herrmill

Looking good James. Again, thanks for bringing this one onboard.

lthump

ROFL , I couldnt have said it better. OH ! and for those british tank fans this was used by britain ? So it sorta is a brit tank.

Olifant Mk 2

Come to Mamma!!!!!

swathdiver

I didn't forget my British brothers in this project! The M10 should also have an option for Achilles IC parts, which consist of a new barrel and gun shield. The Grant version of the M3 would be made too. What's under consideration is how to offer them. Either as add-on parts in the box, accessory items, or separate releases. Depends on economics of course! Once it's known how this one sells they'll know which way to go with the future releases. There's a warranty concern too, Mato Toys is striving for the best warranty in the industry for both resellers and buyers alike.

bigfiver69

I would LOVE a grant tank... I'd buy one of those in a second.

Oooooooh, that'd be a cool tank to have.

Shep

Panther G

Tell Mato to quit dicking around and release the dam thing already. LOL Been waiting forever over here.

bigfiver69

How Mato markets these would have a big influence on their sales - what would be very cool would be to sell a base Sherman, and then simple boxed or polybag upgrades with new tracks, turrets, cannon, detail. They sales on the base models would be huge! And the secondary upgrades could also to appeal to higher-end Tamiya users, so Mato could be making money backwards and forwards.

Doesn't make a lot of sense to release a 7M4A1 AND a Firefly AND an early M4 AND a grizzly AND an IDF Sherman, etc....

But selling a base unit with modular upgrades.... that is an interesting business gambit..

I'm surprised they haven't piled in on the Panzer 4 upgrades... think about it... there could be an Ostwind kit, a Wirbelwind Kit, not to mention all the various versions of the Panzer 4 itself...

Shep

Panther F

You're exactly right Shep, but they only think of large sales while we are thinking of making it affordable and flexible. I've always thought Tamiya would make additional profits if they offered turret kits for the Sherman, the Panzer IV, superstructure kits to modify German tanks. The same for HL tanks too.

Who knows, there is still time for that.

swathdiver

This very idea is under consideration. It all depends on how well these initial tanks sell. There are 16 other popular models waiting to go into production and many more possible combinations.

As has been discussed before, while it may make sense to market 2 different M3 tanks, the Lee and Grant to different audiences, it may not make sense to offer an M4A3 with high and low bustle turrets in separate packaging. Through the use of "white boxes" parts can be purchased to mix and max so one could create their very own unique sherman variation. I think there are litterally a hundred or more variations one could come up with that were historically accurate!

But! Except for Bill , how many of us would want or have room for 16 different variations of the Sherman?

If one only owned one of each type of 1/16 scale tank from HL, Trumpeter, Mato, Matorro and Tamiya you'd have over 20 tanks in the motor pool! In 5 years that number could exceed 50!

For me, I've decided to stick to a Tunisian Theater scheme with few exceptions. There's a Panther in the motor pool and soon a couple of M4A1(76)Ws but all of my Axis armor is or will be converted to equipment used in the final months of the North African campaign. The M3s and M10s would give all those Axis tanks something to shoot at and if things go well with the project, future early model M4s and M4A1s would enter the fray too. Trumpeter and Matorro are doing motorized M3 GMC Halftracks, would enjoy converting 1-2 to Tank Destroyers too!

Anyone else doing themes?

Wozwasnt

I was doing the defence of Berlin as theT-34's are pretty cheap and there's plenty of conversions that can be done from it. But this new Sherman has thrown all that up in the air and my German armour may be heading West.

killick64

Get an M4A2 ....and you can plaster it with Red Stars and Cyrillic Slogans!

kclank

also make a great marine tank for the pacific campaign

Panther F

Same here, like this one.

edoubleaz

My Feedback: (1)

USMC Sherman is always a crowd favorite:

http://web.mac.com/ethandunsford/DAK...herman.html#64

SNOWTANK

I'M cutting myself off at 20 Tanks.

pcomm1

"Anyone else doing themes?"

Yes, my WWII build theme is from Fall 1944 to wars end and operating in North Western Europe. And I would welcome and actually purchase any Allied Shermans, USA TDs and British Armor that Mato might release to help create some balance for my late war ETO theme.

Originally I considered a tank theme limited to just one day: July 12, 1943. But my financially savvy wife did challenge my concept of building, in 1/16 rc scale, the roughly 1500 tanks involved at Prokhorovka (Kursk). The good news is that I only have 1499 tanks to go to complete that theme, as I did build a Kursk Tamiya f/o Tiger IE from the 2nd SS Panzer Div, a few years back.

John

swathdiver

You better call Guinness if you can get them all on the field at once with 1499 fellow tankers! [:-] I wouldn't fly any planes near that group!

philipat

Here, here...it's a Marine Sherman that I want (both WWII Pacific theater and Korean War).

swathdiver

Did the marines use any Composite Shermans? I know the Army used them in the Pacific as well as Europe. So this diesel A2 y'all want, which one? Early with direct vision hoods? Late big hatch? Lend-Lease 76mm?

A quick Google shows the Tarawa A2s to have the 56 degree glacis plate without direct vision hoods.

Panther F

As long as it has the VVSS ... I'll be happy then!

kclank

still prefer an m-3, M-10 or M36 first but when the A2 comes up then the marine version as used in Tarawa is cool. gotta give the jarheads sometin!

Panther F

Same here. Big Jackson fan!

WhiteWolf McBride

My Feedback: (3)

Ditto on the TD's...

the M10, its Limey cousin the Achilles, M36, and perhaps that speedy little M18 if they can tweak the M41 chassis a bit to make her.

Wonder if they'd make an M7 Priest, though you can bet they won't make a Canadian Ram... even if we made her immortal with 1CACR and the Kangaroo's!

Not interested in the A2's... though an A4 and cast hull M4A1 for makin' Israeli beasts would be good. Anyone agree with me on that?

philipat

The research that I've been able to find (mostly Hunnicutt's book) indicates that the Marines primarily used the later diesel A2s. Tawara was the first campaign where Marines used the Shermans. They stuck with the 75-mm gun because it was more than adequate against the Japanese light armor and their bunkers.

The M4A3s started to show up later in Iwo Jima and Okinawa. I believe they either kept the 75-mm guns or the 105-mm howitzers (Okinawa) on them. For the Marines, these would all be the VVSS models.

One question, though, the M4A3s are listed as M4A3(W)s. What does the (W) mean? I didn't find this when I was skimming the books.

Wozwasnt

I think W means wet stowage for the ammo.