Since the Sherman was my first 1/16 Tamiya tank I was asked to give an opinion as to what I thought. I have built 1/35 scale Tamiya's in the past so I expected alot of parts and this kit didn't dissapoint.



Not only lots of detail but lots of extras, extra screws/washers/nuts, extra sprues of equipment and details that are optional to add to the finished tank, like boxes and ammo cans. The details molded into the tank were amazing, weld lines and bolt heads. One small annoyance was the molded in writing on the hull and turret, they were easily sanded off. The metal parts in the suspension were well made, no offset mold lines or messy flash. The metal parts went together perfectly. The suspension action on this kit is second to none, I haven't seen a nicer one yet. Not only does the whole boogie unit pivot but the wheels pivot out from this unit, compressing a spring to provide the suspension, lots of moving parts to make it look life like. The kit included thread lock safe for plastic, a special grease and a small wrench. With all the things included I can say I wouldn't have done anything different, it came out just as I wanted and runs great.
After building this kit I find myself wanting another, it exudes quality and was fun to build. If I was to make a few suggestions to Tamiya I would have them hire an english speaking person to do a better manual, I would also use a full metal track, the current one is a hybrid with plastic pads inserted into a metal track structure. I would like to see them make more varied kits, we have a field full of Tiger I's and King Tigers and none of the cool early war tanks like the Matilda, Skoda, Semovente, Char B or later war PZ IV, Crusder etc. In closing if you ever wanted a Sherman tank, I can't imagine getting a better product for the price, thats about $400 on ebay.

I built a Sherman last month as well and I agree it was well worth it. The Sherman runs great. My son really likes running this one while I run a KT I bought which was already built. It sure is fun. As for wanting another, I have a Panther on the way. Can't wait to get started on that one.

All right, fess up! How many of those little bags fell between the boards on the deck?

[X(]James i was thinking the same thing!!!
Not a great spot for a photo

Hmm, wrt the writing embossed on the hull, I notice my 1:35 Tamiya Sherman has the same, but I also noticed when looking at real shermans a lot of them had the embossed writing on them! (Not if it said Made in Japan!)

cheers
Con

PS I would love a Tamiya RC kit, maybe one day.... at the moment my wife thinks I'm a geek wasting money on HL stuff! Never mind the sort of cash Tamiyas cost!

Thanks for the write up, I'm thinking this is what I want to start on, but I was wait for you to finish to see what you thought about it, I've always like the sherman, and I've built many Tamiya models. Just finished a 1/350 Battleship on Memorial Day of the Mighty Mo (Missouri BB 63) They make clean Models. I still have three HLs to finish first,But then I think it will be Sheman Time, Thanks[sm=thumbup.gif]

I will be looking at getting a Tamiya. Either a Panther or the Sherman. I'll wait for the snow to fly. It is good to see how the Heng Longs are building interest in the Tamiya's. I've had a lot of fun with my Heng Longs, and now that I know what 1/16 scale tanks are like, I am not so squemish about dropping a few hundred to purchase a tank to round out a collection

I was very careful with bag placement guys ! The deck is held down with screws - so if something bad happened.. :P
I'll put together a close up action video when I get a chance of the Sherman's highlights.

Paul,

don't know if you've seen this...

http://www.rctankhq.com/T23_Turret.htm

Later,

Dennis

Thanks for the write up armchair.......I have a sherman in the back waiting it's turn to be built.........just to show you what Heng Long can do, I would never have thought of spending the dosh on Tamiya tanks....too expensive, but now I have got my teeth into several HL projects, I could'nt resist it and now I have 2 kingtiger kits, 1 sherman and a panther G kit on the way.......what the hell am I doing????......any way, I will enjoy building the tamiyas later when I've experimented enough on the HL,s

Cheers

CaptB

The raised letters are the casting numbers from the factories. They were and are present on every vehicle. Check out this website for more info

http://web.inter.nl.net/users/spoels...04/foundry.htm

Dennis, someone posted that turret conversion, I read a review on it and it is very well done.

CaptB, one month I had a pantiger...then 3 months later I have 2 Tiger I's, 3 Panzer III's, Pershing, T-34, Sturmtiger and a Tamiya Sherman before which I would never have paid what I did for a Tamiya tank. I feel a need to balance my purchases with whatever allied armor I can find so people don't think I am a nazis :P

edoubleaz, I am pretty sure these were Tamiya casting numbers, any other Sherman owners that can verify this?

Those numbers were found on real life Shermans. I also asked the same question some time back.

[link]http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5697431/anchors_5697431/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#5697431[/link]

i love my sherman....

Casting marks are found all over the Sherman tank. The several references I used on my T23 turret and transmission cover show casting marks on even the lift rings on the turret and armored lids for the fuel caps. A good internet site for reference on allied and axis vehicles is Tanxheaven. Hope this helps.

Nick Aguilar

Hmm ACG, wonder if you can engrave them back on...[X(]

PS know what you mean about the dearth of allied armour, seems to be too much of the Nazi stuff around, we need more decent allied kits , a Tamiya Churchill would be great! But remember the Japs were on the Germans side....... so biased probably....

PS sorry if I'm not being politically correct

There's plenty of choice in 1/35 scale but the German stuff outsells all the rest. I guess Tam are just following what sells in that scale.

Yeah, for some strange reason, anything that has to do with the German military sells like hotcakes.

I find it ironic that a relatively rare tank in real life (Tiger) is such a common sight when it comes to model kits.

Also, in the 12" action figure market, German figures outnumber Allied ones by a big ratio.

For military aviation, people tend to get more excited by the exploits of Hartman, Marseille and Galland, rather than Tuck, Gabreski or Kozedub.

The "good guys" just don't get any love.

Lucky I only removed the casting numbers from the turret, the ones on the hull looked to be correct.