Hi all, recently I was able to obtain a box of the new BBX27 Sherman Armoured Platoon from battlefront - now like many of you I have built the old resin Sherman, the open fire Sherman and Sherman from other manufacturers, so how do these stack up to them?
The tank itself is split over two sprues, there were minimal lines on initial examination.
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| They go together great |
Alongside the tanks themselves was a separate commander sprue - I'm a huge fan of this, it has enough variety that your IC/2IC and platoon commanders will now look different - very pleased to have this in my collection.
We also get a new decal sheet - the big improvement here is the addition of the unit markings with numbers inside them. - having attempted to freehand this in the past I'm much happier. Though the fact you only get markings for 'guards' is a slight shame if you're collecting 11th armoured etc.
So onto the build - the instructions were clear - and there were some nice little bits of design there as well. For instance the part which connects the gun mantlet to the turret has an arrow to show which way in it goes - a small but welcome improvement. The real question though is 'do these require green stuff like open fire?' The answer is no! The hulls fit together perfectly. In fact it was a breeze to assemble, even with removing bits from the sprue, reading instructions and assembling - it only took me a couple of hours to get all 5 built.
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| no green stuff! |
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| extra stowage |
The only issue I'd have with the sprue is the choice of stowage on it. Whilst you have cans and track links there are no bags etc thankfully I had done spare I could add to my Sherman - but this is very much a personal thought. The stowage there is is great quality and attaches well. Conversely the high point of the sprues was the inclusion of two .50 cals - so if you do snap one you have a spare!
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| new style connector |
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| All 5 built |
The other nice but was the options to attach the hull and turret, you could use a peg, or there were recesses for magnets - I used the peg and it works brilliantly.
After assembling then I base coated and painted - and here are the finished results. I think that for ease of assembly, accuracy and detail these are a great kit. My complaints are small with regards to stowage and decals.
All in all I'd give this kit a solid 9/10 burning tigers!
Great review. I do love these new plastic boxes. I wish they would include a bit more stowage and pieces for variety in the models. Maybe just a little extra sprue of stowage or something like they do with the tank commanders. I imagine that a full company without any stowage would get pretty similar. The new models look great. How sturdy do the 50cals feel on the models?
ReplyDeletePretty sturdy actually - none snapped during the build - and I thought that was going to be a given - the spares may well replace lost ones on my m10's
ReplyDeleteThat is a nice looking kit.
ReplyDeleteHow do they compare, price-wise, to Plastic Soldier Company?
RRP about £6 difference, I would personally say tge ease of putting the BF model together, + decals, + command sprue makes up a lot of ground. I'd probably personally go for this out of the two, but it's a close call
ReplyDeleteGlad they fixed the green stuff/hull problem.
ReplyDeleteAnd your paint job is superb.
Was waiting for a good review on these before I decided to start replacing all my Open Fire Shermans.
ReplyDeleteYours look great, up to your regular good standard. Thanks for the writeup.
Great Review! Thank you. But wait! What Brit lists get 50 cals for shermans ? Point me in the right direction. :)
ReplyDeleteCheck the MG lists for brit shermans with them
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