Tamiya’s 250^th release in the military miniatures series is a bit of old and a bit of new.  Many modellers will be familiar with Tamiya classic M4A3 kit which is a very good indeed which responds well to a little bit of detailing and makes into a very nice model.  Tamiya has taken that already good kit and made it better.

Molded in Tamiya’s new generation plastic (unlike the hard, brittle plastic of the original M4A3 kit) the main parts included which will look familiar to anyone with the older release are : upper and lower hull, “B” sprue with rear plate, nose and tools, sprue “A” with suspension components and sprue “C” with turret parts (although the turret has been re-worked to include a separate loader’s hatch).  All these are molded very well with no flash at all, as to be expected from Tamiya.

Now it gets interesting:  sprue “D” (of which there are two) comes from the M4 Early production Tamiya kit which includes stowage and fancy early style drive sprockets but has been modified to include a complete set of late style dished roadwheels (sprue "H").  These are one-sided but are very well done nonetheless and include grease nipple/relief valve detail.  The nice one pieces T48 style vinyl tracks from the M4 Early Production kit are also included. There are 2 of sprue “X” which contains ammo boxes, stowage boxes and a commander figure (one on each sprue).  Sprue “Y” includes a good variety of infantry weapons and equipment.  Sprues "V" and “Z” contain 3 infantry figures in very good action poses.

If you’re planning on building a late M4A3 75mm, this new kit is the one to get.  With a pile of extra parts for the spares box as well as (4) full figures, (2) 3/4 figures and (2) half figures, this is a great value as far as extra goodies go.  Even if you already have the older M4A3 release, this one contains enough extra parts to create enough variety in stowage for 2 tanks.  Anyways, you can never have enough Shermans!