Eduard's 1/72nd scale M4A3 Sherman 105mm
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The Sherman tank barely needs any introduction. This ubiquitous and successful medium World War II tank - more than 36,000 were produced - is almost synonymous with the ground war following the Normandy invasion of June 6th 1944. Nor was its presence limited to the Northern Europe and that period of the war: it served in numerous theatres of the war. Mobile, fast and maneuverable, it was naturally vulnerable to larger, more powerful enemy tanks.
Eduard
has finally moved into the AFV kit business and in the right scale too!
This is Eduard's Sherman M4A3 105mm howitzer version (they also have a
76mm version that comes in profipak and non-profipak). The large box contains
three large sprues and one smaller, of medium grey, smooth, plastic, plus
a small photo etched fret. There is no flash and the detail is excellent.
Without assembling the kit it is hard to tell whether the dimensions are
accurate so I'll have to give them the benefit of the doubt.
The instructions are the standard we have come to expect from this manufacturer: clear and detailed. Eduard provides decals for two schemes. The first is an overall, standard olive drab for 756th Tank Battalion, February 1945, Germany, and the second is a winter "Off-white" camouflaged scheme for Trois Vierge, Luxembourg, 24 January 1945. As can be seen from the scans, there are a large number of pieces, some of which are redundant for this version.
In
the box, this kit looks excellent and will hopefully build into a wonderful
model. The only downside is the price. At full retail, this kit sells
for $22.95: a fair chunk of change for a 1/72nd scale medium tank. This
reflects the high quality of the product but in addition it reflects the
fortunes of the United States dollar on the foreign exchange market. Eduard
is based in the Czech Republic and the dollar has depreciated almost 30
percent against the Czech Koruna in the last two years. In any event,
if you can afford it, I recommend it.
Thanks to Eduard for this kit.
