I picked this kit a while back with the grand idea of doing something in Polish or British armor, but then thought I’d do an Iwo Jima track instead. (still up in the air!) The kits is very nice but also confusing. No decals in the box that I can find. Folks have said in the past that the European M4a2 was a little different than the one the Marines used. Now what bothers me is that I don’t know which one this kit builds in to.
Anybody here happen to know which era this kit is for?
thanks in advance for your input
gary
Asuka has two different M4A2’s one with cast driver hoods and a DV variant that was issued as a Marine variant (Jungle Jim) Limited Edition. Which one do you have? You could also get a replacement upper hull with the welded hoods from Joe at Tiger and do a Marine Sherman that way.
It’s upstairs, and I’ll have to take another look see. I’ll get back to you later tonight (have a hot date)
gary
it looks like it is the direct vision type.
gary
I saw recently one picture of one been used by Canadians in Normandy.
The kit also gives the armour plates over the DV, so lots of possibilities !
Eric
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Sounds like you have the Asuka no frills release. No decals or PE. A good value if you were going to source other decals. The original release of this kit came with British markings for Mediterranean theater.
See review here:
https://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/tasca/tasca35017.html
My Son inlaw spent twelve years with the Canadian mechanized infantry (or whatever they call it), and he is a wealth of info on Canadian military. When I bought it, I planned on a Market Garden track in Canadian markings, but he said they were not there.
What I have to do now is to source some nice decals, and maybe a metal barrel. The rest will sorta fall in place. The Asuka kit ( 002) looks like a typical kit from them in that it’s near perfect. I will use the Asuka tracks as they are very good and represent a “live track” really well. By the way while digging this kit out I found an Asuka M4a3 76 in a black & white box still sealed, and a Firefly Mk.Vc and a Tamiya Firefly.
gary
We call them infantry.
No Canadian tanks in Market Garden, though our Engineers played an instrumental role in pulling the last troops out of Arnhem.
If you end up going with a Canadian tank, while Monty was cocking about trying to run XXX Corps up that goat track, 4th Canadian Armoured division was plenty busy clearing out the last of the channel ports, picking up the slack from the Brits after they “liberated” Antwerp and teeing up for the Scheldt campaign.
that’s what Gregg told me awhile back. Somewhere I have a British Jeep that has all the British radio equipment, and thought that would fit the bill. Trying to figure out if they used Humbler or Dingo armored cars (believe me they all look the same to me).
I’ll probably end up doing a Canadian tank off some of the photos Gregg has. This guy is a walking encyclopedia on WWII Canadian tactics. Yet his real passion is figures from the early 19th century in Europe. Looking at some photos of the Irish Guards, I have another pair of M4 kits that might just fall right in there (mid and maybe even a later M4a1). I’ve seen photos of Fireflys (Vc’s) in the column caught out on the dykes. The trucks are still very hard to place, but I’ll also not loose a ton of sleep over that. In the mean time, I’ll pick up two or three M4a2’s and at least one Sherman V (after all it’s only money!)
gary
XXX Corps (and every other Commonwealth formation) would have been chock a block with Dingos and Humber’s both.
There’s a great scene in A Bridge Too Far of Michael Caine setting off sitting on the roof of a Humber Scout to lead the Irish Guards past the start line.
The Humber is bigger and has a higher profile than the Dingo. It’s also got a more trapezoidal shape and more of a snoot to the front end.
Yeah that is a cool scene , I remember that. Still one of my favorite movies even with its faults.
I have the Bronco Humbler scout car. Been shelved for years as I just couldn’t find a place in history for it. Now I have one
gary
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Nice! Excited to see it come to life Gary!
I’ve been researching this for about a year now, but understanding Commonwealth armor is a bit daunting at times. Still at least the Brits and their close Allies give you a lot to choose from. 2022 is already shaping up to be an expensive year
Now if we could just get Asuka to do an M4 105mm tank the right way! Oh and the M4a3 “Screaming Meemie”!!! Plus these are not really my most wanted kits from that era. I would love to see an M3 (M5?) with the diesel engine, and the M12 GMC howitzer in new and correct tooling
gary
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It’s also worth noting that Canadian tanks played a major role in the final liberation of Arnhem (Governor General’s, if memory serves.) There are some good pictures online of some Shermans covered in spare tracks.
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