COBI Sherman M4A2E8(76)W Set 3118

COBI's Sherman M4A2E8(76)W is a 1:35 model built from 865 blocks, 22.5 cm long, with working tracks, a turret that rotates fully, an elevating 76 mm gun and a Browning machine gun on the roof. Stowage is modelled along the hull, and the set includes a full five-man crew and a printed nameplate.

Easy Eight

The name comes from the designation. E8 was the eighth experimental modification of the Sherman, and in radio alphabet E is Easy — so E8 became Easy Eight, and it stuck because the tank deserved a friendly name.

The modification was the suspension. Earlier Shermans used vertical volute springs with narrow tracks, which gave high ground pressure: they sank in mud and snow, and in the winter of 1944 that mattered more than any gun. HVSS replaced it with horizontal springs and tracks nearly half as wide again, which spread the weight, smoothed the ride enough to shoot accurately on the move, and made the tracks easier to replace in the field.

Together with the long 76 mm gun — which could finally hurt a Panther at sensible range — it turned the Sherman from a tank that won by numbers into one that could win a fight.

Five figures

A Sherman's crew was five: commander, gunner, loader, driver and bow gunner. Very few sets in any range include all of them, and it is worth knowing that the number is not arbitrary — each figure corresponds to a position inside the model.

Specifications

Pieces: 865 · Figures: 5, full crew · Scale: 1:35
Model dimensions: 22.5 × 10 × 12.5 cm (8.9 × 3.9 × 4.9 in)