Fixing Tamiya's early Sherman

Don't worry, our shermanfreak will answer you eventually.

Let me check some of my references a little further Larry.
Off the top of my head the road wheels are fine .... they are the spoked style and that will work.

There are two other areas of concern that I want to dig a little deeper on.
1) if that style of mantlet was used in N.A. or did they all have the early style
2) if any of this style of hull was used there, or were they all equipped with direct vision slots.

The T.W. suspension is a nice set and will work just fine for this project. They also have the M4 hull with direct vision slots too if you need to go that way.

I should be able to let you know by tomorrow.

What should have been the simplest of answers to dig up ..... ya right.

What you want to build is right on the cusp of many, many changes in the Sherman. For the time frame that you want, I can't find a single N.A. M4 picture in any of my references. Lots of M4A1's, but no M4's. The text references the M4, but also states that they were probably M4A1's.
Does this mean there were no M4's used by the U.S. at this time and in this place, absolutely not. Never, never, never say never when talking about the Sherman.
Now this is what I do have:
- both the M4 and M4A1 served with the British forces in N.A.
- some American / British Shermans had Direct Vision slots ..... some didn't.
- some of them had the early mantlets and some had the later style mantlets
- some had the M3 suspension and some already were fitted with the M4 suspension

So where does this all leave the Tamiya Sherman kit that you have you ask.
If the U.S. did indeed have the M4 in N.A. (which I strongly suspect they did and I'm just not seeing the pic in front of my face), the only thingthat you definitely have to change is the suspension. Even though the kit comes with the M4 suspension, it is the later type with unswept return roller arms instead of the level ones. These are the type that come in Academy's M12 kit and DML's OOP M4A1. I'd still get the TW M3 suspension set and use it because it is just so rarely seen on a Sherman kit. Everything is in the Tamiya kit will be just fine for your build. If you have a photo to work off of even better (and please forward it to me so I have one too).

Most of all, stop dying, start building and have fun with this build.

QUOTE: Most of all, stop dying, start building and have fun with this build.

Will do! Thanks for the heads-up. Sherman -- the tank that conquered North Africa! The liberator of Bizerte!

There's a photo of a Sherman in the Rick Atkinson book An Army at Dawn, but it's not a close-up. You may be able to discern details as it crawls across the wadi, but I don't have the same eye for Shermans.

How about the reinforced armor -- the plates they give you? Were they using that in North Africa, I mean in American forces after TORCH?

Any suggestions on color scheme? Was it simple OD in Torch? Should the stars still be yellow, or had they switched over to white by early '43? Did they still carry the big American flag on the hull?

BTW, this is off-the-top-of-your-head stuff only. Please don't go to trouble or do research.

Hey Larry,

Don't have that book but if you could scan the pic I may be able to identify it.

To the best of my knowledge the plates were added later.

I'm looking at a pic of an M4A1 of the 1st A.D. at Kasserine. Overall scheme is O.D., stars and other markings were yellow, registration number in blue. No Amerian flag on the hull. This is from the book "The Sherman at War" by Zaloga. Decent book with lots of reference photos.

Have fun Larry.

if you want i could check my books out for M4s in the Tunisian campaign

QUOTE: Originally posted by Captain Caveman if you want i could check my books out for M4s in the Tunisian campaign

Caveman, I appreciate the offer, but I should have to do the footpwork myself.

Thanks for the additional good word shermanfreak. I might write some of the vets of the division to see if I can get any info out of them.

Had 4 more books arrive in the mail today .... two may contain some info .... I'll let you know if I find anything.