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For discussions on tanks, artillery, jeeps, etc.
The year of Shermans? Meng
panamadan
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Minnesota, United States
Joined: July 20, 2004
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Posted: Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - 08:36 AM UTC
Length and link would be plenty fine for this kit.
Dan
M4A1Sherman
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New York, United States
Joined: May 02, 2013
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Posted: Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - 09:38 AM UTC
Hi, Randy!

I like your little "liner-note" down on the bottom left of your page.

I was gonna go hide myself in my bathroom "to go stealth", but I got bored...
nsjohn
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Scotland, United Kingdom
Joined: July 26, 2018
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Posted: Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - 10:22 AM UTC

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What you can be sure of is that Dragon will re-box and reissue their kits to compete. Airfix will also be issuing a Sherman later this year which I suspect is a re-box of the Academy kit.



Hello, Norman!

As I understand it, the "new" AIRFIX 1/35 Armor kits for 2019/2020 will be re-boxings of the ACADEMY kits, with some tweakings here and there, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. As I'm primarily an aircraft modeler, I have to mention that I REALLY like the "NEW AIRFIX'" 1/48 aircraft kits, ESPECIALLY their fighters, their Stuka, Defiant and Blenheim kits! Beautifully done!

Hopefully, AIRFIX will continue this trend with their 1/35 Armor, even if they are re-boxings of the ACADEMY kits...



Hi Dennis

I think that at this stage Airfix are simply testing the market and the best that can be hoped for is some interesting markings. If they do sell, however and there does seem to be a reasonable profit for them, then things could develop from there. They did however get badly burned in the early 1980's with their 1/32 range.
M4A1Sherman
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Joined: May 02, 2013
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Posted: Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - 10:34 AM UTC

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Hi, All!

Yes, quite a few questions have been answered with the latest news from MENG regarding this little beastie...

I LIKE the choice of the three different Gun Tubes' "looks"; "slick", or with the Thread Protector, or the Muzzle Brake. EXCELLENT!!! I LIKE the choice of different Road Wheels that can be "mixed", as they were on the real 1:1 scale Tanks, sometimes. The Top Roller question/donnybrook has been resolved. Nice-looking Bogie Assemblies...

I LOVE the kit-supplied forms for the proper shaping of the PE Headlight and Taillight Guards- This will make things easier for the experienced people AND for the guys that absolutely hate PE. I always used wooden dowels to form my US-style PE Headlight and Taillight Guards, but this is a much more efficient way of doing it. BRAVO, MENG!

Will there be Crew Members..? And if so, how well will they be sculpted? Would they be as good as or better than some of the latest plastic figures, or even as good as some of the high-quality resin ones? Doubtful, in my estimation as far as matching resin-figures' quality and attention to detail. To me, it doesn't matter that much; I usually replace my "plastic people" with resin ones, anyway...

As far as the Tracks go, several of us had already figured out EARly ON in this thread; that being that the most logical way for MENG to execute "High-Strength Workable Tracks" would be to "sandwich" METAL TRACK PINS in-between the Upper and Lower (Inside & Outside) Track Pads, with separate Track Guides/End Connectors. The "Duck-bills" are a nice "extra". THESE are appreciated by many of us, I'm sure. OK, so we're gonna have Tracks that are comprised of a bazillion parts- Would you rather have DRAGON's "DS Tracks", instead..? I think not... "Don't Worry, Be Happy", as that dopey song went back in the '80s...

Sand Shields/Mud Guards, whatever you want to call them- Nice Option, but I won't use mine once I get a couple or three of these kits. It'll be interesting to see how accurate the Main Gun Breech, etc is going to be- NICE, but once again, (for me anyway), that's not a big selling point. I'm buying these kits whether they have Main Gun Breeches or not. Half of my armor with closed Turrets or Fighting Compartments gets "buttoned-up", anyway.

Ahem... Interiors- Well WHAT can I possibly say that hasn't already been said..? I STILL think that it would be VERY NICE for us to finally have Shermans WITH Interiors. Or AT LEAST ONE, anyway... What with the high parts counts of the Tracks, an Interior in THIS kit looks less likely of happening, since MENG has already said, (so far), that this kit will be comprised of 1200 parts... (SIGH)

That doesn't mean that MENG does or doesn't have a Shermie in the works WITH an Interior to be released later. Would be nice...

I'm not sure whether RFM has released any real dope on their E8 as far as an Interior is concerned- Anyone know anything or have any official info on that score..?

Are we fretting too much over this new M4-series kit..? I... Don't know... It's just that some of us within this tiny, little, little niche of modelers on this site have been waiting for something other than Tigers and Panthers for a long time...

I'm STILL waiting for the ULTIMATE 1/48 P-51 and P-47 kits, where us WWII aircraft modelers won't have to spend a jillion bucks on after-market stuff in order to bring already outstanding kits, (the AIRFIX P-51D and the TAMIYA P-47D & M kits) up to "World-Class"...
M4A1Sherman
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New York, United States
Joined: May 02, 2013
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Posted: Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - 10:49 AM UTC

Quoted Text


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What you can be sure of is that Dragon will re-box and reissue their kits to compete. Airfix will also be issuing a Sherman later this year which I suspect is a re-box of the Academy kit.



Hello, Norman!

As I understand it, the "new" AIRFIX 1/35 Armor kits for 2019/2020 will be re-boxings of the ACADEMY kits, with some tweakings here and there, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. As I'm primarily an aircraft modeler, I have to mention that I REALLY like the "NEW AIRFIX'" 1/48 aircraft kits, ESPECIALLY their fighters, their Stuka, Defiant and Blenheim kits! Beautifully done!

Hopefully, AIRFIX will continue this trend with their 1/35 Armor, even if they are re-boxings of the ACADEMY kits...



Hi Dennis

I think that at this stage Airfix are simply testing the market and the best that can be hoped for is some interesting markings. If they do sell, however and there does seem to be a reasonable profit for them, then things could develop from there. They did however get badly burned in the early 1980's with their 1/32 range.



Yeah, I remember those... Although, I DO have to say that their 1/32 "Multi-Pose" figures weren't too bad, albeit with a lot of work. But then, MOST plastic figures in those days, (HISTOREX doesn't count), were pretty damned awful, anyway...

I'd LOVE to see some 1/35 WWII British stuff that no one's made in plastic, yet: A Morris Commercial-series, an updated Crusader Mk.I, a Covenanter, and an Australian Sentinel Cruiser Tank AC I or III. Yeah, they were only used for training, but they were STILL a cool-looking vehicle, in my eyes...
M4A1Sherman
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Joined: May 02, 2013
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Posted: Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - 12:33 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Length and link would be plenty fine for this kit.
Dan



Hi, Dan!

AGREED! I'm not overly enthralled with the prospect of putting all of those Track parts together; CERTAINLY going to be a protracted effort on my part...
Kencelot
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Florida, United States
Joined: December 27, 2001
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Posted: Thursday, April 18, 2019 - 06:13 AM UTC
More info from Meng Model on their sherman here.
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