Zaloga, S. J. Modelling the US Army M4 (75 mm) Sherman Medium Tank

The Sherman tank was the principal US and Allied tank of World War II with more Shermans manufactured than all German tanks combined. Not only were large numbers manufactured, but there was a very wide range of variants powered by different types of engines, manufactured with different types of hulls, turrets and other details. As a result, a M4A1 tank from the Tunisian campaign in 1942 had nothing in common with a M4A3E8 tank from the 1945 campaign in Germany, even if they shared the same name. Consequently, the Sherman has proven to be an enormously popular modeling subject. Due to the enormity of the subject matter, this book is the first of three planned to deal with this tank and its many variants. It covers the early 75mm Shermans and runs the gamut from the US Army in Tunisia in 1942-43, Italy in 1943-45 and NW Europe in 1945. In so doing, it covers the broadest possible range of variants and details. The builds include: 1.M4A1, 2/13th Armored in Tunisia 1942/43. This is mainly 'out of the box', and deals with cleaning up and correcting the popular Dragon kit and painting it in desert colors. 2.M4A3, 6th Armored Division, Battle of the Bulge, January 1945: an intermediate level build, correcting and enhancing the Tamiya kit, and dealing with the issue of assembling aftermarket (separately available add-on components) link-to-link tracks. 3.M4A1, 2nd Armored Division, Sicily 1943. This is actually an earlier version of the M4A1 than the first type (2nd Armored having been the first division with the Sherman); an advanced level project using the Formations resin hull for the proper 'direct vision' early hull.
4.M4, 8th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division, Normandy, July 1944: the 'super'project, including a number of advanced techniques such as swapping the suspension on the Tamiya kit, applying foliage camouflage, building and painting a turret interior and adding figures to the model. The book also showcases a number of other Shermans already built by the author to demonstrate the variety available.