An expected model :

Once again, Tas-ca proposes a

new Sherman kit: the M4A3E2 jum-bo version of this famous WWII tank.This new version was a long term

expectation, since the only existing styrene kit was the old Tamiya which dates back from the mid 80’s. The Tamiya ref is particularly inaccurate with a flawed turret and badly detailed hull. Moreover, the add-

in kits that were supposed to im-prove this kit, were also inaccurate as was the Verlinden Jumbo set.We have to say that Tasca has bridged the gap in a brilliant way.

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Tasca proposes a very expected model with this Sherman M4A3E2 «Jumbo».

Box content :

Tasca’s habit is to re-use existing sprues for developing his Sherman kits. In this model, one can find the whole late M4A3 sprues com-plemented with specific ones for the hull, additional a p p l i q u é a r m o u r s and of c o u r s e , the spe-cific tur-ret.H e n -ce, we face 18 s p r u e s molded in green-brown plastic who-se quality is similar to the Tamiya one.2 “A” sprues that contain most of the drive sprocket (Re-

vised Fancy Smooth drive sprockets (ear-ly production), Fan-cy Smooth variation drive sprockets, sim-ple plate drive sproc-kets. and idler wheels (open spoke& solid spoke pressed) .3 “B” sprues are provided and al-

l o w the buil-ding of most of the s=Sherman bogies except the early ones (straight roller arm without spacer). This is not an issue

since these tanks were both equip-ped with straight roller arm with spa-cer or late raised roller arm. Hence, you can realize two different sus-pension set with 3 kind of wheels (open spoke, solid spoke, smooth dish

road). They c o n t a i n s also some parts that

will be glued on the hull such as the s u c t i o n eyes The “C” s p r u e

c o n t a i n s the OVM, the hat-ches and the .30 machine guns. Most of these parts will finish in your spare box.

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The “D” sprue in-cludes the episco-pes, the tow hooks and the lights. Here again, several parts will be for your spa-re box.The “E” sprue contains the diffe-rent hull parts that as usually for Tasca should be assem-

bled to get the bot-tom hull. The flanks will be positioned on the bottom hull with the help of the transversal parts that separate the hull including the fi-rewall shield located between the engine and the crew com-partment.

The “F” sprue is entirely new. It contains the addi-tional armors and the gun shield that is well reproduced, the 75 mm gun that is correctly repro-duced in two parts, and the final drive housing.The “G” sprue, I

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Thi model offers 18 differents sprues of plastic styrene. Some of them are new like the sprue with the added armors.

should say the “G Sprues” because Tasca provides two sprues, a first one in classic PS and as second one in clear translucent plastic. Hence, you get the commander cupola and its episcope in clear or plain plas-tic and you choose.The “H” sprue, is the second new sprue. It represents in a very accurate man-ner the over armou-

red Sherman turret. It will be explained in more details he-

reafter.There is a second “H” sprue, in the box, but no confu-sion is possible with the first one. It gathers the parts for the 47° hull that was used for the new M4A3 76mm wet kit.The “J” sprue contains the front armor that pro-tects the gearing box. This part per-fectly reproduces

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The sprue reproducing the turret is amazing.

The turret and the gun shield are correctly reproduced.

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partsThe “Z” sprue repre-sents the .50 machi-

ne gun. It is really a masterpiece.The box also contains very well done gas and wa-ter cans. There is also the classic set of vinyl-poly caps, a small PE set with the fenders and pe-riscope guards as well as the engine compartment grid. The decal sheet markings for 2 jum-bo armed with the 75mm gun and 2

the armor that was thicker than the ones used on the classic Sherman. It contains also two versions of the 76mm gun which was used lately on few jumbos, since the 75mm was ok to destroy the enemy pillboxes, especial-ly the strongholds of the Siegfried line.The “O” sprue ga-thers the exhaust

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The Cal.50 machine gun is the finest of the market.

The guns are, of course, drilled!

are very accurate with only 2 visible vi-nyl pimples that have

to be removed. The molding is ok but once installed on the suspension, the tracks seem to be too thick when compared with the pictures.The instruction set is a 10 pages boo-klet written in En-glish and Japanese, with a separate co-lor sheet describing the 4 proposed markings (2 with a 75mm gun, 2 with

Jumbo armed with the 76mm gun. The decal sheet is a bit disappointing due to the missing mar-kings. It is a recur-rent problem.We should mention the T48 tracks with the attached duck-bills extensions. As for other Tasca mo-dels, they are made of 4 sections of soft vinyl that can be glued with a classic cement. The tracks

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The vinyl caterpillars are very well reproduced despite being a bit too thick .

The instructions are sometimes subtle and have to be carefully studied before start.

by Tamiya. This kit used the M4A3 hull completed with ap-pliqué armor, a new turret and two tracks equipped with duck-bills but that weren’t the T48. This kit was disappointing and flawed on several as-pects. Remember the

thin turret that was very far from the original shape. The Tasca reference is second to none and very close to perfection. First of all, Tasca can rely on an excel-lent basis with the hull and the sus-

a 76mm gun).

