I've now built the M4A2/Sherman III, and nearly finished the basic assembly on 2 M4 Composite/Hybrid Fireflies.
Rubicon's Shermans are a lot of fun to build. It's very cool having all the different variants available in this scale. I am still a huge fan of their simplified tracks, and much prefer them to trying to line up Warlord/Italeri's tracks (which usually don't quite fit properly). So the hull and running gear just about falls together. The improved detail on the lower rear hull is good on both - especially the Sherman III. This means that what is normally the most tedious part of assembling a tank kit can be done in 10-15 minutes.
The 75mm turret sprue is probably the best feature of these kits; it has lots of options, very sharp detail and everything goes together nicely. The 'wargame scale' .50 cal is a good addition, but I think they should just mould all their .50 cals like this. It would be good if it came with separate handgrips. It's otherwise reasonably accurate, apart from the mounting.
The hull pieces are a little bit less satisfactory. The rear plate on the Hybrid hull doesn't sit as well as it should, although the rest of the hull is excellent (and accurate). The M4A2 'small hatch' hull could have done with some more thought; it would have been relatively easy to include the initial glacis with the direct vision ports, and the earlier style hatches. The hatches supplied have moulded-on periscope guards which were only introduced in late 1943. So you end up with a quite late 'small hatch' version that doesn't go with the early turret configurations, and which probably should have applique armour (which you have to make yourself).
A few tips:
- Fill the join where the hull rear plate meets the hull sides.
- Remember to drill out the locating holes for the various Firefly additions before you start assembling.
- If you're using the full sandshields, be careful when you attach them. They should stand out slightly from the hull sides - they shouldn't be flush. You'll also need to make the inner sections on the rear of the sandshields, which are simply left open on the kit. This is a fiddly job, which I haven't attempted yet.
- It seems like a good idea not to attach the upper and lower hull sections until you've painted the suspension. These fit together really well, so it's quite easy to do it this way.
There aren't many accessories. There are several crew upper bodies (British and American), but the detail is still rather soft for my tastes. The Sherman III kit includes a couple of stowage retainers for the upper hull. These were actually fashioned from the rear section of the sandshields and welded to the hull, so you should remove the rear section of your sandshields if you're using them. I think this was a bit of a waste of sprue space, as only 1 unit made this modification.
