Part 1: First Look

MSRP: $13.50 First Look Usually I build 1:35 scale armor. I used to think of 1/72 or 1/76 scale kits as "toy like" - until I was at a show planning meeting at the home of fellow Pelikan Model Club member Larry Williams. Before the meeting, Larry showed me a 1:72 scale Dragon kit of the FAMO and I was just blown away at the level of finesse and detail of the parts. Then came the opportunity to review this 1:72 Dragon kit of the M4A2 Sherman and well, I just couldn't resist . . . By the way, this model depicts the diesel powered M4A2 used by the USMC, specifically by C Company, 3rd Tank Battalion of the 1st Marine Amphibious Corps in the Tarawa landings, November 1943. The Kit When you open the box, you are greeted by the sight of five, light gray plastic sprues (Dragon's customary color) containing a total of 148 parts (in building this kit the instructions call out for the use of only 95 of those parts). The hull comes in two parts that form the upper and lower halves. There is an amazing fret of very tiny and delicate photo etch parts (14 in all) containing, primarily, brush guards and periscope guards. These PE parts are optional, since the corresponding parts are also supplied on the plastic parts sprues. Tracks are supplied as one-piece, soft flexible plastic parts. I was told that these parts respond to the use of styrene glue, but we'll see about that . . . To finish it off, you get a nice decal sheet with seven options of vehicle markings: all Tarawa Shermans. A nice, clear color instruction sheet rounds out the box contents. A Closer Look Overall, this looks like a gem of a kit. Parts are cleanly cast with little flash found. There are no visible ejector pin marks (where they would show on the finished model) and the level of detail has to be seen to be believed: Dragon even supplies the counterbalance springs for the drivers' hatches as separate parts and they even look like what they are supposed to represent - not just little blobs of plastic. Foundry marks are even present on the bogie trucks, but curiously, nowhere else on either the hull or turret. Nice cast texture on the turret, but missing on the one-piece transmission cover (E1). There are no shrink marks on any of the parts in my sample here. Mold seams are present but aren't too prominent and should prove easy to remove. I did, however, notice a weird mark on the outside faces of four of the six bogie truck main housings (parts C5 and C6). Due to the delicate nature of the detail of these parts, fixing these anomalies will prove difficult (if not impossible) at best. And cleaning them you must, since it is noticeable. There are heavy sprue attachment points on several parts, most noticeably on the drive sprockets (parts C9 and C10) and on the cupola hatch parts (A12 and A13). Looks like a PE razor saw blade will be a wise move on removing these as well as other delicate parts from the sprues. Some neat touches on this kit are things like the separate shell ejection port cover on the turret and separate periscopes and rotator plates for the hatches, as well as the aforementioned alternate PE parts, which for no reason other than pure personal torture, I plan to make use of. Accuracy-wise, this kit looks pretty good when I compared it to my references. But on real close inspection, I did notice a few missing or inaccurate things: These M4A2's utilized the intermediate pattern hulls. As a result, there should be another oil filler cap in the center of the area just behind the engine deck access hatches. Adding one should not prove to be that difficult to do with a punch and die set. The engine deck itself seemed to me at least, a bit too "square" in shape. I think it needs to be a bit more rectangular to the port and starboard sides. Also, the grills themselves seem a bit too simplified and should have more grills packed into the space provided. There should be a rack of sorts at the rear of the hull - most all of the Tarawa Shermans had them. This detail is missing in the kit. The instructions do not call for the use of a tow cable, but I can see them on photos of Tarawa Shermans - especially on "Condor", the vehicle I plan to depict. Oddly, tow cable ends are supplied in the kit - parts B24 - but are shown as not used. Again, according to my photo references, these M4A2's had towing pintles mounted to the transmission cover - a detail not shown on part E1. Again, these parts are in the box, but you'll need to perform some minor surgery to use them. There should be a splash plate mounted between the two welded drivers hoods. The lift rings on the hull should all feature rectangular block bases at all four positions - the kit only shows this on the two forward positions. There is no antenna mount provided - again, odd when you consider some of the many other tiny details provided for in the kit. Conclusion Some of these things can be nitpicks for sure, but they are there (or not there). Luckily, all of these fixes (except for the engine deck hatches) are relatively easy to do. For the sake of this review, I will only fix those things that the kit provide parts for, specifically, the tow cable and tow pintles. Overall, I am quite impressed at the quality and level of details in this kit - exceeding that of some older 1:35 scale Sherman kits. I'd like to thank Dragon USA and IPMS for the opportunity to review this kit. Stay tuned for the build in part 2.

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