COBI M4A3 Sherman Set 2570

COBI's M4A3 Sherman is a 1:28 model built from 852 blocks, with working tracks, a rotating turret, a movable gun and an opening hatch. Stowage is modelled along the hull, two figures are included — one a notably well-detailed tank commander — and a printed nameplate completes the set.

It was not the petrol engine

Everyone has heard that Shermans caught fire easily, and the usual explanation is the petrol engine. That explanation is wrong, and the US Army worked out why during the war.

A 1945 study of knocked-out Shermans found that when a Sherman burned, the fire started in the ammunition roughly four times out of five. The fuel tanks were rarely the cause. German tanks ran on petrol too, and burned at comparable rates when penetrated.

The problem was where the shells were kept: in the sponsons, above the tracks, along the sides of the hull — precisely where a round coming through the side armour would arrive.

The fix was wet stowage. From 1944 the ammunition was moved down into the floor and surrounded by water-filled jackets, so a penetration flooded the propellant instead of igniting it. Fire rates dropped from around 60 to 80 per cent of penetrations to something closer to 10 or 15.

The nickname Ronson, after a cigarette lighter, is worth knowing about too: there is no wartime record of crews using it. It appears in books written decades later, and the advertising slogan it supposedly refers to was not in use during the war.

The M4A3

The version the US Army preferred: a purpose-built Ford GAA V8 rather than an adapted aircraft or truck engine, and the standard for American units by 1944. Around 49,000 Shermans of all types were built — a number that mattered more than any individual quality.

In the COBI range

Set 3118 is the Sherman Easy Eight at 1:35 with a full five-man crew, and 3044 the M4A1 from the Company of Heroes 3 range.

Specifications

Pieces: 852 · Figures: 2 · Scale: 1:28 · Nameplate included