This kit was recently gifted to me and I’ve since learned that it represents no specific production model. Is this so? And if so would anyone know which model it can be most easily made into?
Also what changes are needed to make it into said vehicle? (I know…I"m pushing my luck).[6][snYea]
If it is a reissue of the old Monogram Hedgehog kit (sandbar armor and Cullin hedgerow cutter), it is a radial engined M4 direct vision hull with small hatches, 3-piece transmission cover, 75mm low bustle turret (no loader’s hatch), narrow gun rotor, and early M3 style bogies.
Basically, it is a very early M4 and I’m not even sure if a version with such early features would have been in service beyond North Africa let alone with the features that place the tank in Normandy after D-Day (like the sandbag armor and hedgerow cutter). But I’m no Sherman expert so take my statement with a grain of salt.
The basic kit (less the sandbag armor and cutter) has the features of the original M4 as it came off the assembly line before any combat testing and modifications made to the production line.
I believe the bog standard “M4” Sherman was used in decent numbers up until the end of the war, although it was not usually in the same squadrons as M4A1a or M4A3s
The early production M4s with the hull direct vision slots (DVS), bolted three piece transmission cover, and M34 mantlet, did indeed have the M3 bogies. Most M4s that had DVS had the M3 bogies. Around the time that the DVS was replaced with periscopesfor the driver and bow gunner was when the M4 bogies were introduced on the assembly line.
I just learned there is a huge issue with the tracks. The link connectors are stuck on the ends of eachlink as opposed to being attached between the links.
It’s something I’m unwilling to overlook. And I certainly don’t want to spend money on aftermarket tracks for such a lousy kit (even if I could find them in this scale).