So I bought this kit, and was wondering if there is any details that need correcting.
Haven’t build much in the way of a Dragon kit before so no experience dealing with the quirks and features.
My most recent experience with Dragon was their M4A3E8 Korean War version from Dragon Shanghai.
I didn’t have that many issues with putting it together, except my main grip is the tracks, since I hate dealing with individual tracks, so that’s the first thing I replace; either with metal or resin workable tracks.
Pay close attention to the assembly instructions.it will save you time and headaches.
In the end, it came out as a good looking model. IMO.
2 Likes
If your interested i ran across an old mid production in a town square in an out of the way town in Montana and took a bunch of photos. Granted its stripped down and been sitting outside for easily 70 years but i’d be happy to email them to you in batches and if you needed close ups of a particular area ill be driving by that town again in about two weeks and would be happy to help. Current pic’s concentrate on areas that id probably do some improving to depending on the kit.
2 Likes
This is good. Reference material will help greatly to ensure the kit goes together smoothly.
Here’s a walkaround from a late war M7B2 Priest that will help.
1 Like
Yes, that might be good. Not sure what the differences of early and mid production would be?
Not an expert but i think only the front transmission cover would be the only glaring item. Possibly the rear exhaust deflector and rear hull possibly.
Heres a sample of the one i came across. You can see the difference in the transmission cover, i included a rear shot so you can do a quick comparison also.
That walk around is nice, but is of little use for the early version. The B2 was the latest version. There are a lot of differences, not the least of which is the higher gun mount to give it more quadrant elevation.
I started a thread over a year ago on one I was building:
1 Like
The M7B2 was improved to enable the gun to be further elevated, since the North Korean weee always firing on UN and US forces from high above. The MG mount was also modified to enable full 360 degree rotation.
The mid Production (M7B1) models were built on the M4A3 chassis with the 1-piece transmission cover, were earlier models weee built on M3 Lee chassis and quickly followed by the early M4A1 Sherman chassis with the 3-piece transmission cover.
1 Like
I have that same kit as you and found the tips in this thread very useful, especially for correcting errors in the instructions.
https://archive.armorama.com/forums/163080-page=1/index.htm
Although it is not the same kit as ours, the tips are valid for both cases.
1 Like
Pablo kindly pointed out my build log, but the actual review is here: https://archive.armorama.com/review/5487/index.htm
It’s a great kit, if somewhat fiddly to build - mostly because open-top vehicles require a complicated sequence of assembly and painting - but watch out for errors in the instructions! The differences between the “early” and “mid” were minimal, mostly different bogies, so most of the text will still apply to your kit. One thing to check is the DS tracks - make sure they are still OK as Dragon never really had good quality control between batches. There are plenty of replacement Sherman-based AM tracks out there…
1 Like