Marine M4 Sherman Tarawa

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

I am planning to build a Marine sherman used on Tarawa. What is a good kit to use? I’m thinking 1/48 right now but 1/35 would work too.

this is the site that inspired me.

http://www.tarawaontheweb.org/usmctank.htm

2

I would use the Tamiya M4 kit with the Hauler photoetched set, which is available at track48.com, But I might wait because I think Tamiya is coming out with a Marine sherman soon

3

There is the Dragon Tarawa Sherman;

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/dragon/dr6062.htm

4

Sorry but you need to disregard PBJ’s advice if you want a historically accurate. The USMC didn’t operate the M4. However the Shermans used at Tarawa were M4A2s. These are the subject of the recent DML 1/35 release:

http://www.greatmodels.com/~smartcart/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=DML6062

This model includes the nicknames of all six of the M4A2s at fought at Tarawa.

Right now, I know of no suitable 1/48 kit or conversion to depict one of these USMC M4A2s.

5

Steve Faxon makes a resin conversion for the M4A2. He made a lot of conversions for the Bandai kits and began remastering them for the Tamiya and Hobby Boss kits. Or you can cheat and use the Verlinden Marine Sherman armor set: http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=VE2242

6

OK, I was able to find Steve’s post listing the conversions he makes. Here is a post he made on Sept. 18, 2006:

7

The Dragon kit in 35th is probably the cheapest option, as it works right out of the box. Look into the Archer Tarawa Sherman transfer set, as it has the correct color elephants (yellow). The Dragon kit’s decals are gray. Plus it has some additional tanks from Tarawa such as China Gal and Chicago

8

Dragon kit all the way. Academy and Italeri make one, but there’s more to correct and you’ll still need to address marking. Also, the Dragon kit is just plain better.

9

I agree. The 1/35 dragon M4A2 kit is a real winner, and it covers the bases for your project. I think that’d be your best bet.

JWest, I think it’s time to put your cat on a diet.

10

I converted the Academy kit to the M4A3 for decal option Boomerang. Some of the necessary items were in the kit itself, but you would need some upswept bogies and the M4A3 engine deck. There are 2 options in the kit (the non-wood sided ones) which are actually M4A2s, so less work would be necessary.

He is kinda chubby isn’t he?

11

The Marines used the M4A2 as their standard tank. However, their flame tanks were M4A3’s. Most of the flame tanks were externally the same as the regular M4A3.

12

The Academy M4A2 kit can be made into “Killer” if you can make your own decals. The kits plastic “wood” armor is accurate for this tank. I think the only drawback is that this tank didn’t have grousers on the tracks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:M4-sherman-killer-kwajalein.gif

-Jesse

13

Here is the review where I pulled the M4A3 info for Nightmare,Boomerang and Doris.

http://www.missing-lynx.com/reviews/usa/academym4a2_fdesisto.html

Also. Hardcorps also has a pic of Doris and also says it was an M4A3 (second down)

http://www.hardcorpsmodels.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=8&Itemid=28

I actually just ordered Gilbert’s book, which cites that these were M4A3s. I wanted to get some pictures and read what the reviewer read. Isn’t here yet, though