No way on that cut for the turret, maybe for an above average modeler, I would not even attempt it, just not good enough. Otherwise it looks splendid.

Is there really any difference between the kit turret and the Legend front piece? Other than the molded on dust cover canvas.

Mikey- I have the Tamiya kit, and the mantlet looks very good, mild texture and foundry marks are present, so without having the Legend parts in hand for a direct comparison, I would say probably not. I can't readily recall seeing a pic of the mantlet cover in use on on WWII-era tanks either..... The other parts in the Legends set look great, though.

Yes, I am not a fan of this kind of approach. I am scared I am going to screw up a $40 kit and I feel I have decent modeling skills.

I think they took the same approach for one of their M48 updates (Revell M48A2?), I'm a bit skeptical too, especially with potential resin shrinkage... Cheers, Christophe

Also with their Shot Kal Gimel update. Good thing about that one is most of the seam is hidden under the ERA and other items on the turret.

Maybe you could saw/cut off the the armor plate parts of the cover (this would breakbthe attachment straps but they look easy to scratch) and then fit it to the the Tamiya part?

I had this with their Bronco Comet update set, there is a turret roof that is a direct replacement of the kit part, but after a few years it had shrunk, so now I had to cut it out and I'm replacing it with the kit's original roof... I also had problems with shrunken legend Batash track, is this only Legend's problem or other resin manufacturers have this too? Regards, Greg

Legend tended to be (in)famous for that. I think it's less of a problem nowadays. Cheers, Christophe