Warlord games ITALERI Bolt Action Plastic M4 Sherman initial impressions



It was a most exciting day when the postman arrived today.  New toy day is always to be savoured, and I was looking forward to this delivery hugely!

I had barely shut the door before opening the packaging to discover this beauty inside.

 

It’s one of the new plastic 28mm 1/56^th scale plastic models from the Warlord Games, Italeri  co-operation.  I have fond memories of building Italeri model kits as a youngling with my Grandfather so was excited to see them working together.

I have wanted to expand my bolt action US army for a while, and I have plenty of grunts on the grounds, so I needed armour.  The M4 Sherman was the only choice, iconic, cool looking, produced in massive numbers, and rather effective on the tabletop!

Righty let’s take a look at the outside of the box first, such great artwork on the front and back, and a nice little historical blurb as well.

So what comes inside? Well you get the sprues all bagged up, an instructions sheet, and little flyer, and decals. YES. DECALS!

I must admit I initially approached the cleanup and build process with some trepidation, as let’s be honest as nice as the warlord plastics are to look at, my lord they took some work to get together and where very fiddly.  Something I do hear has changed in the newer ranges where weapons come already attached to arms.

I dry fitted all the bits together as I clipped them off the sprues, following the instructions.  The pieces needed the most minimal cleanup I have seen, just filing the clipped edges of plastic office. Even the way they clipped out was a change from some of the recent plastic kits I have built; they came off the sprue so easily but are still solid.

The detail is excellent; the track assembly looked scary in the instructions and pictures, but went together a breeze, is solid and looks great.

 

Putting this kit together you will find so many nice touches, like the way the tracks are fitted to the rollers meaning you cannot really mix them up

I powered through the build, having a great time, the instructions are clear, but sometimes it’s handy to keep the box there as the art has pictures showing front and rear views so you can make sure things are going in the right places, or the right way up.

It’s easy to weigh down if you don’t like the lightness of the model; the hull is hollow so some weight and PVA can go a long way here.

As you can see the hull fits perfectly together dry fitted, just sat on top in the pic, and when glued in place is nice and snug with no filling required.

 

The turret again fits together nicely, and the .50 cal fits nicely into the peg hole for it. The plastic Aerial is a nice touch, though I am not sure how durable it will prove in everyday gaming.

 

Overall I am really impressed with this kit and can say in all honesty that this is THE BEST plastic war gaming kit I have ever built. You can really tell that Italeri added their extensive skills to the mix and came out trumps.

There will be more blog posts showing the work on the Sherman in the future so keep your eyes on the blog. And in the mean time I can’t recommend highly enough popping over to http://store.warlordgames.com/products/plastic-m4-sherman-medium-tank/ and picking one or two or more up!