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British Shermans

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Swamprat33:
Hi Rubicon, I have just completed my first Rubicon Sherman, the British version of the M4A2 (Sherman 111).

This is a trully great model, and i amd planning to get a few more (M4 & M4A2) to replace the old resin WLG Shermans in my British force.

I do have  a couple of niggles with it though.
First is that there are no spare track links in the kit which would have been nice to put onto the front of the tank.
I do have the Allied stowage box, but the Sherman track links are different to those on thios tank.

Second is that the add on armour is not included on the sprues, but is not a massive task to produce IF you have some suitable thin plasticard. I did not, so had to order a sheet.

Third issue is that in general practice British Shermans used the 30cal MG instead of the 50cal HMG in Normandy and beyond. I think there were only a couple of units that kept the ma deuce on their tanks.
I have used the 30cal mg from the Allied Stowage set, but now need to buy another stowage set so that i can fit a 30cal to all my new tanks. It would be great if you could include both types in the kits.

Cheers
Tim

Rubicon Models:

--- Quote from: Swamprat33 on February 01, 2018, 08:01:03 pm ---First is that there are no spare track links in the kit which would have been nice to put onto the front of the tank.
I do have the Allied stowage box, but the Sherman track links are different to those on this tank.

--- End quote ---

Because of the way the new Shermans are designed, we are not able to include "spare" accessories to them.  We might add the spare tracks in our next Allied Stowage Set.



--- Quote from: Swamprat33 on February 01, 2018, 08:01:03 pm ---Second is that the add on armour is not included on the sprues, but is not a massive task to produce IF you have some suitable thin plasticard. I did not, so had to order a sheet.

--- End quote ---

We have studied the M4A2 for add-on armour, not too many have them.  This is similar to the M4 where large hatch model usually doesn't have extra armour.  That's why we only add extra armour on M4 small hatch hull.



--- Quote from: Swamprat33 on February 01, 2018, 08:01:03 pm ---Third issue is that in general practice British Shermans used the 30cal MG instead of the 50cal HMG in Normandy and beyond. I think there were only a couple of units that kept the ma deuce on their tanks.
I have used the 30cal mg from the Allied Stowage set, but now need to buy another stowage set so that i can fit a 30cal to all my new tanks. It would be great if you could include both types in the kits.

--- End quote ---

Again, this had to be addressed with more 30cal MG on future stowage sets...

Pinky:
Swamprat:

The spare track link stowage wasn't a standard feature of British Shermans; it seems to have mostly appeared on the Sherman V.  In NW Europe they welded spare tracks from all kinds of sources onto their Shermans, including Churchills and Panthers.  So pretty much anything goes.

Appliqué armour was a feature of later Sherman IIIs.  Maybe Rubicon were looking at earlier types in use in the Mediterranean, before appliqué armour was introduced..  I'm not sure about the comment about "large hatch" M4s; aside from 105mm variants, late M4s were the composite or "hybrid" version, which did have appliqué armour.

Very few British Shermans had any kind of machine gun mounted on the turret hatch.  It's true that some units preferred the .30 cal, but you'll find few photos of either type.

ripley:
The 3 link stowage fixture seems to show up in pre D-Day assembly pictures . Before that it seems they just added whatever track they could scrounge for extra armor . The narrow style track shoes  all  had the same bolt pattern , so you might see a tank with rubber pads carrying steel chevron track as spares . Note the groucer bars were for use with the flat rubber pad links only  , so if you have steel track on your M-10 for example you can leave off the groucers from the side racks . Yes it would have been nice to have the extra side armor plates , but you do get a pattern in the instructions , and as for plastic ,I've used those plastic tabs that come on bread bags when I was out of sheet styrene . And I can see your point about the 30 cal , but as Pinky said , the Brits got rid of most of their turret mounted mgs . It made it a hassle to get out of a one hatch turret . The Canadians , gave theirs to their Infantry to mount on their Universal carriers , and I read a story about one unit , that claimed they " lost " theirs , in reality , they buried  them soon after landing in France.  And it sounds like Rubicon has plans for more stowage sets with more machine guns and stuff so that will be good for all of us

Swamprat33:
Cheers all, They were only minor niggles tbh and overall it is a superb kit which is light years ahead of WLG.

I will add some of the track links i have then as it also helps to give them an in use look.

Cheers.
Tim

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