Tag Archives: Sherman

Brickmania M4 Sherman tank custom LEGO kit [Review]

This is my second review focusing on a custom Brickmania LEGO kit that’s similar to a LEGO model I designed myself — well, sort of, in this case. Read on…

The M4 Sherman is one of the most iconic and recognizable tanks of all time, with nearly 50,000 produced between 1942 and 1955. Because of its long production run, the tank served through most of the U.S. involvement in World War II and on through the Korean War.

M4 Sherman tank variantsThe Sherman is an incredibly well-documented vehicle, and popular enough with plastic modelers that there’s a wealth of reference pictures available online and in books, from historical photos to detailed schematics and high-res close-ups of surviving tanks in museums. With so many production variants (animated GIF illustrating three of the most common ones on the right) and tank crews’ penchant for customizing their vehicles in the field, it’s also a great choice as inspiration for a LEGO model — you can definitely put your own spin on it.

After I’d tried my hand with LEGO World War II models with a couple of small Jeeps and a simple Higgins Boat for my Omaha Beach diorama, I knew I had to tackle a bigger vehicle, and I quickly settled on the M4A3 Sherman, which I included in my diorama depicting the liberation of Cherbourg.

Here’s my M4A3 (76)W Sherman variant on the right with Dan Siskind’s Brickmania M4 Sherman that I’ll be reviewing on the left.

M4 Sherman comparison - Dunechaser vs. Brickmania (1)

It feels a little odd reviewing these two models as a comparison for two reasons. First, they’re very different variants. Dan’s M4 reflects earlier (initial M4 or M4A1), much more rounded hull design with a 75mm gun while mine is the mid/late-war M4A3 with an angular hull and the much-larger 76mm gun (with its correspondingly longer turret).

Side note: Remember how I said just how well-documented Shermans are? Prepare for this review to get occasionally technical about tank details. Bogies will be mentioned.

Second, I have to confess that I based many aspects of my M4A3 on Dan’s own M4A2. Or rather, I tried to reverse-engineer things like the front section and the suspension from his pictures (which I can’t find online today). You can definitely see the influence in details like the angled flags above the treads on the front. Given a bit of “shared DNA,” there is of course a lot more similarity between my M4A3(76)W and Dan’s current Brickmania M4A3(76)W kit. But back to the actual review…

Theoretically, both of these models are the same scale — Dan says he targets 1/35th, and that’s the same scale I used, based on schematics in World War II AFV Plans: American Armored Fighting Vehicles. But this next comparison photo shows how much larger mine is:

M4 Sherman comparison - Dunechaser vs. Brickmania (2)

The problem with LEGO tanks is that they’re just plain huge — an issue I touched on in my review of the Brickmania WC54 ambulance: “The more ‘room’ you have to work with, the more details and functionality you can build into the model.” (Speaking of ridiculously huge, I hate the road wheels on my tank and will definitely be replacing them with smaller ones if/when I revisit my design.)

My point about tank scale is best illustrated by this historic photo from Belgium in 1944, with soldiers conveniently walking alongside for scale:

Yanks of 60th Infantry Regiment advance into a Belgian town under the protection of a heavy tank.

The soldiers standing next to the Sherman show that the top of the tank treads come no higher than mid-chest, and the deck of the tank where the turret sits is just above the tallest soldier’s helmet. Granting that the minifig is horrible for scale, but assuming that height is an acceptable measure of dimension, it’s clear that just about every LEGO tank is far, far too tall. And thanks to the minifig’s impossibly wide hips, a LEGO Sherman’s width is also affected, if you want to include space for both a driver and a machine-gunner. Here’s Dan’s photo of his M4 Sherman, with three crewmen (not included in the set):

Affordable Sherman Project01

On my tank, the tread/suspension section is taller than a minifig. Dan has managed to shave at least two plates’ worth of height off the most-common LEGO Sherman designs, but at the expense of several details most other LEGO versions include, like the larger front drive sprocket compared to the smaller rear idler, and even the bogies (hey I warned you!).

Which brings me to the price for Dan’s kit. I won’t go into the price-for-value issue again in this post (read my WC54 post for that), but the kit I’m reviewing is $165 for 505 pieces. For $350, Dan also sells his M4A3(76)W Sherman as a “premium kit” built from 796 pieces that includes a 4-minifig crew.

The difference — both between Dan’s two Shermans and between his $165 version and my own — is a matter of scale versus detail. I think this more-basic Brickmania Sherman gets the scale closer to “right,” but by sacrificing many of the details in my version and Dan’s own M4A3. It’s not just an issue of price; I think it’s essentially the same tradeoff between scale and detail that Dan and I made in the opposite direction with our two rather different ambulance designs.

The scale-vs-detail point that I’ve belabored now in two separate posts isn’t a criticism in either direction — neither “Proper scale should always win over detail” nor “Certain details must never be left out.” And I won’t include a handy comparison table this time. I do want to point out several aspects of Dan’s “basic” M4 Sherman that I really like — all differences from mine.

