Sherman Turret (Early)
#TX 0074
Review by Terry Ashley
The quality of the casting on the major parts is excellent with crisp details but there are a couple of minor blemishes on the smaller parts such as a sizable air hole in the MG mounting post on the Commander’s hatch ring and the three lifting eyes have some flash needing cleanup as well as the usual casting blocks to be removed.
The turret has the five pour points around the front edge with some minor cast seams on either side of the outer pour points but with care there shouldn’t be any problems cleaning this up.
Unfortunately the resin parts are exact reproductions of the parts in the Tamiya M4 Sherman (Kit No. 35190) with only minor changes. The resin M34A1 mantlet, Commander’s hatch ring and rotor cover even have the pin ejector marks cast on the inside in the same places as on the Tamiya parts.
Also the mantlet still retains the oval hole for the Tamiya plastic barrel but the end of the aluminium barrel is round meaning you have to drill out the hole to fit the metal barrel and there is no co-axial MG for the mantlet or any of the foundry stampings or casting numbers seen on resin Sherman parts from other manufacturers these days such as those from Blast Models, CMD, Formations, Tank Workshop/TWS etc.
The only alterations on the resin parts is the removal of the pin marks from inside the two turret hatch doors and the removal of the grab handles from one hatch while the turret has the lower bustle section of Tamiya part E13 included with the upper turret casting and the pistol port is also included in the turret casting with only the turret ring insert being separate. On closer inspection there is also some additional texturing added to the turret surface but this very subtle and not readily evident probably due to the colour of the resin.
No instructions are included with the set but I guess the parts are self explanatory to Sherman buffs and if you get this set to go with the Tamiya kit you already have the relevant instructions anyway.
If you were to use this turret set to go with the just released M4A2 hull from Trakz and have a spare Tamiya M4 turret lying about then its probably better to save your money for something else like a good Sherman detail set.
Nothing much else to recommend unless you want an early turret without loader’s hatch to replace the later turret in some kits and you do get an aluminium barrel.
Page created 25 April 2004