Friday 3 May 2013

(Sherman part of) WW2 US Tank Battalion WIP (Command Decision 20mm)

Only half as far on as the British late 1944 RTR is the US 1944 Armoured Division Tank Battalion (Command Decision OrBat). The manufacturers are going from top to bottom (see below):
  • HaT (Armour Fast) x 2 75mm M4A3
  • Esci/Italeri x 2 75mm M4A3
  • Esci/Italeri x 1 75mm M4A1
  • Revell x 1 76mm M4
  • "Die Cast" x1 M4A3 105mm


Still in the bag is another Italeri/Esci M4A3 Sherman kit (actually the Sherman "Calliope" kit) to make which leaves me the option of getting the Plastic Soldier Company of three US 76mm (Wet Stowage) to "finish" the battalion off. As way of size comparison (funny as NZ was just asking this very question) the large 1/72mm kits fit in well with the Armour Fast and Esci/Italeri kits (see below): 


For both the US and British tank formations, these are still "post D-Day" formations and both would require and additional three 75mm Shermans to represent the early Normandy "hit the beach" and "breakout" formation.

So there's still a possibility of more Airfix and Esci/Italeri Shermans to make in the future ;)

Note: I should also point out that there is quite a lot of variation in the US Tank Divisions (as in between the Divisions designated as "Light" and "Heavy"). I am also just looking at the M4 Sherman contingent as the US tank battalions had an organic M3/M5 (Stuart) light tank company too.

2 comments:

Paul said...

Nice one Geordie, just what the Doctor ordered.

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

The PSC certainly blend better with the Esci/Italeri and Hat (Armour Fast ) kits, which leaves me with thought of transferring them from British to US command

That would give me a nice 1943/1944 (up to Normandy) tank formation

However that would mean forceful eviction of the Britisgh tank commanders with a pair of pliers ;)

For the time being I am happy to allow the British Squadron commander's tank to be the large one