For a long time, Airfix has continued the tradition of reboxing their older kits from their 1/76 scale line. Since this is a reissue, despite the newer box with red highlights, this Sherman M4A2 comes from a mold that is pushing 60 years old (and it shows). The kit includes rubber band tracks and a couple of sprues. Given the age of the mold, the parts are in okay conditions, though there is flash. Certainly, the parts are not as crisp as in a new kit, but they are adequate. When you compare this Sherman with newer kits, the details are soft. I can only assume that the vehicles depicted through the decals are new to this reissue.

There’s not much to the kit. The suspension has the most pieces and is rather fiddly to assemble. Given the age of the mold, the detail of the road wheels is rather indistinct and they are not easy to assemble. The units have a small wedge shaped piece that represents the top right roller. It was an interesting engineering decision. Suffice to say, the fit is okay, but fiddly. There is not much more to assembling the kit. The two halves of the hull pop on; the turret goes on the top and voila! You are done. The tracks are rubber band and were mal-formed, so the connection point was not there. I used a staple to attach the two ends. Not very elegant, but it works. There were markings for two vehicles, one British and the other from the US Army. I chose the British markings.

I used Tamiya Olive Drab to paint the vehicle. Since Airfix reinvented itself several years ago, the quality of their decals has improved immensely. There are decals for two vehicles, one in American service and the other in British. These early Airfix kits continue to serve as an entry point for many new modelers, myself included. It is amazing how much mileage Airfix has gotten from these molds. Unfortunately, the age of the mold has effected fit and finish. That being said, with some help from an adult, this could certainly serve as an entry point of a child who wants to explore scale modeling.

My thanks to IPMS, and Airfix for giving me the opportunity to review this kit.