American armor - which kits?

Armor/AFV WWII Allied
1

Looking at my stash, it is heavily skewed German and British armor. I am considering adding some American armor, but I find Sherman’s (except for the firefly) decidedly boring (I know blasphemy). I am thinking of adding some other American armor. I am thinking

AFV club M36 Jackson

I also want to add a pacific theater Stuart and ia considering the tamiya M3 the AFV club M3A3 and AFV club M5A1, leaning towards the M5A1. How are the AFV club Stuart’s, some reviews say they are quite nice including PMMS which is a go to for reviews for me. I was wondering of anyone who has built one has an opinion?

Finally I am considering a hellcat. I know tamiya just release a really nice one. I also see AFV club has one. My dilemma is the AFV club one comes with the muzzle braked gun (which I am more drawn too) and is about 33% cheaper. I am wondering if the tamiya kit offers 33% more value?

2

Miniart M3 with interior kits

1 Like
3

I built the AFV Club Hellcat and it’s nice kit. I haven’t looked at the Tamiya one so I can’t comment further. But the gun is just a 76mm M1A1 which is also found in the 76mm equipped versions of M4 Sherman. You can buy an AM barrel for the Sherman with the muzzle brake and it should work fine if you can’t get the barrel that you want for the Hellcat

1 Like
4

Forgot about the miniart M3! Those are a good call too!

1 Like
5

Not even an upgunned Sherman Jumbo 76mm or perhaps an uparmored M4A3E8, the ultimate WWII Sherman’s for your collection?
How about a T26E3 Pershing or Super Pershing?
The M24 is a good looking light tank you might want to think about

1 Like
6

I bought one so-far. Haven’t started it yet :grin:

7

I thought about a Pershing, I do feel blasphemous looking the other way on Sherman’s, might considered an easy 8. Also thought about the locust but that kit is kinda hard to track down

8

“A Sherman can give you a very nice edge.”

There’s a t-shirt: https://www.redbubble.com/i/t-shirt/A-Sherman-Can-Give-You-A-Very-Nice-Edge-by-terminaltees/58859929.UHLBD

Doing a Kelly’s Heroes Sherman, now that … is art.

3 Likes
9

I found the problem with Sherman’s is when I do like them they are British lol. I like the Sherman III in Africa livery and the firefly. I don’t know why but I love British armor

I have zero American armor kits. Which is funny because my aircraft are like 90% American. I am interested in pacific theater American stuff. Maybe I’ll need to make a pacific Sherman

10

Newer Zvezda M4 76mm

11

All I want is a freaking M5 HST.

2 Likes
12

I would be pretty pumped if tamiya made an affordable M7 Priest

2 Likes
13

The Tamiya Hellcat is a terrific kit. My only complaint is that it does not include decals for the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion, that supported the 101st Airborne at Bastogne.

I am also very fond of the Tamiya Israeli M1 Super Sherman which I reverse engineered to an M4A1 with a 76. The Two Easy Eights they have are first rate as well. The earlier Shermans Tamiya produces are OK, but nothing to write home to mom about

The M10 is good, but nothing in my opinion that they produce is as good as the Hellcat.

1 Like
14

Boring? Please tell me you are joking…The Sherman was the most well traveled tank of WW2, no other tank even comes close, it was a truly global machine….there is nothing boring about a vehicles that fought all over the pacific, china, burma, on the eastern front with the russians, the Americans didn’t take Berlin but shermans manned by russians did, they were all over europe, in germany, poland, italy, france, sicily, and the north african campaign they served in tunisia and egypt…

things to choose from you have wide tracks, different metal tracks, different rubber tracks, extended end connector tracks, two different types of turrets, 105mm shermans, 75mm and 76mm Shermans, early cast hull, mid cast hull, late cast hull, early welded hull, mid welded hull, late welded hull, extended hull, and hybrid hull combinations both cast and welded combined. 4 distinct engine deck layouts, added armor types from, concrete, to wood, to sand bags, to extra metal plates…then you have all the sherman variants from tank destroyers, to SPGs, to shermans with rockets on top the turrets, mine clearing shermans, floating swimming shermans, bulldozer shermans, tank recovery vehicles…

From a pure modeling standpoint having all the different nations and campaigns and different shapes and flavors makes the Sherman the most varied WW2 tank subject out there…the australians used them, polish troops used them, south african troops used them, new zealand troops used them, chinese troops used them, russian troops used them, french troops, GERMAN troops used them…

And we don’t even need to get started on postwar stuff…

15

Try an M36B1 Sherman with a 90 mm. Sort of a US version of the Firefly.

image
image1920×1089 169 KB

You get to do an interior!

Maybe an Israeli M51? They had a 105 mm and an easy eight suspension. ( the 4 tanks in the background)

image
image735×471 70.1 KB

There is also this Frankenstein. Sherman mated with the French AMX 13.

image
image1920×1189 182 KB

2 Likes
16

I don’t find their service history boring at all, i more so find their overall appearance to be bland.

For whatever reason I tend to find myself drawn to more out there designs or stop gap vehicles

17

I have built the new Tamiya Stuart and plan to get another to do a welded hull version. I have a AFV M3A3 started. I am not as happy with the kit. Overall the plastic is different between the two, Tamiya is a softer (not talking detail but it is that too) plastic and AFV is a hard plastic and not similar to any other company I can recall. Not saying saying one is better or worse just different. Not sure about the Stuarts but overall AFV kits are generally considered over engineered. Not Bronco or Miniart level but a step lower which is a few steps above many others. Again nothing better or worse just different, if those types of things matter to you.

If doing a 1/35 M5 depending on how detailed you want to be, the AFV version (there is repops from others) is a “better” kit then Tamiya. If you want a generic M5 cheaply and limited construction issues Tamiya would be the option, I would probably had AFV tracks to replace the Tamiya rubber band kit tracks again if those things matter to you.

18

Was going to say the same thing. Tamiya’s M26 is a great kit. I have Tamiya’s E8 too…doesn’t feel like a normal Sherman at all.

And of course if you go beyond WWII, the M1 is always fun to build. Working on Tamiya’s 1/48 scale kit now. It’s a good size.

19

image
image705×480 41.6 KB

image
image
image1024×711 258 KB

image
image750×572 70.2 KB

1 Like
20

image
image1920×1440 176 KB

image
image