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Tiger Model Designs is probably best known for their extensive line of German conversions, but they do produce a few US items as well.
One such item is the M3 Early Sherman Suspension set.
First Impressions:
I opened up the polly bags to check out the parts. Cast in a gray resin ( my personal favourite resin colour ), I was impressed by the crispness of the casting. There are some really nice details here. The bolts look good, the ribs on the wheels were very sharp, the wheels include the grease fittings as well.
I really liked the texture of the bogies themselves, they have a very convincing "cast look" about them.
A very sharp pair of Early Idler Wheels are also included to complete the Suspension.
The instructions are one sheet of text and a diagram of the parts and placement locations. Everything is well laid out and clear. There are many cautions about test fitting and assembly, more on this later.
There was a fair amount of flash on the wheels and support arms, I also encountered a few blobs of resin in crooks and cranies. The flash was not thick, more like "spider webs" in some of the open spaces between parts.
Clean Up:
All the pieces, and there are 13 per bogie, came off the pour plugs very easily, which is nice. The resin is a softer type which was a pleasure to work with. Some simple scoring with a blade are all that is needed, except the wheels which were sawed off. Then a little light sanding with a sanding stick and some fine sandpaper. Finally I gave the parts a rub with an old toothbrush to get rid of all the fine flash. All told the cleanup took 10 minutes for one bogie.
Assembly:
Now back to the instructions. As I said there are some cautions, first, it is stressed to test fit all the pieces. I did make sure that all pieces fit well, only a couple strokes of a sanding stick made sure all was in line. I assembled the bogies as follows:
* First, 2 Volute Bumper Springs were attached to a Rocker Arm.
* Secondly, I pieced together 2 Wheels ( grease fitting facing out ), a set of Support Arms, and the Volute Spring assembly from the first step.
* Next, glue 2 Roller Support Brackets to a Return Roller and glue to the outer side of the Bogie Support Arm.
* Then you glue the Wheel Assembly to the Bogie piece, and close in with the seperate inner Bogie Support Plate.
* Lastly, mount the whole Bogie to the nice Hull Mounting Plate.
This is a very neat and easy sequence, and obviously was given some thought by TMD.
Final Verdict:
What you end up with is a very nice looking and "accurate" Bogie. I checked the unit against drawings and photos from Harlem's Sherman Booklet, and although I have no measurements, everything looks very in scale and has the feel of a heavy, cast, American steel, Bogie unit.
Uses:
This set would work very well with any M3 series vehicle, as well as an early M4 or M4A1. One note of difference is some later units of this type had a horizontal rib welded between the 2 outer vertical ribs of the Bogie Support Arm, as well, the later Support Arms either did not have (or have installed) the Rod Nuts found on Early Arms. Both these differences could be easily changed.
Personally, I have a Priest with these beautiful bogies name all over it!
Regards, Rick.
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