Codename: Sherman 2016 - 3pc Differential Housing Conversion 210122

[Rubicon Models]

This is from "The Sherman at War" book by Steven Zaloga published by Concord, 2000.



As for "Dixie Belle", the decal sheet from Asuka Model is white, and for "Honky Tong", the Dragon decal sheet is white too.

Anyway, we will look more into this issue before we finalise anything before sending the file to print next week.

[H0ffmn]

I don't have the 1/35 Dragon or the 1/35  Asuka kits to reference.Thanks for checking into it,like you said before, it is difficult to tell dirty white from yellow, along with red from black in black and white pictures

[Rubicon Models]

I don't have the 1/35 Dragon or the 1/35  Asuka kits to reference.Thanks for checking into it,like you said before, it is difficult to tell dirty white from yellow, along with red from black in black and white pictures

That's very true, particularly all the historical B&W pictures for "Honky Tong" was different angles of the burnt tank, not much to follow regarding colour.  However, "War Daddy II" is a different story.  It was captured by the Germans, and they had sprayed "white" letterings on the M4A1 hull just above the "War Daddy II" name.  The name was definitely of a "different" white; was it "yellow" or just "white with dust" is another story.  We will continue to look into this before we send the decal to the printer.

[H0ffmn]

   I don't collect or build 1/35 scale kits, but while looking up the Asuka kit that you referenced, I found an image of the 1/35  Tasca M4A1 kit that had decals in both white and yellow for War Daddy and Dixie Belle
  I guess that they weren't sure either, so printed them in both colors.

[Rubicon Models]

As our M4A1 and M4A4 new releases are drawing near, you can do some planning for your M4 collection based on the information we are providing here... We hope you find these useful!





Enjoy!

[Rubicon Models]

   I don't collect or build 1/35 scale kits, but while looking up the Asuka kit that you referenced, I found an image of the 1/35  Tasca M4A1 kit that had decals in both white and yellow for War Daddy and Dixie Belle
  I guess that they weren't sure either, so printed them in both colors.

We do understand getting the colour right is what we should be doing, but we also had to consider making the decals to be useful for others who are not so concerned about history but rather they can use these "names" for just their tabletop tank for any period. Hence, "white" seems to be a more logical choice for us.

[Rubicon Models]

The final version of the M4A1 and M4A4 decal sheet...  Need to send them to the printer soon to meet our deadline!

Any more comments?





Enjoy!

[ultravanillasmurf]

That production timeline is very useful.

[Tracks]

The final version of the M4A1 and M4A4 decal sheet...  Need to send them to the printer soon to meet our deadline!
Any more comments?

Not sure what the deadline is, but this coming weekend when I have more time I will take a closer look. However, I am no expert on British markings (I have a few really good books on the topic), so my focus will be on the American and Soviet markings... oops, no Soviet decals. 
No worries, I have lots of leftover soviet decals from other Rubicon Models kits. 

Except for the yellow verses white issue discussed earlier, everything looks good so far. I will look at these with  more interest this coming weekend, and if I find any major issues or critical errors, I will post it here on Sunday.

Why only just two stars? 
What I can't understand is why you (Rubicon Models) did not include three stars - at least for the 8mm and 6mm stars. Believe it or not, having three stars is more useful for a wider range of typical/historical markings. This is only a problem with the stars that have the white circles. If someone just needs plain white stars (no circle), a good knife/scalpel and a steady hand is all you need to get more plain stars.

For an example of seeing too many stars, I should scan and send this wartime photo in one of my books that shows some Sherman tanks each with five (and maybe six) white starts. Granted, this was far from the norm.

[Eclaireur]

I see a few changes on the Commonwealth sheet - well done!

The red 67 tactical sign allows the modeller to mark the tank for the later phase of the north African campaign (eg 5 RTR in 7th Armoured Division) and the 86 was one of the regimental signs used during the early part of the Italian campaign. Also some decals for the NZ armoured brigade in Italy. And of course the standard armoured divisional numbers (51-53) for NWE and latter phase of the Italian campaign. The 3 digit regimental numbers allow you to model 4th (121 etc), 8th (993+) and 33rd (172+) Armoured Brigades in NWE.
Very nice!
EC

[ultravanillasmurf]

Would you have more than two stars the same size?

[ripley]

Looking at wartime pictures , yes . Some tanks seen with same size stars on hull sides , front and engine deck . Some seen with 2 foot (?) stars on hull . a smaller ( 10 inch ? ) star on front and rear and a large star on engine deck or turret top .  Some had solid circle , some broken circle , some no circle , sometimes a mix on the same tank !!! Best to check references  to see what the unit you want to depict did and when . If you need extra stars let us on the site know , probably someone  will have ones they don't need . Personally I really don't like to use  the stars or if I use them I tend to paint over them as the troops did . Big white star - aiming point for German guns !!!

[RFT]

Enjoy!

Inspired by this I made my own version as a google sheet that also covers suspension variants and the composites (which always get rolled into M4 which is a shame as it’s my favourite version). No prod numbers but there to visualise how when the main visual changes went in and out of production.



https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15LoHxJSpfJaXGSgc0EqDeUSmu9oHbkKRulAO4xE1Cbk/edit

[EarlyWarGamer]

Nice one RFT!!!

[Tracks]

Nice work RFT, and the additional information about the VVSS and HVSS with small or large hatches should be helpful for those that need more information in determining which model kits to get to make any specific version.

Because the M4A1 kit will offer tracks with the early boggie, it also might be helpful to some to note when they switched from the early to the later boggie. Note however, that the early boggie can be still found on combat M4 Medium tanks long after they stopped installing them at the factory.