Historical Background
The US Army followed the events in Europe 1939-1940 and decided that their current medium tank, the M2 was obsolete to face contemporary battlefield challenges and designed the M3 Medium Tank (later nicknamed Lee/Grant). The M3 was a stop-gap measure, with the main 75 mm gun in a right-side sponson , with limited field of fire. In late August 1940, the Ordnance Department submitted characteristics for a new design to replace the M3. Development of the prototype was delayed to allow the M3 design to be finished and enter production. On 18 April 1941, the Ordnance Department chose the simplest design, called the T6. It was basically a modified M3 hull and chassis and mounted a fully-rotating turret armed with the M3 75 mm gun. The design borrowed many features from existing tank design such as the vertical volute spring suspension, rubberised track links and the usage of Continental R975 radial engine. The T6 prototype was completed on 2 September 1941 and production commenced in the next month.
The production M4s were kept as close as possible to the M3, including the tracks, suspension and transmission. The hull upper hull however was chaneged to cast type and the side entry door was eliminated. The lower hull was made of large welded parts with the bogies bolted to the hull to ease maintenance and repair. The upper hull was cast for the M4A1 version and welded for the rest of the variants (plus the cast front and welded rear 'Composite hull' M4). The M4 was powered by a Continental R975 air-cooled radial petrol engine rated at 400 hp. 660 liters of petrol was carried, allowing a range of 195 km. Later versions was powered by Ford V8 petrol or General Motors diesel engine. The frontal armour was 51mm thick while the turret front was between 64 mm to 76 mm, The front upper hull was angled at 56 with the lower half rounded, making the armour effective against most early war anti-tank weapons. Even so, the early versions had shot traps, located just in front of the driver and co-driver's positions.
Progressively thicker armour was added to later models and once in combat, crews often add improvised additional protection, using sandbags, wire mesh, spare track links and even wood. The sandbag armour was fairly effective on the sloped frontal armour where it gave extra protection against HEAT warheads (but not AP rounds). In 1944 however, General George S. Patton banned the use of sandbag armour as it was alleged that the sandbags were generally ineffective while the weight added extra burden on the tank. Research also showed that the M4 was prone to catch fire when hit by the enemy, caused by the explosion of ammunition stowed in the sponson above the tracks. This unwelcome trait gave the M4 grim nicknames such as Tommycooker by the Germans and Ronson by the British. A partial remedy was found by welding 25 mm thick additional armour plate to the sides containing the ammunition stowage while later models moved the ammo racks to the hull floor with water jackets surrounding the main ammo stowage. The tanks with the water jackets were known as 'wet stowage' (suffixed 'W') while the earlier stowage was known as 'dry'.
The M4, nicknamed Sherman (after General William Tecumseh Sherman) was originally armed with a L/40 M3 75 mm gun. The standard M61 round fired by this gun can penetrate 87 mm of RHA at 100 meters and 70 mm at 1,000 meters, sufficient to destroy Panzer IIIs and IVs. After protracted development, the Sherman was later armed with a more powerful M1/M1A2 76 mm gun, giving it at least a parity with L/48-armed Panzer IVs. The main armament was backed by two Browning M1919 machien guns; one co-axial with with the main gun and another in the hull. 60 rounds was provided for the main gun with the machine guns shared 4,750 rounds between them. For anti-aircraft and further anti-infantry/soft-skin capability, a Browning M2 12.7 mm machine gun can be mounted on the roof. The Sherman was manned by a crew of five: commander, gunner, loader, driver and assistant driver/hull gunner. Each of the crewmembers had a periscope to allow 360 view of the outside. On early versions, direct vision slits was provided to the driver and his assistant. Despite the inclusion of bulletproof glass and hinged covers, the slits were removed from later models due to bullet splashes.
Production began at the Lima Locomotive Works, Lima, Ohio with all the first production tanks going to the British Army. By the end of the war, ten other production lines were opened, delivering some 48,000 M4s. The Sherman was produced in a number of variants but the most distinctive was the M4A1 with a fully cast, rounded hull. Other distinguishing features were the inverted U-shaped backplate and the rear hull panel similar to the M3. Early M4A1s can also be distinguished by the return rollers being placed on top of the bogies (also like the M3) - it was changed with the more well-known style in Summer 1942. Originally there was only one turret hatch but another one over the loader's position was introduced in December 1943. The early M4A1s were armed with a shorter (L/31) M2 75 mm gun, which was later replaced with the L/40 M3 gun. Late version of the M4A1 was armed with the more powerful M1/M1A1 76 mm gun.
The Sherman was originally issued in small numbers to familiarise the US Armored Divisions. However, following the fall of Tobruk to the Germans and with Egypt and the Suez Canal threatened by further German advance, a decision was made to deliver Shermans to the British. The British received the M4A1 version (called Sherman II) and saw first combat during the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. American Shermans saw their first combat a month later during Operation Torch. The M4A1 (and the original M4) were the prime variants used by the US Army until the introduction of the M4A3 with a more powerful (500 hp) engine. As individual tanks, the Sherman is inferior to the German tanks such as the Panther, being weakly armed (at least for the early version) and thinly armoured. As a type however, it was superior to the German panzers, being reliable, easy to maintain and more mobile than the ponderous Tigers.
