Some day, I'd like to build an early M4A1 direct vision Sherman with early M3 suspension, as used by the British in North Africa. Is MR Modellbau currently the only game in town for the appropriate hull and suspension units?

(Asked with an elbow to Mr. Culver's rib cage.)

Thansk.
Dave C

Hi Dave;

I have the MR models' M3 suspension kit, and it is nice, but I am 99% sure you can get the M3 suspension as a kit from Ken Swenson (KenGi).
About the M4A1 DV hull, I am also almost sure you can get it from Steve Faxon. Steve and the others could pipe up here and correct me if I am wrong though.

Cheers, Pat

Ken Swenson sells his excellent M3 bogies and T51 rubber block track for about $15 a set, but check with him for the exact price. Steve Faxon makes an excellent DV M4A1 hull. It is solid, and you may want to hog out part of the rear overhang, OR you can cut off the rear of the Faxon hull and substitute part of the Tamiya M4A1 hull back there. Currently I do not have any ID parts available for sale, sorry. The only PE you would need for this model would be the brush guards for the headlights and taillights. There were no periscope guards or other complex bits on the earliest M4/M4A1s. If you do the British Shermans, you will need a set of sandshields, and many American Shermans used these too. Hauler makes these but I have so many Bandai Shermans I use those. They fit well and they are plastic. Good luck.

See? I knew a couple of folks smarter than me would know all the options. Shermans, Shermans, Shermans - so many possibilities.

There's one more option on the market, which I'm currently using - Polish ToRo:

http://toro-model.home.pl/pliki/48011e.htm

Regards

Oliver

is the design of the suspension arms. The M3 bogie arms have four bolts attaching the sliding pads for the suspension; these are also correct for early M4 bogies. Later M4 bogies adopted a simpler two-bolt attachment, which is what is shown on Tamiya and Hobby Boss bogies. Only the old Bandai Sherman bogies have the early four-bolt layout. The MR M3 bogies have the bolts correct, but the Toro bogies use the later two-bolt type. You can tell by the holes opened up on the suspension arms, which were needed to access the centrally mounted bolts. Dabbing some filler in the holes to close them is the easiest way to disguise the error without any drama. This is why collecting older "obsolete" kits is not a bad idea. I have enough Bandai suspensions to build all the early Shermans I'd ever want to, with the correct bolt layout. That said, that's me. Break out the Elmer's and have a ball with the later stuff.....