  • The front section uses rounded bricks rather than straight slopes, similar to the even-more-rounded front that I first saw on Rumrunner’s M4A1 a couple years ago, but with much simpler parts (another good compromise).
  • The two front hatches close seamlessly.
  • Even with the hatches open, the turret can still rotate 360 degrees.
  • The road wheels are a logical, proper size that allow the tank to roll on its treads. (Mine are far too huge and don’t line up properly with the treads.)
  • The main gun raises and lowers (“fully posable” as Dan puts it). I think this is my favorite functional detail, and a design I’ll borrow should I revisit my tank again.

Even without some key details — like the bogies (and again!) — I really like the overall design, and this feels like a Sherman you could probably build a couple more of once you have your first copy, thanks to Dan’s instructions. Other than the bogies (last time, I promise), my biggest critique is the too-narrow treads — a single set of Technic chain links for each tread. Most Sherman designs use either LEGO’s wider tank treads or two parallel chains of Technic links. The single-chain treads work on smaller tanks (I’ll review one of them shortly), but as part of the overall shape, I can be convinced that it’s an acceptable compromise.

And for me, that’s ultimately why this is a positive review — that the design looks great at a lower price by leaving off a few details — and why I can heartily recommend the “plain” Brickmania M4 Sherman. It’s a fun little tank — and little is good when it comes to tanks. More importantly, it holds plenty of opportunity to make it your own with extra details and “field customizations” like hedge-cutters, applique armor, and equipment built from your own LEGO collection.

With enough M4 Shermans at your disposal, successful invasion of a Pacific island becomes a possibility:

Peleliu Beach, September 15, 1944

Brickmania sent The Brothers Brick a copy of this set for review. There is no guarantee of coverage or a positive review by providing items to review. It helps when you have a good product, like Dan Siskind does with his Brickmania custom LEGO kits. We’ll have a couple more reviews next week.

Tanks for Nothing – an excellent M4A3 Sherman from WWII

I’m always a bit of a sucker for a well-built tank, though I admit to not keeping up specifically with who’s currently got the most accurate LEGO tank and whatnot. I do know a nice-looking tank when I see one, though, and flickr user DutchLego has a hardy-looking M4A3. Before everyone screams it, yes, it does have some aftermarket parts and some modified bits, but the effect works well here. (If only LEGO actually made narrow treads like that!)

The Battle of Cherbourg in LEGO

Immediately after the start of the Normandy invasion on D-Day, Allied forces began a battle for the strategic port city of Cherbourg that lasted more than three weeks. My diorama highlights the aftermath of the battle, when townspeople begin emerging from the rubble, while Free French partisans hoist the Tricolour above their safe house.

The Liberation of Cherbourg (1)

The diorama features an updated version of my M4 Sherman tank:

M4 Sherman tank - V2 (1)

For more photos, check out the photoset on Flickr, and you’ll be able to see this in person in just over a month as part of the Operation Bricklord collaborative display at BrickCon 2010.

The roles of research, critique, and community in improving LEGO models

WW2 Medic (1)Like many LEGO builders, I spent the first decades of my life building in isolation, lucky to get suggestions or critique from a sibling or rare friend who also played with LEGO. But in the last 10 years — particularly the last 5 — the LEGO fan community has grown to include a critical mass of people who build in just about every possible genre.

People with shared interests who spend time together online will inevitably run out of solely positive things to say, and as a result, a culture of constructive criticism has emerged among LEGO fans. Balanced against this impetus to critique everything are the planning and research that individual builders put into what they create. In contrast to the solo building those of us in our 30s did 20 years ago, builders today have a wealth of sources right at our fingertips.

What effects do research, critique, and discussion among community members ultimately have on the quality of the LEGO creations we build and share? Since I’ve been on a bit of a building spree lately (amazing what you can do when your LEGO collection is sorted), I thought I’d step back and share my experience.

Read on, and share your own thoughts in the comments…

Before I set out to create a Dodge WC54 ambulance from World War II, I spent a couple hours finding the best pictures and determining where and when they were actually used during the war. Given that many World War II photos were taken by service personnel and are therefore in the public domain, Wikimedia Commons is a great place to find historical photos.

Historical re-enactors and scale modelers also run dozens of sites that pull together vast amounts of careful research. For both my ambulance and later battalion aid station diorama, I turned frequently to the WW2 US Medical Research Centre.

Originally planning to broaden my D-Day beachhead diorama, I confirmed that WC54s were used at Normandy, and even found a photo of WC54s sitting on Omaha Beach. Good enough to start building.

