introduction

Some of the most famous modifications for Shermans were devised on the small island of Iwo-Jima in 1945. This set includes the famous wooden plank armour, as well as the iconic factory Wading stacks, and strips of track, both cleat and chevron for improvised armour ( not to mention spare track was a handy thing to have around. )

the parts

*2 x bolt on wooden armour for the hull sides.
*1 x middle wading stack
*1 x rear wading stack
*8 x lower hull planking sections.
*2 x stack top
*5 x spare tracks.

the kit

The resin kit comes in a medium sized, flimsy black card box, with a few packing peanuts and a plastic bag containing the components. There are no instructions. Nineteen parts are contained in the kit, cast in a light grey resin, with well placed casting blocks, and little warping.

A few bubbles occur in the resin, but they are fairly small, and will be easy to fill. The details are overall very good, with some cast marks to remove. The wood grain is, in my opinion a little over scale, but wood can be extremely difficult to do, and it will look good once painted and weathered.
My other niggle is the bolts for the wooden armour look a little over scale, but once you have them painted up they won’t be very noticeable. The spare tracks are spare tracks, and I have no complaints there. They look like the genuine article, and will also look good when painted.

The kit gives an overall good impression of a Pacific Sherman, although not 100% accurate alongside the Hobbyboss M4A3 base kit. Most if not all Shermans used by the 5th U.S.M.C Tank Battalion had some sort of add on armour, some of the most famous being "Davy Jones", "Comet" and "Crispy", and this was commonly seen on gun and flame tanks seen in Iwo-Jima.

From my research I have found that the Shermans on Iwo-Jima had AAV Cupolas, and the donor kit has a standard earlier cupola. I feel that an AAV cupola would have been more than welcome as an addition to this set as it would have completed the Marine Sherman into an all in one package, and I am currently unaware of any in production replacement cupolas. Another addition that would have been welcome were a few PE covers for the hatches, as the crew hatches usually had a mesh, frame or other improvised cover to protect the periscopes and occupants. Another common mod was to weld nails to the hatches, once more to protect against explosives, giving it that little extra spacing to protect the weaker areas of the tank from blasts, charges and whatever else the Japanese were to throw at the Marines.

conclusion

One last note to any enthusiastic Pacific modeller is one about the wading stacks. Upon landing on Iwo jima, Most factory stacks were taken off soon after landing, so it may be worth keeping them off for a future build.