Early M4 Suspension
w/Horizontal Return Roller bracket
1/35 #F006
Review by Terry Ashley
The set consists of just twelve resin parts and a length of plastic rod with the main bogies cast in one piece with separate top track guides, the rest of the suspension is from the Sherman kit you are backdating.
The casting of the bogie in one piece eliminates the join of the kit parts which is sometimes hard to remove but there is some cleanup needed for the mould seam line and excess resin between the return roller and bogie but nothing that can’t be dealt with easily.
The bogies have nice details including the casting numbers while the track guides have the four securing bolt heads included.
Assembly is straightforward with the assembled Italeri/Dragon kit suspension
arms and volute springs being slipped into the resin bogies and secured with
a short
length
of plastic rod inserted through the rear of the bogie to mate to a small notch
in the front of the bogie.
It is also possible to use the nicely detailed Academy suspension arms but
the centre locating hole on the arms will need to be enlarged slightly and
the height of the volute springs reduced by about .5mm.
To attach the new resin bogies to the kit it would be helpful to superglue a thin shim of plastic card to the rear of the bogie so you can use normal plastic glue when attaching to the hull.
Page created 26 December 2003