The Sherman tank, a mainstay of Allied armor during World War II, is either hated or loved. Those who hate it are quick to mention its shortcomings, such as its thin armor and undersized gun relative to German and Soviet tanks of the period. Those who love the Sherman reply that its engine was mechanically reliable, easy to construct, and had an adaptability that was nearly unheard-of in a tank.

The composite-hull Sherman, which used the front upper hull from a cast M4A1 and the back upper hull from a standard M4, was an example of that adaptability. Most served in the Pacific theater of WWII, and were frequently seen with snorkel stacks that covered the engine intake and exhaust, allowing their crews to drive ashore from a landing craft without flooding the motor with water.

To build my model of a composite-hull Pacific Sherman, I used Tamiya’s M4A3 (kit No. 35122), Italeri’s M4A1 (No. 255), Verlinden’s Composite Hull with Wading Kit conversion (No. 755), and Eduard’s photoetch set for the M4A3 (No. 35061).
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