The new M4 Sherman minis are great!

Started by Sojka, 12 October 2017, 12:09:55 PM

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Sojka

A few weeks ago, I ordered some of the new early small hatch M4 shermans that Leon and co. just tooled up. Ive just finished painting and decaling the first handful, and they're wonderful sculpts. I wanted to show them off here and give an idea of the size also. They're much larger than some of the older "smallish" sculpts, and compare quite favorably to an Arrowhead M4A3, a much pricier (but admittedly very nice) model. Minibits decals rounded them out.

In all photos the Minifigs M4A3 is on the left, and the Pendraken M4 is on the right.








Sojka

Alas, the M4A1s that I ordered at the same time are much (noticably) smaller, so I'll have to figure a way to round some M4 hulls off to depict those. Beautiful, just smaller.

Sojka


toxicpixie

I provide a cheap, quick painting service to get you table top quality figures ready to roll - www.facebook.com/jtppainting


Raider4

Excellent job on painting those.

But . . .

What's with the plain circle for the front gear wheel? Sorry, but it just looks so, so wrong to me.

Cheers, M.
--

Heedless Horseman

Quote from: Sojka on 12 October 2017, 12:12:11 PM
Alas, the M4A1s that I ordered at the same time are much (noticably) smaller, so I'll have to figure a way to round some M4 hulls off to depict those. Beautiful, just smaller.

Please remember that the Sherman cast hull WAS a bit smaller than the welded variant. The PenD early M4A1 cast hull compares well to Takara WTM 1/144 late cast hull M4A2...and feels slightly 'chunkier' and more 'tank-like' imho!

I was going to try to show a very hurried comparison pic, but will have to remember how!   ;D
(40 Yrs ago. I should have been an Angry Young Man... but wasn't.
Now... I am an Old B******! )  ;)

ErHo

Those are so damn cute!

Got a chill down my spine remembering painting dozens of Lemans, Rhinos and Landraiders for Epic 40k

Take my money Leon, just set me up on a subscription already!

Side note,
Grab bag/mini loot crates possible??   ;D
"Call it extreme if you like, but I propose we hit it hard and hit it fast with a major - and I mean major - leaflet campaign."

- Rimmer

ErHo

I have to say, while admiring the pics I thought to myself "I wonder how he got that dry riverbed to look so neat..  Oh, its just bent cardboard!" LOL   
"Call it extreme if you like, but I propose we hit it hard and hit it fast with a major - and I mean major - leaflet campaign."

- Rimmer

Heedless Horseman

Quote from: Raider4 on 12 October 2017, 04:45:11 PM

What's with the plain circle for the front gear wheel? Sorry, but it just looks so, so wrong to me.


The sprockets can be improved quickly...though imperfectly...with a few notches of a sharp knife. I think that spending a few minutes going round the tracks of the new sculpts, roughly notching in an approximation of track links improves the look of the pieces enormously. Doesn't have to be too exact...clag mud on them!

(40 Yrs ago. I should have been an Angry Young Man... but wasn't.
Now... I am an Old B******! )  ;)

Sojka

12 October 2017, 10:19:19 PM #10 Last Edit: 12 October 2017, 10:24:16 PM by Sojka
Quote from: Raider4 on 12 October 2017, 04:45:11 PM
Excellent job on painting those.

But . . .

What's with the plain circle for the front gear wheel? Sorry, but it just looks so, so wrong to me.

Cheers, M.
--


The drive wheel and tracks are a bit plain, and I likely could have added some detail with a file and a few moment's work. I wanted to show them as they come, however, and certainly at table top distance this would be hard to notice. The Arrowhead one has more detail but is also more than 2x the price; for Arrowhead's prices I could get 15mm from Peter Pig and Skytrex!

And ack, the others are Arrowhead, not Minifigs!

And

Heres a comparison pic of the smallish M4A1 and M4 to get an idea:


Heedless Horseman

Hmm. Have just seen from your pics that the Early M4 has a Loader's hatch on the turret as well as a full mantlet.  :-/

The M4A1s that I have are the ones with sandskirts, projecting small hull hatches...and no turret loader's hatch. They look fine to me. I might file down the mantlets and large turret boxes to an earlier appearance for Western Desert with ex-Crusader bins. Be careful of snapping the 75mm barrels...though they can easily be replaced with rod. At present, I know of no other source for Shermans with sandskirts for Desert or early Italy. Arrowhead may 'Brit up' their models sometime...but not yet apparently.

I really like the new casts...with a little work, they can be great...and MUCH cheaper than the alternatives...wish they had been around earlier. My main quibble is that all the Sherman mantlets seems to be set very slightly too high...also on the Grant turret. This was rather offputting at first, looking at the website pics...but, viewed from above instead of from a low angle, no problem.   :)
(40 Yrs ago. I should have been an Angry Young Man... but wasn't.
Now... I am an Old B******! )  ;)

Sojka

I like them too! It's a great time to be into 10mm =)

Sojka

Quote from: Heedless Horseman on 13 October 2017, 12:40:20 AM
Hmm. Have just seen from your pics that the Early M4 has a Loader's hatch on the turret as well as a full mantlet.  :-/

The M4A1s that I have are the ones with sandskirts, projecting small hull hatches...and no turret loader's hatch. They look fine to me. I might file down the mantlets and large turret boxes to an earlier appearance for Western Desert with ex-Crusader bins. Be careful of snapping the 75mm barrels...though they can easily be replaced with rod. At present, I know of no other source for Shermans with sandskirts for Desert or early Italy. Arrowhead may 'Brit up' their models sometime...but not yet apparently.

I really like the new casts...with a little work, they can be great...and MUCH cheaper than the alternatives...wish they had been around earlier. My main quibble is that all the Sherman mantlets seems to be set very slightly too high...also on the Grant turret. This was rather offputting at first, looking at the website pics...but, viewed from above instead of from a low angle, no problem.   :)


Arrowhead seems set against making any sort of early Shermans, for Brits or US. Qué será. I'd rather spend my money with Leon anyway. Impeccable service.

Sojka

Quote from: Heedless Horseman on 13 October 2017, 12:40:20 AM
Hmm. Have just seen from your pics that the Early M4 has a Loader's hatch on the turret as well as a full mantlet.  :-/

The M4A1s that I have are the ones with sandskirts, projecting small hull hatches...and no turret loader's hatch. They look fine to me. I might file down the mantlets and large turret boxes to an earlier appearance for Western Desert with ex-Crusader bins. Be careful of snapping the 75mm barrels...though they can easily be replaced with rod. At present, I know of no other source for Shermans with sandskirts for Desert or early Italy. Arrowhead may 'Brit up' their models sometime...but not yet apparently.

I really like the new casts...with a little work, they can be great...and MUCH cheaper than the alternatives...wish they had been around earlier. My main quibble is that all the Sherman mantlets seems to be set very slightly too high...also on the Grant turret. This was rather offputting at first, looking at the website pics...but, viewed from above instead of from a low angle, no problem.   :)


The turret is later than the hull, for sure. One could easily file or cut the loader's hatch away, or swap turrets with an arrowhead one (If you have one about). I actually did not notice the wider mantlet until mentioned, but that's pretty minor. Overall, a great sculpt, and by far the best early M4 around. The fact it has the 3 piece transmission housing is quite cool, but could also be easily removed. If Leon and co would tool up to make a later version with applique armor and a cast transmission housing...