so I added these along with some rucksacks.

The negatives on this kit are mostly little things. The turret smoke mortar with combing is not typical on US Shermans of this period, and I sanded it off. The radio aerial is the British pattern, so I used a spare Tamiya item. The left side pistol port detail sits a bit high, and could use better defined detail. The new transmission housing is lacking the two lugs for attaching tow cables. Although there are a ton of spare parts in the kit, a lot of small items are not provided including a .50 cal machine gun, tow cables, tow-cable rings, and the .50 cal. machine gun barrel rest on the commander's cupola. These are easy to add rom the spare's box or scratch built.

I picked up the Tank Workshop's M4 dry stowage interior set at AMPS 96 and used it on this model. The interior set provides the essentials, and is ideal for a model like this where you can't see much once it's all closed up. If you wanted to provide a full interior for display, a lot of small piping, wiring, etc. would have to be added. But the resin kit provides nearly all you need if you just want to leave the hatches open. The Tank Workshop kit is nice, but the parts come molded on large runners that take a lot of effort to cut. Some improvements in casting technique would make this kit much less of a chore. I spent far more time hacking off resin sprues than actually assembling the interior. The instructions are also a bit sketchy, particularly in terms of parts positioning. Take some care with boxes near the turret race, otherwise your turret won't fit into the hull.

I used one of the figures from the new DML US Tank Crew set to display near the model. I can't speak highly enough about this new figure set. To begin with, after the flood of obscure German figures, it is about time we have a decent set of US tankers. Secondly, the set is superbly done. The collars of the field jackets are molded separately, permitting a degree of undercut detail found previously only on resin figures. The US tankers' helmets are a gem, coming molded in four pieces. I substituted a Hornet "character" head for the plastic one in the kit, but otherwise this is a - stock figure. If any after-market manufacturers are out there listening, how about a set of US unit and rank shoulder insignia decals!

For markings, I stenciled on the turret tactical number in yellow, and the roof Allied star. For the bumper codes and blue drab serial numbers, I used the new US Armored Division tank markings decal set from The Master's Hobby Supply (Po Box 81454, San Diego, CA 92138, $11.00). I do not particularly like water slide decals for armor models, but for bumper codes and serials, these are the most practical course. The new sheets provide an ample supply of codes and other markings, and they are cleverly designed so that you don't have to assemble the armored division codes--all the basic divisions and attached regiments/battalions are presented at least once.

All in all, an excellent addition to the growing array of Sherman kits. This kit is very useful for anyone wanting to tackle 1942-44 period US and Lend Lease tanks, and even after finishing, you'll have dozens of parts left for scrap box and future Sherman projects.