I'm ordering one. I suppose I'm in a very small minority here that welcomes a kit such as this. As soon as I saw it, I knew I'd like to build it as I am intrigued by captured armor operated by any nation, late war Eastern Front armor and I also find the color scheme appealing. It'll be a fun learning opportunity for me in that I know nothing about Shermans. I am also looking forward to trying out some weathering techniques on this, especially as the photos of this tank show some rather heavy weathering. Is this kit based upon an existing Dragon kit? Is there a tweaks list somewhere? I also suppose that some aftermarket items might be worthwhile. I've seen a Voyager PE kit for the M4A2. Would that work well with this? Anything else? I saw some items on tigermodels.com. Their TC hatch looks good. Any recommendations? Please chime in with your thoughts. I'd be very interested in reading them.

Anyone have Soviet decals for Shermans?

Hey Bill, Archer and Scale Models do a variety of dry transfers for Soviet vehicles: http://www.archertransfers.com/SovietAFVcatalog.html http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=SC3059 I'm not sure about any source of water slide decals. You could probably cobble together some from various sources, using leftover decals from other Russian vehicles. These sites shows some interesting possibilities: http://www.o5m6.de/m4a2_75mm_early.html http://www.o5m6.de/m4a2_75mm_late.html http://www.o5m6.de/m4a2_76mm.html Cheers jjumbo

I didn't read the whole thread, but does any body here have more information regarding a picture of the actuall captured tank or if this is just some one at the dragon office thinking that it is possible that the germans could have captured one? I think I might buy this one and make it an USMC tank (my first! ) if there is no actuall evidence of germans caturing one.

Hey Henrik, You should have read a bit more of the thread. In one of my earlier postings, I gave a site with pics of the actual vehicle: http://beute.narod.ru/Beutepanzer/us/M4_sherman/su/soviet.htm Here's a colour print that the boxart appears to be based on: http://beute.narod.ru/Beutepanzer/us/Color/sherman-01.jpg Cheers jjumbo

There is a link posted in post 9 of the thread, good reason to read the whole thing maybe? anyway here's the link again. LINK Top two pics.

hahah. Boy, do I feel stupid now!hahaha Guess I can blaim it that I was really tired. Thanx for the pictures any way!!

The particular turret in this kit has never been offered by Dragon before, as it has the loader's hatch but also the low turret bustle, presumably an intermediate late 1943-early 1944 design (or a hatch retrofitted to an older turret shell), but the hull would be the same as the new M4A2 Pacific Theater kit issued a few months ago. It would have the improved detail on the engine deck grills as seen on the Sicily British Sherman III kit and the PTO Marine Sherman. The dish style road wheels are also a new item for Dragon. Interesting subject, but my only gripe is that Dragon apparently doesn't plan to include any Russian markings, since that would be far more common.

A really interesting Beutepanzer would be the Firefly as seen in Panzerwrecks, which is still fitted a German muzzlebrake, and was outfitted with a Sternantenne. This particular Firefly is on display at a museum in Utrecht.