has anyone bought or built this conversion by Lanmo Models and if so, what did you think of it?
it states it fits the M4, M4A2 and the M4A4, can anyone recommend an appropriate M4 in 1/35?
would any of these Shermans be of any use
minus the rockets
I have bought Lanmo products but used them yet. I have thought getting that set.
Based on the packaging you should be able to use the Dragon kit but not the Zvezda as it’s a different M4A2 hull type.
I bought this Lanmo set and was rather disappointed by it. I expected 3D printed heavy bicycle style chains as on the 1:1 version. What they supply is regular link chain that you have to cut to length. The flail balls for the ends are supplied as a length of ball chain that you have to seperate and glue to the ends of the [incorrect] chains. It’s all very nicely done but I was less than impressed. This flail seems to incorporate both types of chain, so maybe you can get by with the supplied type:
This flail kit would mount to any of the Sherman kits you listed.
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To further complement to what @Tank_1812 Ryan wrote:
- Seems to require that added side armour (present in all three kits, no issues)
- PE-plate designed for a specific …
- angle of the glacis (the two Dragon kits).
The Zvezda Sherman has the steeper glacis where the driver and co-driver hatches do not protrude into the glacis
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Oops - totally blew by me - my bad. Sorry. Ryan is right, again.
That glacis angle gets me from time to time as well
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The Lanmo box clearly states that it is a Crab Mk.1. The Mk.1 generally used standard chain as supplied by Lanmo, whereas the Mk.II used the bicycle style chain you are referring to and your picture shows.
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Well then I stand humbly corrected. Thank you Jon for the clarification.
In that case, I would judge the Lanmo flail kit to be accurate, very well made, and complete in all details.
If I had to choose I would build the rocket equipped Sherman with the rockets and use the “plain” Chinese one for the Crab conversion. Note that this is just my very personal opinion
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Players choice as I recall both boxes are the same plastic. I would probably lean Robin’s suggestion as then my theme would be more non standard Sherman types having a uniqueness about them. Course a Chinese allied animal marked tank in WW2 is not really standard either but you probably get my point.
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Star Decals has a sheet with two Sherman V flail tanks.
In days of yore I built the Dragon 6182 Firefly VC. I vaguely remember adding some welds and drain holes and minor stuff.
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thanks for that information, it will come in handy as i have now bought the Dragon M4
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Most of operational Sherman crab flail -if not all of them- were M4A4 (Mk V) as far as war Time pictures are an indication…
In Vanguard n.139, historian and curator David Fletcher provides the reader with a M4 Sherman’s picture but also immediately to add « probably unique (…and…) by any calculation should be seroiusly underpowered »
…. Tasca/asuka M4a4 is definitely the kit to pick up -and a gem to built - as the old Dragon M4a4 is inaccurate and does not really worth being corrected IMHO 
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alas you’re 18 hours to late as i pulled the trigger on the Dragon kit on Sunday so i will need to see how that works out.
i haven’t built a sherman since i was a kid, at least 35 years ago ( i can see groups of people gathering with pitch forks and demanding i should be burned at the stake for being a modelling heretic) and it was a tamiya 1/35 version.
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David… M4A4 kit (Sherman V) is what you need. I used the Dragon M4A4 for my Legend conversion as that is what it was made for.
A few of things to note:
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The ‘built kit’ image from Lanmo has the wire cutting blades on the drum ends the wrong way around:
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The flail apparatus was heavy, so the tank actually drops low at the front. You will need to do some surgery on the Dragon suspension for front (nearly horizontal) and Mid Bogies like I did on mine:
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Grouser housings were reversed on the Flail tanks:
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Chain was used in the development of the scorpion, lobster, etc, and initially on the Crab Mk 1, but because they broke so easily they were changed to mainly shackles as a new short length could be added:
- The kit has no hydraulic lines. They feed into holes in the hull side.
Early Crab had lane marking devices, The Whyman lane marking device that shot poles into the ground, or the boxes that dropped illuminated pegs.
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Another pic showing displaced suspension:
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Is the last bogie missing a wheel?
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