Tasca
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Of the many versions of the ubiquitous M4 Sherman Medium tank series, the British "Firefly" conversions is one of the most interesting. UK workshops mated the proven QF 17pdr anti-tank gun onto the vast quantities of American-made Lend Lease Shermans being stockpiled in anticipation of the invasion of France. In 1943, a project to arm tanks with the 17pdr was initiated following batt;e reports with heavier German armor in N Africa and Italy. With disappointing results from the A30 Challenger program, a prototype was readied in Nov '43. In Jan '44, top priority was granted and 342 having been issued by the end of May '44, anticipating the Overlord invasion. The combination of the effective weapon with the reliable Sherman chassis was a boon to UK and Commonwealth troops (NZ, Canadian, S African, French, and Polish units). Conversions continued through war's end with Lend Lease M4A4s (VCs) and M4s (ICs) being issued. Some Firefly conversions were made to US M4A3s but there is no evidence that they were ever issued. The Kit Tasca Modellismo Co. Ltd of Japan announced a "Sherman" kit in 1/35th scale about a year ago. Since then there's been much speculation and discussion on the forthcoming kit. Tasca, finally, are ready to release their first 1/35th scale Sherman kit, which happens only their second tank kit to date. Tasca is a small company based in Japan that produces only a few kits, most notably a German WW2 "Luchs" kit, which is considered by some, myself included, to be the best 1/35th scale injection moulded tank kit ever produced. Well now it seems even this has been surpassed. The kit is moulded in olive styrene with a few clear styrene parts, photo-etched brass and glue-able synthetic rubber tracks. Overall the moulding is excellent. In fact I haven't found any flash or poorly placed knockout pin marks. There is even a minimum of sprue attachment points on the parts; the turret for example, has only two. However did they manage that! Clean up of the parts will be quick. I have been using a set of flush-cutting shears to remove a few parts without any problem. The styrene is of a high quality similar to Tamiya's. In my sample there was no warping or short-shots (common with pre-production kits) either. The photo-etched brass (at least I think it's brass) fret is also well formed and sharp, (see below). The tracks are likewise well moulded. One comment I'd like to make is that I find darker styrene a pain to work with. And yes a I know we paint our models, but I much rather prefer a neutral grey colour like DML use for all of their kits. Also, darker coloured styrene is difficult to photograph for reviews... so if you're reading this Tasca... please consider a lighter more neutral coloured styrene.
Running Gear Tasca had already released the bogie kit that now comes with this kit. The this kit was reviewed by Tim Streeter over on Track-Link (http://www.track-link.net/reviews/k1548) so there's no point in me talking about it. I have built a set of these bogies for my Formations Ram OP and encountered no problems. Although they are complicated and required some concentration. They look great assembled and "work" too. Incidentally, in my sample, Tasca sent the wrong set of bogies, they included the "Late" set. Tasca did e-mail me and informed me of the error and have sent a set of the "early" bogies. For the purposes of this review I substituted a set of "early" bogies that I had on hand. I assume that since this is a pre-release copy that the error has been addressed for the actual public release. An amazing set of tracks are included. These are the British T62 type and appear quite accurate compared to photographs in ref.1 and ref.2. They are moulded in that glue-able flexible synthetic rubber material. Four lengths are included, two of which are to be glued together to make one run. The join between each length is engineered so that it will virtually disappear when glued together, (see photo. 10). There are a few injection point nubs on the inside surface of each length (four per length), I managed to slice one off with a sharp knife, this presented no problems. I hope Tasca release a set of these tracks as a separate after-market kit for other Shermans as they will provide a great alternative to the complex ModelKasten T62 tracks. Lower Hull Looking to possible future Sherman kits, Tasca has engineered the lower hull as a bottom plate with separate hull sides. Starting with the bottom plate (left side of photo.3), which has all the correct access panels and plugs, the right and left hull panels are to be glued in place. These are braced internally with the engine firewall and the rear plate. Incidentally, when the first images of this kit where published a few months ago this firewall was visible, which led to some speculation that the kit would have an interior... well unfortunately it does not, the firewall only serves as a brace in this case. Although it has the correct access panels and will help one in adding a scratch-built interior. And who knows... perhaps Tasca are planning for one? The basic lower hull is finished off by fitting the sponson bottoms to the upper edges of the side plates, the firewall and rear plate will help in their positioning so I gather it's important that the sides and glued and set before fixing them. The upper hull (obviously) fits on top of all this so it's advisable to do a lot of dry-fitting as it looks like some alignment mistakes could be made. Just be wary. The transmission housing is a wonderful piece of model engineering. Comprised of the main housing part with separate drive housings. The fit is OK but a gap does result, it may be trick to eliminate this seam without spoiling the foundry mark details, so care should be taken. The flanges are actually made up two halve, this results in a convincing seam between them, care also should be taken when gluing the flanges together, too much glue will ruin the seam. See photo. 