Dragon

1/72 Sherman M4A3 (105mm) VVSS

Kit Number: 7274

Reviewed by  Clarence (Clare) Wentzel , IPMS# 1096

MSRP: $13.50 Review kit courtesy of Dragon USA (www.dragonmodelsusa.com) Background The M4 Sherman was America's main tank during World War II. The design was suited for easy manufacture by America's "Arsenal of Democracy" and around 50,000 units were built. Early versions fared badly against the armor of Rommel in North Africa but the basic design continued to be improved and later models were very effective. The initial design reflected American inexperience in designing combat vehicles plus the need to use some components from the earlier M3 design. Improvements included different engines, different designs for the hull and turret, various armament etc. With a massive production plan in place, the Sherman was supplied to Canada, Lend Lease allies in addition to being the prime US tank. Versions of the Sherman continued to serve in Korea. The Kit A quick check of the Dragon USA web site reveals that Dragon offers thirteen different models of the Sherman in 1/72 scale. The subject of this kit features a 105mm Howitzer designed for assault support. This version entered action in Europe in mid 1944 and played an important role on the front lines. This variant features the earlier Vertical Volute Spring Suspension, VVSS, rather than the later design Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension, HVSS. Dragon takes pride in utilizing slide mold technology to produce certain items such as the 105mm barrel and the turret. The kit consists of four sprues, individually wrapped plus the upper and lower hull, also wrapped. The kit also includes a sheet of photo-etched parts and a metal wire cable. The PE parts substitute for injection molded parts in the kit so the modeler has a choice of which parts to use. My basic opinion was that most of the molded parts were so fine that if the modeler chooses not to use the PE parts, the accuracy of the model would not suffer. A flexible band of some soft material provides the tracks for this model. Decals and color schemes are provided for three tanks. The first two are white over olive drab schemes from the 6th Armored Division in Luxembourg, 1945. The other scheme is sand over olive drab for the 8th tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division in France, 1944. Disclaimer Let me tell everyone right away that I am an aircraft modeler. A few members of our club have brought some of the modern 1/72 armor models to our meetings and I became curious about them and impressed with their level of detail. When this kit became available for review, I asked John if he wanted it to be reviewed by a non-armor modeler. He agreed, so here we go. The first thing that I found was that although I have hundreds of books in my library, I had nothing on armor. I found a copy of "Sherman in Action" at a contest and this helped a little. I also found that I didn't know the nomenclature associated with armor and armor models so bear with me. Construction Construction started with eight sets of the VVSS suspension parts. Each of these contains six separate components which needed to be painted before assembly. These were attached to the lower hull and then the front and rear components were added. I found that an opti-visor was an absolute necessity to position some of the many minute parts. Next, the upper hull was assembled. Here, the modeler has some options to substitute PE parts. One substitution option is the front fenders of the hull. The PE parts looked much more accurate so I removed the molded-on parts and added the PE parts. Another option is some sort of stowage shelf mounted to the rear of the hull. Again the PE parts looked much better then the injected parts. The third area is the welded bars that surround and protect the front lamps on the tank. The PE parts looked good but my problem was that two PE parts were provided while there were three lamps on the front of the tank and two at the rear. Rather then make the front of the tank look unbalanced, I chose to use the injected plastic parts. They are really finely molded and look good. The remaining major assembly is the turret. Again, lots of small parts make up the basic turret. There were three areas where PE parts could be substituted for the injected parts. I made these substitutions, although I don't have the faintest idea what the parts were. The final assembly is to glue the upper hull to the lower hull and then add the turret. I didn't notice that the treads were supposed to be installed on the lower hull before this assembly. As a result, I spent more effort than necessary to install them on the completed assembly. There is no indication of where to position the joint of the "rubber band" type tracks so I choose to join them at the top where the joint is less noticeable. I used super glue to join them. I am not sure that this is the best way, but it worked. Paint Scheme I chose one of the schemes from the 6th Armored Division. It featured a seemingly hard-edged white pattern over the basic olive drab tank. Without any kind of photo to confirm, I suspected that the white was soft edged and very thin. I applied a soft coat of white over the noted areas and then added a dark oil paint wash to bring out the details. I then created a dirty brown mix to add to the tracks and suspension parts to simulate the mud that would have collected. If I have any complaints about the kit, it relates to the assembly and painting directions. The most blatant error, to my thinking is that the directions say to paint the treads steel color. The reality is that the parts are mostly rubber and should be painted in a rubber gray. Also, there was no indication on whether or not to paint the lamps. Should there be some silver added to replicate lenses? The exterior color schemes were also, in my opinion vague. One of the other suggested schemes for the model seemed to be the one shown on the box cover but the painting did not match the paint scheme drawing. Photos of the real tanks would have helped along with a short description of the color schemes - even if it had to be in six languages. I also had to guess about the locations of a number of the parts, particularly on the turret. Many were clearly located but a number of them were not. Conclusions Overall, I was very impressed with the detail of the kit and with the exception of the comments above, the assembly was straightforward. I feel that most modelers with a little patience could assemble the model. I am pleased with the final appearance of my model, particularly based on my inexperience with armor models. I would like to thank Dragon USA for providing the sample. This model is well recommended.

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