Sherman M4A3 Lower Hull
1:35 #F054
Review by Terry Ashley
The standard of casting is excellent as usual with crisp well defined details and just the usual casting blocks to be removed along with some minor resin film on a couple of parts.
Included in the set is the Late Single Piece Cast Double Brake Sherman Transmission Cover from set #F053, the rear Exhaust Deflector from set #F033 and the Adjustable Idler Wheel Mounts from set #F052, all of which can be seen in detail with the applicable review.
New parts for this set are the full lower hull casting which includes the rear hull plate and sponson fillers in place plus the two rear exhaust pipes with the only addition required being the rear engine door grab handle from thin wire.
Detail on the lower hull casting is excellent with correct underside details such as the escape hatch, rear engine panels and suspension channels plus weld seams along the underside hull edges and at the hull/sponson cover join.
The side walls and rear plate are cast perfectly straight without any hint of warping and after cleaning up the excess resin at the front the transmission cover fits very neatly but as with any set you should test fit for any minor trimming that may be needed.
The hull is not designed for any particular kit but can be used with the Tamiya M4A3 Shermans, with Italeri's M4A3 or M36B1, with the Dragon M4A3 (76)W or the Academy M36 as well as with the excellent Blast Models M4A3E2 Jumbo conversion or any other aftermarket Sherman hull for an almost endless list of donor upper hulls. It should be noted the hull is not suitable for HVSS tanks as the suspension mountings are quite different.
The suspension mounting plates on the hull side are designed for the Tamiya kit bogie units but you will have to trim off the underside mounting plate
from the Tamiya bogie units to fit as well as trimming the locating pin. To
fit the excellent Tasca bogie units you just need to trim the two upper bolts
from the Formations mounting brackets and align the Tasca bogies on the mounting
plates. Other kit or aftermarket bogie units can be used with minor alterations
to the bogies or trimming the top two resin bolts with again test fitting and
trimming as you go for the best fit.
Some trimming may be required to fit the lower hull to the applicable donor kit and as usual test fitting and trimming where required will get the best result and it would be best to fit the transmission cover before undertaking any trimming to fit the chosen upper hull.
The instructions are the usual drawings of the various sections showing the fitting of the parts with additional text notes and are perfectly adequate to fit the parts without any major problems.
Conclusion:
Another superb yet quite simple update from Rob at Formations that will add
additional details to virtually any M4A3 based kit without any major problems.
Highly recommended
References:
| SHERMAN A History
of the American Medium Tank R.P.Hunnicutt. Presidio Books ISBN 0-89141-080-5  |
Modeler's Guide
to the Sherman MMIR Special. Ampersand Publishing Company, Inc  |
British Tanks
of WWII (1) Concord #7027  |
Check the Formations website for details of other update sets available and thanks to Rob for the review sample.
Page created 16 August 2005