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How Many Sherman Barrels Do We Need?
This gun barrel is a treat. For many years, producers have come out with gun barrels for Shermans only to find that they do not match measurements taken by modelers such as Kurt Laughlin.
Until now...This barrel was created using measurements and drawings provided by Kurt Laughlin as well as measurements taken from other museum examples.
Joe at Tiger Model Designs sent me this sample, without the mantlet which is on its way.
The Latest Barrel
The turning is exceptionally well done with minimal tooling marks and the barrel is in three parts. The first is the barrel itself, the second is the locking ring correctly showing four grooves, and the last is the thread protector which a groove that should be lines up with one of the four on the locking ring. This is the only barrel on the market to correctly show this feature. The first photo shows the end. There is no rifling present but most vendors exaggerate this feature.
As expected, the measurements are right on but the model I want to use this on, Dragon's M4A2 does not have a thread protector. Photo two compared Dragon’s metal barrel to the one from Tiger Model Designs. As you can see, the Dragon metal barrel is a bit longer. Strangely, the plastic barrel is correct in length. In photo three, you can see Dragon's muzzle brake above the barrel with the area to be removed marked in black. This area is the plastic rendition of the locking ring.
The details do compare well to the photos on Toadman's Walk Around CD. It is a highly recommended detail item especially when Tiger starts including the resin mantlet to replace one of Dragon’s obvious weak points.
Acknowledgements
The barrel is in stock with Tiger Model Designs in the US and LionMarc Model Designs in Hong Kong and sold without the mantlet (limited time) for only $7.50USD. My thanks to them and Kurt Laughlin for making an accurate Sherman barrel a reality.
References Used
http://www.track-link.net/reviews/b95
http://www.track-link.net/articles/1119
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