1:72 M4A3E8 Sherman

Five machines from the Korean winter together

The package brings together five finished metal and plastic models, which are not a kit: they come out of the box assembled and painted, including the markings. Each one stands for a different particular tank: two belonged to the 89th Tank Battalion, two to the 24th Infantry Division and one to the 25th Infantry Division, and three of them are set at the Han River, where the fighting of 1951 took place.

The Easy Eight, the last big Sherman

The designation M4A3E8 belongs to the final development form of the American medium tank of the Second World War. The soldiers called it the Easy Eight after the last part of its designation. Compared with the earlier versions it was given suspension with horizontal springs and wider tracks, which gave it a smoother ride and better going over soft ground, and a 76 mm gun with a higher muzzle velocity. In Korea it was the most widespread American tank and it held up well against the North Korean machines.

Where the tiger faces came from

The painted teeth and eyes on the front of the hull are not the manufacturer's invention. The crews drew them themselves at the turn of 1950 and 1951, because it was believed that the enemy infantry had a superstitious fear of the tiger. The designs differed from machine to machine in the shape of the mouth and the color of the eyes, so no two tanks looked the same, and that is exactly the charm of having the collector set of five together.

The models are aimed at a display case, not a workbench. They need neither bases nor glue, and side by side they form a complete illustration of one short period.