swathdiver

After chasing the Postman around for 2 hours the Shermans finally arrived at the motor pool.

This post will serve as my biased (helped design and build it) review of the Mato Mart M4A1(76)W Sherman. Any issues will be addressed and discussed to improve the breed so to speak. I welcome criticisms of this release and constructive suggestions on how to improve it. The hobby gets better with your positive input!

One of our Venom 3600s is on the charger and we'll soon be headed to the proving grounds (softball field) with camera (are the batteries charged in that thing?) in hand for a first look.

ArmChairGeneral

Looking forward to the review and pics !

Paul

BarkingSquirrel

Not fair, I didn't get mine

*edit Nevermind

googlydoogly

Still waiting on mine. Can't wait to see pics and hopefully video. When I get mine, I'm gonna try to see how hard it would be to put a Nick Aguilar T-23 turret on this thing.

swathdiver

They don't call me the "Blown Boards King" for nothing! Took the Sherman out to the proving grounds in the fading light after chasing the dogs around on the tile. All motor functions worked properly as did the sounds. Other then dry-firing, didn't load and shoot the airsoft gun yet.

In dirt and crushed shell road bed the tank did fine, never getting hung up. There was a 3 foot tall or so pile of sugar sand just begging to be climbed and the Sherman performed exactly as expected. Performed in same manner as the PZIII but with more traction. Those Chevrons on the tread block do work!

Inside the bogies is a spring not unlike that of the Heng Long Tiger which returns the road wheel to level position after being compressed. The wheels did touch but this never impeded performance. Those tracks throw up a ton of sugar sand, looked cool!

Remember that camera with the batteries? They were dead. I took a few pics with the cell phone camera.

Sugar Sand Hill was conquered next was the mulch pile. Here's where things went South. At first the Sherman with her metal and plastic tracks chewed up and spit out modest sized chunks of wood.

Then I tried to rock it out of position when it got high sided. Well I couldn't just bend over and pick it up, nnooooo!!! I had to keep jerking the controls back and forth while the tracks picked up mulch the size of my fingers! The right track started losing steam and this funny smell wafted up to my nostrils. Finally walked over and picked it up, put down the remote and camera and began removing huge chunks of mulch from the running gear! It drives straight and turns backwards just fine! Forward, it pulls, something happened inside! DUHH!!!!

Something else happened outside. The control arm on the first road wheels split because of the mulch. The tankers fix off the top of my head is to sand off the nut heads, insert a brass tube so it goes through the arms and wheel. Washers on the ends with real miniatures screws and nuts to hold them in place. What do ya think?


Sounds. The .30 cal burst and engine sounds are exactly as tested. They came from a real M4 Sherman with the radial engine. The track noise drowns out the great sound though. Shermans using rubber block tracks really didn't have squeaky tracks but we put the sound in because of the T49 and T54 track options which are down the road. Turret rotation sounds were left out. Shermans used an oil gear system for turret rotation and doesn't make an audible sound really.


Electronics. These electronics were developed back in 2007 for this tank. These electronics are considered interim or Limited Standard to use Sherman lingo, the big investment has been with the Advanced IR Electronics and Battle System.


When my other computer crashed in March I lost all the design files, pictures and notes for this tank. Tonight I'll dig up some specs to begin comparing measurements and see what if anything is out of scale.

BarkingSquirrel

Thanks Swathdiver. Its nice to have a review where the reviewer actually drove the tank. Your little girl sure seemed to enjoy it.

googlydoogly

Thanks for the review. I can't wait to see and hear mine. I wonder if it sounds the same as the Tamiya Sherman?

swathdiver

Here's a quick myth to dispel.


The Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun has a barrel length of 45 inches and an overall length of approximately 65 inches. We say approximately because it depends on the version of M2, the hardware used to fire it and type of barrel installed.

So a barrel length of 45 inches in 1/16 scale would be 2.8125". What is the length of the Mato Mart M2 barrel? 2.8125"

Could be wrong but for those who might like to verify these measurements take into consideration the different M2s. The aircraft guns mounted in bombers and PT boats were different then those used on tanks and the Vietnam era PBR. John Drain's PT Boat website has some excellent drawings of the aircraft version. Olive Drab.com offers specs of another version.

swathdiver

I hope it doesn't sound the same! We used completely different sounds. It's been often said that the Heng Long radial sounds were copied from Tamiya. Mato Mart's sounds came from the Wright-Continental R975-C4.

calvinlo

Thanks a lot for the efforts that you've put in! Looking forward to more detail review from you.

swathdiver

Shermans were shod with 20x9 road wheels. A 20" wheel in 1/16 scale would be 1.25".

