Dragon 1/72 M4A3 SHERMAN (105MM) W/DEEP WADING KIT [7330]

Barcode: 0 89195 87330 9
Case Pack: 48 Pieces per carton
Box Size: 6.4 x 10.2" x 1.9"

The M4 Sherman was the workhorse of the U.S. Army tank fleet during WWII, even though it was the British who were the first to use the Sherman tank in combat. The USA had employed the earlier M4 and M4A1 variants in North Africa and the Mediterranean before the M4A3 began to take over as the dominant tank in the U.S. Army. The M4A3 was powered by a 500hp Ford GAA V8 gasoline engine, and this Sherman version was the preferred one in American service. Such an M4A3 is depicted in Dragon's new 1/72 scale plastic kit in the form of item No.7330.

However, this is no normal M4A3, for it carries some interesting and practical accoutrement. Dragon's model M4A3 is fitted out with a deep-wading kit, a piece of equipment that allowed tanks to drive directly from landing craft through the surf and onto a beach during an amphibious assault. The miniature wading trunks fitted onto the rear engine deck (one for the air intake and one for the exhaust) are made from photo-etched metal.

This media is the ideal material to recreate the characteristic sheet metal trunking of the original wading kits. Indeed, this deep-wading kit is a newly tooled item specifically designed for the M4A3 kit. The rest of the tank - from the highly detailed running gear to the top of the slide-molded cast turret - is also finely crafted, building on Dragon's enormous experience in producing model Sherman tanks. Another item that distinguishes this tank is the fitting of a 105mm gun instead of the more usual 75mm or 76mm antitank gun. The 105mm main armament lent itself to use in the close-support role. A total of 500 such tanks were manufactured by Detroit Arsenal between April and August 1944. This 1/72 scale kit is ideal for modelers wishing to reproduce a beach-landing scene, perhaps from the historic events of D-Day where tanks plowed through the surf and onto the churned-up sand of Normandy beaches during the most momentous amphibious assault the world has ever witnessed.