Dragon 1/35 M51 Isherman IDF MBT

Can you believe I have never ever built a Sherman tank of any variant.  The most prolific battle tank of all time.  So I needed to get on with it and catch up with my fellow armor builders.  Why not start with an up-gunned modernized version that kicked some butt even after WW2 was well over with.  In reality I don't think I was ever a fan of the venerable Sherman of WW2 fame.  It just looked sort of anorexic and weak as compared to weapons of the German and Russian army from the same time period.  It's little gun and tiny wheels holding up this obsolete looking top heavy upper chassis and turret.  Just did not look cool to me.  But Let's throw a super cannon on it with a big muzzle and "boom" I love it.  Sort of like putting cool rims on a Volkswagen.  That did it for me.  Now there are some fine model kits of US Army WW2 error up-gunned versions but I did not want to do another olive drab paint scheme.  Also I just purchased some new paint sets of IDF desert colors.  

So as I have mentioned in some of my other posts I have been on a big kick regarding building all of the IDF armor mounts.  Mostly due to the unique nature of their tanks and APCs, as well as, how they are so worn torn, and weathered, and finally b/c they have many cool looking unique colors other then Olive-Drab.  And because these tanks where used on a regular basis in real war battles spanning from post WW2 all the way to modern times.  They still kick butt!  So this was a perfect project to click off the bucket list...it hit all my needs at the time.

I did not want to do another generic tamiya...yess I love tamiya but was up for a more complex detailed and accurate version.  I like to try different brands on occasion for the variety and uniqueness.  I believe this is the 1st Dragon armor kit I attempted.  Also, as you hear me say often..the box art looked awesome..SOLD!

This kit is mostly Out of the Box (OOB), at least as far as I remember.  The overall build was easy but the suspension was complicated with brass tubes and springs so that it could be articulated but I feel it was over engineered...already missing Tamiya.  Oh well I got it all done and the suspension looked great but in the end did not articulate as planned.  Mostly my fault and planned.  Great molding, crisp, nice surface detail and most importantly lots of appropriate and character building weld joint details.  This is very important to me personally and I have not tried to simulate this on my own.  I was told although the Tamiya kits are fine examples of Sherman s they lack some of the turret weld joints and marks.  This kit did have rubber band tracks and don't fit that great but I felt OK leaving as is..maybe just tired after a very long, complex build with just in my opinion to many parts.

So, overall I was pleased.  Most difficult part of process was, as mentioned, complex suspension, and trying to cut a perfectly round clear lens for spot light...agggg!  I enjoyed the build and hope you enjoy the pictures.