The Mato Mart road wheel is 1.3125" or 1/16" too large and out of scale.


I keep looking at my work bench and it's full of rockets and rocket parts ALL over the place! Going to have to clean it off before I open up the Sherman. [:'(]

From here on out, this Sherman will be referred to by her name, Big Gee in memory of my sister-in-law killed in an auto accident. The other will be Sons of Liberty in honor of those who stood up against Tyranny.

YHR

Hey Swath.

THat turret does appear to sit high, almost as if the turret bore on the chassis needs to be enlarged so it sits down further. Can you comment on that.

PS thanks for some real measurements. and protoypical dimensions. That is enough for this expurt When measuring scale accuracies you must always compare against the real protoype.

Sorry to hear about the blown board. I find 3:1 gear reductions are the answer to cure that ailment.

googlydoogly

That's good to know! So it doesn't sound like an HL, and hopefully, it doesn't sound like a VS Tank.

swathdiver

It's definitely different looking than the the Resin model. In doing the research I learned that this turret was made by 3 or 4 different foundries, each turret having its own unique look after casting. The Mato Mart is a blend of 2 or 3. The foundry markings are correct for a Union Steel turret produced for the M4A1(76)W in the first quarter of 1944. "In The Mood" didn't have the armored blower cover on the rear (one of first 300 or so) but I included it so the turret could be re-used. Since that time, processes have changed and we'll make it different for future releases.

Some of these T23 turrets had very rough, vertical casting/foundry marks on the sides. Many turret monuments in the ETO depict these. The modeller can research and depict these markings as well as use Mr. Surfacer to add the rough cast texture for their own unique look.

timslocum

You said you cant hear the engine sounds very well? Is there any way to improve the volumn? You said there arent any turret rotation sounds, how about when you elevate barrel or fire the gun?

Perry S.

Hey Swathdiver,
I know that you keep saying that a ton of work went into this and it probably has. But come on, with all the time spent on this, brand new tooling, and all the prior art out there to measure why could the wheels not have been made the correct size? Man, if your going to copy something from an original and scale it down, why not make it the right size? Would one not notice at the very minimum in the CAD files that there was an interference? I realize that some inaccuracies such as the protruding gearbox cover might be dictated by the way the internals are laid out (at least I hope) but come on, at least take a few minutes and try to figure out why two parts are hitting each other.
Not bashing and I am definitely not a rivet counter but I am an engineer that has made many things such as this and I at any point would of (should of) been fired if I couldn't measure a wheel, divide by 16 and make a wheel that size. Viva China I guess.

Perry

killick64

SwathyThanks for the review!! I felt kind of the same way when I decided to "jump" my T-34 over a pesky pine root

Is that "wheel measurement" on the model taken OVER the tires? Could it be the rubber thickness that's thrown the calcs off? At any rate I can live with it

Now, one request: can you photograph the tank with all hatches open? I'm trying to figure out just what Tamiya/Dragon/Trumpeter 1/16 figs I'll have to cut down after "kitting them out" in Brit gear and making them look "Polish".......!

Viper54

My Feedback: (1)

 What i dont like is that  the box artwork and all the marketing show a totaly different tank all together, if this is not deceiving I dont know what is!

BarkingSquirrel

This probably isn't what you're looking for, but heres a picture I got from a retailer.

YHR

What makes you say this??? I think it is the same tank with a coat of paint.

googlydoogly

Hmm, so does that mean that the Mato's turret shape and size is historically accurate? A long time ago, a company called Model Masters made T23 turret conversion kits for the Tamiya Sherman, and their turrets were also oversized, compared to Nick's turret.

Pics taken from fragarmor.org:

googlydoogly

Yeah I remember when Heng Long actually used Tamiya Tiger and Pershing tank photos on their box art. How dare they deceive us!

bubbajoexx

checked your calculations and the m2 is 65 inches long converted to 1:16 scale makes the gun 4.0625 1nches long the mato gun is 4.587 inches thats not 1:16 scale
http://jbwid.com/scalcalc.htm use the calculator used here and check it your self

bubbajoexx

look under the mantlet chin and you will see where the mato turret is over sized

BarkingSquirrel

You missed the part where he stated that different versions of the M2 over the 60+ years its been used has varied slightly in overall size, which is true. Thats why he used the barrel for the measurement as it's always been the same. And quite frankly, I'd believe him over you anyday.