First of the M4A3 Shermans

 

I finally found time to make a start on the late war US armour for What a Tanker!, with three Sherman M4A3's constructed in between shifting some of the marking that I was supposed to do during the holidays. The first two are the Italeri Fast Build M4A3(76) kits, with added stowage and some additional weathering of the tracks and hulls with plastic putty, but with the turrets not permanently fixed to the hull yet to make them easier to paint.

The other tank uses the the up-armoured turret from the Italeri M4A3E2 'Jumbo' kit retro-fitted to an Armourfast M4A3 hull, with the glacis sanded down to look a bit more like the characteristic slab armour. The Italeri kit just re-uses the standard M4A3 hull, which is not only incorrect but looks wrong too, while the Armourfast sanded down hull at least resembles the M4A3E2 configuration. 

I couldn't be bothered to cut plastic card armour pieces to glue over the top of the hull front and sides but I think it looks okay as it is, so I can live with this make do and mend effort. The spare Italeri hull will get an M4A3 (105mm) turret from Armourfast, so that it isn't wasted. I can also use the M4A3(75mm) turret that I have left over on the last of the Italeri hulls, which is an added bonus.