Zvezda 1:100 M4A2 Sherman

A closer look at the 1:100 M4A2 Sherman tank expansion for the "Art Of Tactic" wargame made by Zvezda from Russia. This kit gives you a 15mm Sherman tank, that can be used either for Zvezdas game itself or any other wargame where you can find this unit.

But I do not want to spend any more words before we have taken a look at the modelkit which came with this expansion:

This kit comes in two sand-colored sprues. And as usual, the material is not as stiff as from other kits I know, what does not mean that it is soft. But Zvezda uses a material for their kits that feels (at least for me) somehow different.

Maybe this is the reason that their wargaming kits in general are casted without any flaws. No sinkholes, no ejectormarks which would be seen after construction, minimal mouldlines that would need removal.

Some tools and the towrope are moulded onto the hull, the overall grade of detail is acceptable for a wargaming piece, I have seen worse in bigger scales. The roadwheels are well made and surprisingly the tracks are not as simple as we have seen on other Zvezda kits, the Sherman tracks are ok.

A standard issue with these "Art Of Tactic" tanks kits is the absence of decals, and this kit is no exception. Another thing that I do not like, there is only the option to build it with closed hatches for (not included) crewmembers.

Following the well made building instrutions, after some cleanup, the tank was built pretty fast without any issues, as usual I used glue but it is not needed to use. In each case you should use enough pressure to avoid any gaps during the construction (next Tuesday we will see what happens if you do not).

I added a leftover hedgerow cutter from the Sherman kit of the "TANKS" starterbox, see the finished kit below:

All in all this is a decent kit.

The grade of detail is acceptable, even the tracks are not too bad. If you need a cheap M4 Sherman, you should get this one, if you can live with the usual issues that "Art Of Tactic" tanks kits offer (no opened hatches, no decals, nocrewmembers).

And (as we see below) there are some differences in the size of this compared to the BFM Sherman:

While I would not mix both models in a single platoon because of their differences, if you would use only Zvezda (of BFM or PSC) Shermans in a platoon, it would be ok.

The price for this kit is below 4 Euros what is the average price for the sort of kits. What I wrote in earlier posts fits here as well, either you want it cheap and easy to build, or you pay a little more and get 15mm Shermans from other companies, in most cases those kits offer some extra bits and stuff.

In the end it is your choice whatever Sherman you want to use, but I recommend this kit beside the issues I have with it.

This is one of the last posts I had prepared, what means that I have to start another writing marathon in the next days, yet tomorrow we will take another closer look at a Zvezda 1:100 kit, and then I will have to start writing upcoming the posts for the next weeks.