M4A2 Tarawa
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Dragon, 1/35 scale |
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by Steven J. Zaloga |
Dragon's 1/35 scale M4A2
is available online from Mission Models
Description
Dragon continues to favor Shermans among its Allied releases, and
the forthcoming Tarawa M4A2 is a major step forward, including a
fresh M4A2 hull and a new 75mm turret. The initial release depicts a
US Marine M4A2 on Tarawa, but Dragon has already announced a British
Sherman III which will apparently include a somewhat different hull
configuration and presumably British features such as the rear
stowage bin, sand shields, etc.
I received a test shot of the kit a few weeks ago and the model was
not entirely complete when I received it, so some details of my
model may differ slightly from the final release.
To begin with, the kit represents a few departures from recent
Dragon Shermans. Most notably, the kit includes Dragon's DX soft
track rather than the usual individual link track. I am not a big
fan of the usual vinyl track, but the new Dragon semi-styrene soft
track has remarkably good detail; the end connectors have much finer
detail than the Dragon hard-plastic track. The other big change is
that the box is not full of the usual spare bits from a half-dozen
other kits. So much of this kit is new that it hasn't been necessary
to include the usual assortment of redundant parts.
The parts that are familiar have been modified. For example, Dragon
includes the usual mid-production heavy VVS bogie, but it has been
improved (again) in a variety of ways, such as a much thinner track
skid, and (finally!) rear detail for the stamped idler. This bogie
assembly is currently my favorite for Shermans, even over the more
elaborate Tasca Type A kit, if for no other reason than the clever
placement of the mold lines on the Dragon road wheels near the edge
instead of the center. This means that cleaning up the road-wheels
is very easy process compared to the usual tedious process of
removing the centerline mold! Furthermore, this leaves the edge
detail sharp. I would still use Tasca if I wanted to fully
articulate the suspension on a diorama, but for 99% of Sherman
building, I would use the Dragon because it is simpler to assemble
with excellent detail and not the fiddly Tasca spring gimmick. And
of course, the DML suspension is in the same price range as Tasca
but with a full Sherman kit attached to it!
The new M4A2 parts are a joy to behold. The new 75mm turret is
gorgeous and for the first time includes both the early and late gun
shield (the bolted bit behind the mantlet). The two-piece
commander's hatch is the earlier style (no exposed springs) and has
some lovely locking pin details. The ejector port on the left side
is left open, complete with the interior opening arm. The casting
effects are superb and rival the better resin examples.
The hull depicts the welded driver hood type, and is a completely
new mold with very crisp details. The new driver/BOG hatches are
superb, right down to the springs detail.
I built mine pretty much out of the box with a few improvements. The
Tarawa Marine M4A2 had a jerrican rack on the rear as well as the
usual deflector which I added. The kit decals show the IMAC Tank
Battalion Elephant in grey, but I have seen color footage of the
tanks on Tarawa which them to be yellow. So I repainted the decals
in the appropriate areas. The decals include markings for several
tanks, but strangely enough, not for "China Gal" which was involved
in the duel with a Type 95 Ha-go of the 7th Sasebo SNLF. So I did a
new name from dry transfers.
The accompanying Marine on my model base is fron the excellent "Gen
2" Dragon Tarawa set. I made two changes to the figure, substituting
a Hornet head as I didn't have the time to clean up the Dragon
two-piece head, and adding shoe-laces to the boot.
These new Gen 2 figures are
excellent, but are very much unlike previous plastic figures. They
really are little miniature kits in their own right with numerous
parts. They take longer to assemble, but the detail is much better
than previous Dragon figures, and set a new standard for plastic
figures.
Model, Images and Text
by Steven J. Zaloga
Page Created 27 September, 2006 Page Last Updated
08 October, 2006
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