The styrene parts :

For years, the mo-dellers have been obliged to deal with the horri-ble Jumbo made

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The upper hull of the M4A3 is not new, but it will give you a superb base for your «Jumbo».

pension sets of its existing M4A3 kit. The hull is perfect and its fitting easy. The suspension set is moveable. Tasca provides one piece of sponge

material that is used to re-p r o d u c e the volu-te springs effect (cf 1st issue of MK Ma-gazine). The assem-bly is complex since each boggy is com-posed by no less than 37 parts. The capability of repro-ducing the volute spring effect is wel-come should you wish to do a diora-ma. For the Jumbo, these bogies were quite smashed by the tank 10 tons

overweight and it will be possible to re-produce this effect. However, my advice will be to glue the bogies in their de-s i r e d

position, to avoid any unrealistic rising of the first and last bo-gies once the tracks installed.. The bottom hull is made with 8 parts when other brands propose a single piece. It could be thought that this is a weak point since the assembly of several parts to make a hull

generally leads to a catastrophic re-sult. However, it is not the case with Tasca. The fitting is perfect and Tas-

ca provide the separa-tion casing

b e t w e e n engine and crew c o m p a r t m e n t s (part #E7). It’s a very good idea that strengthens the hull. It facilitates the work for mo-dellers who want to scratch the inte-rior or to use add ins. The appliqué armor will be ad-ded on this superb base. Once again,

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the fitting is excel-lent and the weld details are very well done. The dri-ve housing armor is also perfectly re-produced with the right thickness.

The turret is the box master piece. Many modellers wanted to see what Tasca was able to deliver in contrast of the poor Tamiya part or the not so

good Verlinden resin turret. There is no di-sappointment, Tasca is second to none. The overarmored T23 turret is simply superb. The feeling of “beefy” is present and the comparison with the classic T23 turret produced by Tasca for the M4A3 76 w or MA3E8 Easy Eight kits even rein-forces it. I would just point two small drawbacks, the cast

surface effect is a bit smooth, and there is no foundry casting marks that are perfectly visi-ble on the original pictures. Tasca pro-vides the late hat-ches and we can choose between clear and solid plastic. This is an excellent initiative that was initially in-troduced with the Tasca M4A3 76w. All these parts are perfectly molded and accurate.Tasca offers the 75mm gun (most frequent) and the 76mm gun (2 diffe-rent types) that was adopted lately on few jumbos. Here, I’m a bit disappoin-ted because Tasca continues propo-sing a gun barrel in two parts. Even

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The cast surface effect is a bit smooth.

if the fitting is not difficult, it requires a tedious sanding to get a perfect result. I don’t un-derstand why Tasca which masters the molding technolo-gy (have a look on the .50 MG sprue if you are not convin-ced) keeps molding the gun barrel in two parts!The gun mantle is also a winner. Its thickness is accu-

rate and the sharp angles accurately re-produced. There is

a slight scratch on the bottom part which may come from the stripping.

The PE set :

The PE set is simple. It contains perisco-pe guards and rear fender supports as well as the exhaust grids. This PE set is thin and is easy to use. The backward is that there is no

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The weld details are very well done.

The PE set is thin and gives you the more impor-tant details.

.50 MG cradle and pintle. These parts that are located on the top of the tur-ret (Fire position) or on t h e b u s t -le (transpor-t a t i o n ) a r e nicely repro-d u c e d in styrene but slightly too thick. These parts were made of very thin metallic bar that tightened the mg barrel.

The vinyl tracks :

As usually, Tasca pro-poses vinyl tracks in two half parts that are to be joined with classic cement. (si-milar to dragon DS tracks). The T48 che-

on the ground (ra-tio Weight/contact area). The tracks are very well repro-

duced despite being a bit too

thick. It’s not so e a s y t o g e t

a na-t u r a l

p o s i -tion on the

suspension set. I would have appre-ciated an alternati-

vron shape is well re-produced. Attached is a full set of extenders, t h a t

were systematically fitted on the tracks to decrease the pressure

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LeThe T48 tracks are reproduced with «duckbill» end connectors.

ve with the Modelk-asten tracks as Tasca used to propose in the past. However, it seems that this op-tion has been given up for several years.

The decals sheet :

The sheet is quite simple despite 4 different markings. The Jumbos didn’t exhibit a lot of mar-king, but more than

what Tasca proposes. You can reproduce 4 different tanks: Jumbo 75 mm 33rd tank battalion 3rd DB – Houfallize – Ja-nuary 1945 ;Jumbo 75 mm 32nd tank battalion 3rd DB – Belgique – January 1945 ;Jumbo 76 mm 32dn tank battalion 3rd DB – Cologne – march 1945 ;Jumbo 76 mm 37th tank battalion 4rd

DB Alzey – march 1945. ... The quality is good but some markings are mis-sing. The Jumbo were sent to the front in August 1944 and fought for the liberation of France. It’s a pity, there is no marking for that period, es-pecially if we know that these tanks ar-rived at Cherbourg. Tasca is passing through the libera-tion of France wi-thout stopping.

The instruc-tion set, clear but complex :

The instructions set are a 10 pages B&W booklet written in Ja-panese and partially translated in En-glish. The drawings are clear as well as the sketches. Howe-

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The decal sheet is too simplistic.

ver, it will be neces-sary to take care and to choose an option from the beginning of the assembly. The instructions are so-metimes subtle and have to be carefully studied before start. If you read neither Japanese nor En-glish, there is a risk that you miss some points. No Spanish, German or French, here again it’s a pity.

Conclusion :

This Jumbo is a win-ner. Tasca bridges a gap by proposing a state of the art model in a domain where there had been no new kit for 30 years. The as-sembly is easy and accurate, just like the Tamiya kits. You can nearly forget putty and sand pa-

per.The experienced mo-deler will add some details such as the chain cap for the li-ghts, the casting numbers, the MG cradle and pintle, but the kit is highly detailed and super-bly rendered.The Tasca kits are not for beginners. A mo-deler with a reaso-nable experience should have little difficulty to assem-

ble them thanks to the quality of the fitting. A very ex-perienced modeler will enjoy the kit that gathers such a level of fine de-tails.

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