Dragon's Kit No. 6404 of the 1/35 ''39-'45 Series' is another entry in that company's new generation of Sherman tanks. Released in 2008, the kit was made up of 305 gray and 22 clear parts, a small fret of PE part, two lengths of one-piece tracks, a length of braided metal wire plus the usual decal and instruction sheets. The breakdown of the parts are similar with the earlier release of 'El Alamein Sherman' (that is, Sherman II/M4A1 used by the British during the Battle of El Alamein) but with the British-specific parts such as stowage bins dropped. The plastic parts are what we would expect from Dragon: well-executed. This specific boxing represented an early production M4A1 with direct vision slits for the driver and his assistant and with the early VVSS system (aka 'M3 type'). The tracks are of the DS100 soft styrene type and are most welcome by me after the tedious experience gluing the three-part tracks for my Firefly kit. The PE set was restricted to just light guards, vent covers, tool tie downs and straps and fender tips. Decals provide markings for two vehicles: 'Hannibal', H Company, 66th Armored Regiment, 2nd Armored Division, Operation Husky, Sicily 1943 and 'Honky Tonk', H Company, 1st Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Sidi Bou Zid, Tunisia 1943.
Construction
I started the building process with the suspension. The six sets of vertical volute suspension system (VVSS) took some time although the build was not as complicated as certain other companies' VVSS. It was also simpler as this particular kit is of an early model M4A1 with M3-style suspension (without the guide skid). Well in any case, despite the larger number of parts per suspension, it wasn't as tedious as having to cut, clean assemnle and paint 16 road wheels of a Panzer IV (and its derivatives)! After finishing the VVSS, they were set aside and I turned my attention to the lower hull. The rear panel and the transmission cover were cemented on the main body. Since the running gear would be mounted by this time, I painted them and the lower hull first. I must also mention that the cast texture on the transmission cover (and also the turret was very nice) and so I don't have to enhance them like I did on my Firefly model.
The upper hull, like the rest of the kit, was well done but still sporting the recessed weld beads. I reminded myself to place stretched sprue on the panel lines, flood them with Tamiya Extra Thin cement and turn them into raised weld beads but end up realising I have not done so only after decal. This was then followed by the rest of the fixtures and fittings on the hull except the pioneer tools. The upper hull was the cemented to the lower half. As the tracks were of the one-piece DS 100 style, they were left off at this time. The turret was next on the line and there wasn't much of a problem here, and as usual, the interior was devoid of any details. The turret has a convincing cast texture and I left the as it is There are two types of gun barrel included in the kit; I chose the 'straight' one. The gun mantlet was completed first before being cemented to the turret shell. The rest of the turret assembly was straightforward with no problems. No M2 heavy machine gun was included (and the Sherman somehwat looked a litte bare without it).
Painting And Decalling
You can paint WW2-era US Army vehicles any colour you like, as long as it's Olive Drab. For this kit I used Tamiya's XF-62 Olive Drab. As all of the Army vehicles were painted a base of Olive Drab, I took a pause and decide which markings to use. Both are attractive ('Hannibal' is of two-colour scheme while 'Honky Tonk' has large American flag of both sides) but 'Honky Tonk' got the nod as it was more 'vibrant' (haha) with large US flags on both flanks. The kit however does not include the yellow band round the turret so it has to be painted. A brown filter was applied. The decals were then applied with no problems even on the rather irregular cast texture (helped by Mr Mark Softer of course). and then followed by the usual wash. The rubber part of the tracks was painted XF-69 NATO Black while the metal prortions were painted a 50/50 mix of XF-69 and XF-64 Red Brown. The tools' handles were simply painted XF-59 Desert Yellow with the metal parts in Steel (what else?)
The kit comes without any accessories (the tools and tow cable are standard issue so they don't count!) So I rummaged through my stash and came up with two ration boxes (the crew must be very fond of tomato juice!), two jerricans, a 75mm ammo crate, a duffel bag and a generic canvas roll; all coming from Tamiya and Academy vehicle accessories sets. And yes, I do think that just two ropes won't hold the stowage on bumpy desert surface but I got tired by this time of this build. While handling the model, it somehow managed to slip through my hands - no major casualties here except the co-axial MG barrel broke and were nowhere to be seen (I'm sure it will resurface in the next month, if not ever) so I have to cut off a barrel from Academy's M1919 MG from the same tank accessories set mentioned above and stick it in place as replacement. The model then received an overall thin cover of XF-57 Buff while the lower reaches of the hull received an additional layer of Mig Productions Iraqi Dust pigment.
Conclusion
What else can I say about Dragon kits? The parts fit well while the 'Smart Kit' concept means a less involved build (with less PE parts). The styrene track simplify the build further and at the same time having very acceptable details plus the 'live' nature of the (actual) tank's tracks means that there is no need to replicate track sag on the model. Dragon also appeared to have the Sherman as its own as nearly all variants of the Shermans have been kitted by them!
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