Dragon's 1/72 Sherman Firefly Vc
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Sherman Firefly
The British upgunned the American Sherman
tank with the potent 17 pounder gun. With some other secondary modifications
this resulted in the Allies finally fielding a tank that, for the most
part, could go toe-to-toe with German Panthers and Tigers. Most of the
Fireflies were converted from the M4A4 variant of the Sherman tank. Due
to the much larger 17 pounder rounds the assistant driver position and
bow machine gun were replaced with added ammo stowage. Since the 17 pounder
gun breech was so large it took up more space in the turret so they cut
open the rear of the turret and move the radio back in a armored box so
it would be out of the way of the recoil.
The Kit
The boxart has a nice rendering
of a British Firefly in action with a Staghound armored car (future Dragon
release?, I hope so). There is a color plate on the side of the box that
will assist you in painting your model as well as nice pics of the kit
details, decals, tracks and photo-etch. The well-packed box contains multiple
sealed bags. Inside the bags contain
four part sprues molded in a soft light gray styrene along with the upper
and lower hull pieces. There is also a sprue of two one-piece tracks made
of Dragon's own DS (Dragon Styrene) yellowish plastic. Visual
inspection shows that there are no sink marks or flash. I am amazed at
the way Dragon creates their molds with 'slide mold technology' which
allows them to render greater detail without sacrificing quality. The
ejector pin marks are found on the back-side of the parts and out of sight
during assembly. Part detail is impressive, very crisp and to scale. There
is also a decal sheet and a sprue of photo-etch (PE).
The six-page instruction booklet is very well illustrated. To assist in
assembly there is a symbol legends for gluing, painting, drilling, etc.
including a numbered parts location diagram with shading for unused parts.
For such a small scale the level of detail is exceptional.
  
We being the seven-step assembly with
the suspension bogies in step 1. Its interesting to note how Dragon parted
out this assembly. It takes a total of four parts to make up one bogie
system. The volute spring is a separate part while the wheels and rear
suspension arm are one piece. That make less of a chance of losing a wheel
during assembly I suppose. None the less it is straight forward for this
step. In step 2, the 3-piece transmission cover, rear plate, bogie systems
and drive sprockets are mated to partially assemble the lower hull. The
lower hull is completed in step 3 with idlers and rear plate details.
The upper hull is detailed much of the PE and other stowage as well in
steps 4 and 5. Here you will use PE for periscope and light guards. There
are styrene versions of these if you are not comfortable with PE. The
upper hull has the best detail of any Sherman prior to this release for
an injection molded kit of this scale. The turret is assembled in steps
6 and 7. The detail on the one-pieve 17 pounder is remarkable. Again,
you will use PE to detail your turret with periscope guards, grab handles
and other fiddley bits. Final assembly is completed in step 8 with the
turret and upper hull mated with the lower hull. Here you will attached
your steel chevron tracks as well. These tracks are wonderfully rendered
for this scale. Keep in mind, use super glue to join the tracks end to
end. Some solvent glues will react to harshly with this kind of plastic.
I experienced this first hand with another of Dragon's kits. Oh well,
you live and you learn from your mistakes. The only thing I can say that
this kit is lacking is I wish Dragon would have included a couple of tank
crewmen to complete this kit.
  
When you are ready for paint, decals and weathering you will have
the choice of marking one of four Sherman Fireflies. One British (Northampton
Yeomanry), one Canadian (2nd Armored Brigade) and two capture Fireflies
in German markings. The decals are very thin and well-printed. The painting
reference helps when choosing what colors to use to paint your Sherman
Firefly.
Conclusion
I have always looked forward to another release from Dragon's 1/72 Armor
Pro kit series and this Sherman Firefly is no exception. The detail of
their 1/72 kits rival their big brothers in 1/35. I am impressed with
their level of accuracy and detail of their molds. Although, there are
no perfect kits that I know of this one is really close. From their photo-etch
to their decals these are really welcomed kits in this scale. Revell may
have started the small scale AFV explosion of kits but Dragon has upped
the anty. You can't beat the price and overall quality. I highly recommend
this kit to any Sherman-aholic modeler out there. I purchased my review
kit at a local hobby shop.
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