First Deliveries to the Field

The liberty ships have unloaded the first shipment of Sherman M4A3 (76)'s for the 761st, courtesy of a hobby shop here in Japan.

This is the Easy Model kit, and as you can see it comes fully assembled and painted.  It is a very well made and detailed model, and would be  ready to go on the wargames table.  The model is weighted, so it has a nice "heft" to it.

A lot of good detail too, including turret attachments, towing gear and the like.  But I think I'm going to have to carefully cut the .50 cal Browning off its pintle, drill out a hole in both gun and mounting and reinforce it with a section of thin wire, as otherwise I can't see it surviving too long on the tabletop.   Unfortunately, the paint job and markings are very well done, and even the weathering is subtle yet effective.  

I say "unfortunately", because at some point I'm going to add external stowage and give the whole lot a repaint.  The markings provided are for the 714th Tank Battalion, which of course I can't use for the 761st. 

I'll also be adding vehicle names, which should be fun- some have been recorded, but with others I can let my imagination run riot.

All in all a good purchase, and it is a nice change not having to worry about assembling hundreds of road wheels together (a reason I still have six Fujimi Pz-IV models sitting in boxes, as I vainly wish for some gremlins to secretly assemble the lot while I am sleeping one night).

I need to think about convincing-looking stowage and markings next, so I'll be checking out decals and resources on what Shermans really looked like in the field.  I want that "gypsy caravan" look to my tanks.

Next on the procurement list are two M4A3E2 "Jumbos" in resin from Finescale Factory.  An email to a specialist hobby dealer got a prompt reply saying that he had two left in stock, so I'll risk going over budget on my hobby purchases this month and order the pair.