12 for close ups of this area. Upper Hull One thing that I noticed right away were the weld beads, they are raised and have a more accurate texture than all other Sherman kits. In fact they are so fine that they look too small. This is an "optical illusion" however, since we're all used to seeing over done, recessed weld beads on Sherman kits, see photo. 13. The cast sections of the hull front feature a fine cast effect too. The engine deck plate is a separate item as are the access doors. The grill at the top is moulded solid, it could be sanded from below to open it up or just given a flat black wash to simulate a deeper shadow. As for dimensional accuracy... going by the plans in Mark Hayward's book, the hull is accurate. Both in dimension and angles. A note about plans in books... before anyone goes off complaining about how plans in books are not accurate, consider this: The plans from the Mark Hayward's book are considered the most accurate and are the criteria against what I am comparing this kit too. I am well aware that printed plans may be off due to the printing process (as some claim), so I have tested known dimension, scaled them down to 1-35th scale and compared to the plans. I'm sure other modellers will be using this book as their primary reference too. Turret The turret is very accurate, so accurate that compared to other Firefly turrets, it looks odd. The rounded shape on the front and sides is captured well. I dry-fitted the turret together and it fits well, there is a slight gap at the back that will probably disappear with sanding. The cut out for the radio box at the rear of the turret is depicted; it's the correct shape. To this the radio box fits over, the box is made up just like the original from flat plates. One of those Formations No.19 radio set kits could be added too. Two top plates are included for the radio box, the one with the square plates and the one with round, the square panel type is typical while the round one not common at all. A section of curved applique armour is included for the right side. The barrel is in two halves, which annoys some people, but there are many turned barrels available from several vendors. Also included are two types of muzzle brakes, which are also moulded in halves. There is good internal detail inside the brake too, that little ring is well presented. Other notable details on the turret is the well done commander's hatch that features internal detailing. Incidentally this turret is the first plastic 75mm Sherman turret to have the shell ejection port fairing correctly molded as part of the turret wall. Fittings and Fiddly Bits There are many small details included in this kit, it's not my aim in this review to describe every little detail. Examining the sprue photos will reveal many of the kit's features, and Jim Wechsler's upcoming BLog (on www.track-link.net) will go into much more detail than I can here. The various small detail parts are all well moulded and engineered. Some examples include the 30cal MGs which even have "drilled out" barrels; obviously slide moulding was used here. Another good example is the towing rig at the back. The leaf spring does not have that nasty mould line running down the centre. The line is smartly placed on the edge. The tools are great too; straps could be made from masking tape however. A set of clear periscopes are included. The smoke generators are an assembly of styrene and photo-etched parts -- they're amazing. I would like Tasca the release a set of accessory parts based on this kit. The various tools and small fittings could be offered as a small kit similar to their recent German Lights kit. Markings Options Water slide decals are included for two British, one New Zealand and one Polish tank, as listed below.
There are also some extra serial numbers "T-1234567890" (four of them). Other options are available from Archer Fine Transfers, Quarter Master Depot featuring Canadian tanks and I'm sure other sets will become (or are) available from other vendors. The decals include are well printed, on register and solid. They appear to be similar to Tasca's previous Luchs kit decals which applied well over a gloss surface. I did trim those decals of extra carrier film, so it's probably a good idea to do so with these ones too. Conclusions Well... the best tank kit ever? Quite possibly -- at least the best Sherman kit ever. Hopefully this is the first of many Sherman kits from Tasca. There is evidence in the way the kit is engineered and a rather obvious statement on the photo-etched fret, names "M4A4 Sherman V/VC Firefly", that more Shermans are planned starting with the Sherman V. And what of Tasca's late bogie kit? Other possible Shermans would use these too. And now the kit is on it's way to Jim Wechsler who has volunteered to feature it in a Blog (Build Log) on Track-Link. Jim knows Shermans well and has a lot of experience with many, many Sherman kits, so he'll be able to add a lot more about this kit than I can. So, stay tuned... As of writing, this kit is not publicly available. It will be available in December (2006) sometime. I am only aware of it being available in three places, all from Japan. Either directly from Tasca's own web-site or either Rainbow 10 or Hobby Link Japan. The price is in line with other similar kits at 5,700Yen, or about $60 Canadian. Tasca supplied this kit to Track-Link as a review sample. References Firefly specific references are a little difficult to come by. The two best references, Mark Hayward's book and the Darlington booklet, are both out of print. There are a few other books that I've seen in stores, from Poland I believe, I didn't purchase them when I saw them... wish I had. There is also a good set of plans available in an old issue of Military Modelling Magazine which was published when DML release their first Firefly VC kit. It's worth tracking down.
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