Fighting 48^th M4A4 Conversion

By Konrad F. Schreier III

Most modelers are familiar with the most common variants of the M4 Medium tank, the original Continental radial equipped M4 and M4A1 models and the follow on M4A2 diesel powered variant and the ubiquitous M4A3 powered by the purpose built Ford GAA. A lesser known but extensively produced variant was the Chrysler A-57 multi-bank powered M4A4, which used five individual six cylinder automobile engines geared to a single output shaft to generate 425 horsepower. Concerned with the reliability of such a complex power plant, although used for training the United States Army released most of the M4A4’s to the Lend-Lease program, under which the vast majority of the 7,499 produced were parceled out to Britain, other Commonwealth forces and the Soviet Union. The complex engine was also larger than any other Sherman power plant, and that gave the M4A4 its most distinctive feature – a stretched hull and suspension that added about 11 inches to the overall length of the tank and spaced the bogies a little over six inches further apart than those on all other M4s with the exception of the M4A6. 

For those who want to model this version of the ubiquitous Sherman in quarterscale there has been no alternative prior to Fighting48th's release of a full M4A4 conversion for the Tamiya Sherman kits.  Not only is this a welcome alternative, this first offering from the growing Fighting 48th line, this conversion is an amazingly well done kit. Owner Tim Perry has used stereo lithography (sometimes called 3D printing) to create the masters for this kit and they are outstanding pieces of work. As the photos show, the upper and lower hull castings are bubble free and encrusted with detail, and come out of the box with nary a casting block. 

 The resin hull in particular is dramatically better than the die cast part in the base kit, and features full bolt detail on all sides and a completely detailed hull bottom.  All that is called for is a bath to remove mould release agents and some careful clean-up and the parts are ready to use. I was able to prepare the main components for assembly in less than 15 minutes, which is simply remarkable for a resin kit. The remainder of the parts are cleanly cast, and although you will have to remove casting blocks, they are attached in easy to remove spots, so the process will go quickly. Having built a few resin kits, I can say that this is one of the few that engineered and produced to a level of precision that allows comparable ease and speed of assembly to a plastic kit. 

Test fitting the Tamiya bogie parts showed they pressed in place without any adjustment, and the cast in locating holes allow placement of drops of ACC from the inside so nary a glue smudge will show. The Tamiya M4 turret fits perfectly without any clean up of the resin turret ring, although there was a bit of binding in one quadrant of the turret rotation that needed smoothing out. The Fighting 48^th upper hull comes without any tools cast on it, making the Tamiya M4A1 kit a good starting point. If you want to build a Firefly using the Tamiya Firefly 1C as a base kit you may want to add a set of Hauler tools to complete the stowage, or purchase a spare set of the Tamiya tools. The MR Firefly turret can also be used, but again some tools and other bits will have to come from a Tamiya kit.

  Assembling this conversion is aided by a simply outstanding, fully illustrated, set of instructions. For those accustomed to the somewhat sparse assembly information found in some resin kits, the Fighting 48th instruction package is a welcome departure, and provides a complete, clearly written step by step assembly process. Although the instructions are intended to create a Firefly, after looking at some wartime images I decided to mix it up a bit and create a Canadian 75mm gun tank named "Adjunct" as it appeared in Italy in 1943. The narrow mantlet turret comes straight out of the Tamiya As noted, above, because the main components have most of the detail cast in place, going so far as to include the transmission housing and rear plate, they are pretty much ready to use, making basic construction actually far easier than the base kit.

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