Targeting 1/35 scale, I translating the real vehicle’s length, height, and width into studs and bricks. Remembering what I’d learned from my wildland fire engine, I built from the top down. I struggled with the front, since I had to combine half-stud offset for the three/five-wide hood with SNOT for the grill and bumper, plus tiles (with no studs to sturdy connections on top) for the fenders.

I figured it out, though, and pleased with my results posted pictures to Flickr:

Dodge WC54 Ambulance (1)

Checking back a while later, I saw a stream of notes from our very own Tim, whose windscreen I’d reverse-engineered for the original ambulance. I gritted my teeth and clicked through. (Honestly, I hate taking criticism, especially when it’s wrong. I’d vented a week earlier that too many of the suggestions to “improve” my M4 Sherman tank took it in more interesting but less historically accurate directions. That’s just plain annoying.)

Tim had seen the mini-rant I’d posted in a Flickr group we both frequent, and his critique was spot on. He made specific suggestions based on the source material I’d used myself, providing solutions where I hadn’t thought the model could be improved. The result is the version I included in my diorama, posted separately below:

Dodge WC54 Ambulance - V2 (1)

The story arc (if you will) started with research, moved through community discussion and critique of the creation itself, and ended with a substantially improved LEGO model. This same story plays out every day in the LEGO fan community today — something that would have been nearly impossible 20 years ago and highly unlikely 10 years ago.

Side note: Looking to future World War II vehicles I might build, I’ll be relying on a copy of World War II AFV Plans: American Armored Fighting Vehicles by George Bradford. I was pleased to discover that I ended up almost 100% to scale (1/35) for my M3 Half-track, even without the book.

American Armored Fighting Vehicles by George Bradford (1) American Armored Fighting Vehicles by George Bradford (2)

Nearly all of the book’s schematics are printed at 1/35 scale, which avoids eyestrain from the WIP-held-against-computer-screen method I’d been using before the book arrived in the mail.

So, what’s your experience with the balance between research or sources of inspiration and constructive criticism?

M3 Half-track APC, M4 Sherman tank, & Dodge WC54 ambulance

I’ve shared in the past my ambivalence toward violent LEGO, but there’s something unique about World War II that has fascinated me ever since I was little. My grandfather and great uncle served in the US Army during the war, and I grew up in one of the countries that both inflicted a great deal of suffering and suffered deeply themselves before losing the war to the Allies.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve really started enjoying the unique challenges presented by building a LEGO model based on something “real.” LEGO has interesting scale challenges, and I think too many LEGO vehicles are too tall or too wide.

My M3A1 Half-track has a three/five/seven-wide hood, with an eight-wide cab and crew compartment. It’s my favorite so far (even though the tracks should have four road wheels, not three).

LEGO M3A1 Half-Track

I’m less happy with my M4A3 (76)W Sherman tank, which has to be far too tall to capture the right details in the suspension, and I missed the shape of the rear section behind the turret. Because it was my first tank, I spent a lot of time looking at tanks built by other builders — especially BrickMania’s M4A2, Phima’s M4A3E8, and Milan CMadge’s M4A3E8.

LEGO M4A3 (76)W Sherman Tank

Because I come from a family of pacifist non-combatants and conscientious objectors, my convoy of military hardware wouldn’t be complete without a US Army Medical Corps Dodge WC54 ambulance. Like the half-track, the ambulance’s hood is three/five/seven-wide, with a six-wide cab. The recessed spare tire seems impossible at this scale, unfortunately, and getting the shape right means it does not fit a fig.

LEGO Dodge WC54 Ambulance

Now to build some sort of massive World War II diorama to put these in…

The eyes of the world were upon them

Milan CMadge has been building LEGO versions of the Normandy Invasion for nearly a year now, culminating in his latest diorama featuring a German bunker built into the cliff (complete with interior), a pair of LCVP “Higgins Boat” landing craft (one more fortunate than the other), and even an amphibious Sherman tank.

LEGO Omaha Beach landing diorama

See detail shots on Flickr.

Now, to connect this with my own Omaha Beach diorama, along with Darth Yoda’s, for a massive LEGO D-Day Omaha beachhead…

BrickMania M4A3 Sherman Tank custom kit now available for pre-order [News]

Dan Siskind of BrickMania has just announced that his next custom kit is available for pre-order — the M4A3(76)W VVSS Sherman Tank.

LEGO M4A3(76)W VVSS Sherman Tank

I’d never bought any custom LEGO kits from somebody else, but I bought two of Dan’s kits a few months ago.

LEGO Red Baron triplaneI couldn’t have been more pleased. They’re well-designed, interesting to build (well, except maybe the tank treads, heh heh), and a lot of fun to see how another LEGO builder solves interior structure problems you’d never see in a photo.

Though the printed instructions for the two kits I ordered were $10 more expensive, I found them harder to read than the electronic version on a CD.

If you’re reading this, you probably have a computer, so I recommend taking the cheaper, more legible route.

You can pre-order your own Sherman from BrickMania.com.