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ARMO M4A1 Sherman (Early)   Kit # 72452

or

The good, the bad and the ugly...

ARMO M4A1 (75 mm Early)

This recently introduced kit from ARMO fills another huge gap in 1/72nd scale modeling.

There has never been a 1/72nd scale early, small hatch M4A1 released in any medium.

I’ve had several kits from ARMO and plan to continue buying them. But this kit is a let down.

The hull is a reconstructed Esci M4A1 late, large hatch hull. The work done around the hatches and glasis plate is very rough and will require quite a bit of cleanup.

Another letdown of this kit is that the drivers and radio operators hatches are molded closed. Another problem is that no direct vision slots are present. This makes the conversion a “mid” early production version.. Also the rear hatches should have been left off and those supplied in the kit used. The fit of these parts was not very good when the mold was made for the kit resulting in a slight misalignment.They shouldn’t be too hard to remove and replace.

This kit is essentially a converion for the Esci M4A1 and a kit of this is required. Since Italeri has re-released this they are plentiful now

The kit consists of a replacement hull, transmission housing, and early 75 mm turret.  Also included are an early narrow manlet and a turned aluminum barrel. Two frets of photo etched details from PART finish off the kit.

Another not so good part of the kit is the turret. It is simply an Esci turret which has had the loaders hatch filled in. As you can see from the scan the resin is very thin in this area and will require reinforcement. My copy actually had a very this side which arrived cracked. This will also have to be repaired and reinforced. It mat be easier to reuse the kit turret and alter it accordingly.

Overall I’m not very happy with this kit. However, after having done the exact same conversion and knowing the amount of work required, I have to recommend getting this kit and cleaning it up rather than trying to scratch build it yourself. But don’t let this one kit turn you away from ARMO. The rest of their kits are fantastic and I plan to keep purchasing them.

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My early M4A1 conversion alongside ARMO’s early M4A1 conversion. Of course they would come out with this AFTER I had started...