SCALE MODEL NEWS

A RECENT VISIT TO THE BRITISH ARMY TANK MUSEUM STORE gave us a chance to inspect something a little different - a laser-cut model of a World War II Sherman tank. SMN report: The Metal Earth Sherman tank component sheets are things of gleaming beauty, almost deserving to be shown off by themselves in a suitably-lit museum display. Packaging for the sheets consists of a slim A5-size card envelope, which also contains a detailed A3-size instruction sheet. Brief historical details ( below ) of the Sherman tank are printed on the pack's reverse side. These two sheets comprise all but one component for the Metal Earth Sherman tank. Scale isn't quoted, but the assembled model measures about 75 mm (2.9 in) which puts it in working distance of standard 1:76 scale. Tank sides ( below left ) are given a textured treatment, the tracks ( below right ) are each a single item. The running gear is neatly designed, though don't forget that the final result will be a non-realistic shiny obj...

WE’VE BEEN CATCHING UP ON the multi-award winning TV series Band of Brothers recently, so the newly-released Tamiya 1:35 scale M4A3E8 Sherman tank is particularly interesting. SMN report: The US M4 Sherman tank was one of the great Allied weapons of World War II, manufactured and deployed in huge numbers, and with many variants during its active service. One such variant was the M4A3E8 ‘Easy Eight’ ( Tamiya model below ) which had the benefit of various design improvements incorporated as a result of combat experience. The tracks ( below ) are realistically depicted using belt-type parts. The finished 1/35 scale model has an assembled length of some 214 mm (8.4 in) and width of 86 mm (3.4 in). A commander’s figure ( below ) is included, though it's a top-half model only - the poor chap has no legs. The Sherman's top hatch can be assembled open or closed, and has separate periscope parts. The three-view drawing ( below ) shows a Sherman from the 4th Armored Division, Bastogne, ...

It's 1945, and the Allies are on the verge of winning World War II, when suddenly the Nazis unleash an arsenal of super weapons straight out of science-fiction, turning the tide of  combat  in their  favour .   This presentation was done on a very small budget, with all the tanks and vehicles - Willys Jeep, Stuart  and Sherman tanks, Nazi 'Spider' tank - featuring as 1:6 scale models, rather than the CGI that's typically used for almost all sci-fi movies today. In Director Ryan Nagata’s words, “1945A is a presentation I made with George Edelman about an alternate timeline where the Nazi's unveil all sorts of futuristic sci-fi technology at the end of World War II, turning the tides in their favor. “It's essentially what five minutes of the feature film could look like. It was made for a budget of less than $2000. Most of the costumes were made by me for a previous project. We only had five helmets to share between actors, so I had to repaint the different markin...