1:35 M4A3 SHERMAN

The version with the Ford engine

The letters A3 in the designation of the Sherman mean an eight-cylinder Ford engine developed directly for this role. It was the variant the American army considered the standard for its own units, while differently equipped versions went to the allies. The hull is welded, the front armor has less slope than on the later modifications and the running gear carries wheels with a rubber tire. On photographs from the front those are almost always lost under a deposit of dust, but a model needs them clean and sharply separated. Without that difference the running gear looks like one solid lump of molding.

Where the set fits in the procedure

Working with the cut-outs has a place of its own between gluing and varnishing. The wheels first have to be rid of mold seam flash, because the film will not adhere to a rough surface. Then come the primer, the base shade and only then the discs. The spraying of the dark tone of the tire is directed square, so that the mist does not get under the edge, and it should be peeled off shortly after the paint becomes tacky. Waiting several days does not pay; a hard film breaks at the edge.

How it ties in further

The running gear tends to be finished before the hull, so the decals with the white star and the registration number come later and nothing awaits them on the wheels. The final weathering then hides the transition under dust and mud splatter. A damaged tire can be masked again even after the tracks are fitted, if there is access to it from outside. The inner row, though, can no longer be put right this way and the track has to be taken off.

The package contains

One sheet of self-adhesive film with the cut already done. The tank and finishes the modeler arranges, and the cut-out fits the parts of the maker mentioned.