Dragon 1/72 Sherman M4A4 Vc 'Firefly'

This kit was bought in September 2024 to be displayed as part of my WW2 French countryside ambush display.

Box cover:

Instruction sheet cover and contents:

Parts sprues. These are really nice quality, very sharp moulding:

Tracks (styrene - still flexible, not falling apart), photoetch and decals:

Some of the photoetched brass parts are hilariously small and I haven't a hope of my eyes and hands being able to use them! The louvered engine cover and other larger parts should be okay though.

[Build started 8th May 2025] Built up suspension and wheel assemblies:

[15th May 2025] Added more parts to the lower hull section:

[16th May 2025] Building up the parts for the upper hull and turret. I think I have hit the limit in what I can actually handle with my not-so-young-anymore hands and eyes… some of the photoetch brass parts are beyond my ability to use effectively. I decide to only use the parts which are not too small for me to see or handle - this means there are a small number of details not added, as well as a few more details which remain in plastic (and not cut/replaced with the brass). Even so, this is a very detailed kit for 1:72 scale.

This is an example part - it's a cage which fits over various vision blocks on the tank… and it's absolutely tiny. And there are about half a dozen of them, there are some even smaller handles to replace cast-in plastic ones from the frame, and they can be no more than about 1.5 x 2mm (part number #14 on the brass sprue)… I just couldn't work with them!

Adding the photoetch parts that I can handle to the upper hull:

Test fit the two hull sections to ensure they go together without any major issues, and they do:

Brass parts for rear mudguards:

Final parts added to turret:

Adding extra stowage kit from a big bag of random bags, canvas, crates, fuel cans, helmets etc:

All extra pieces in place:

Comparing with the Heller 1:72 M4A2 Sherman which I built a couple of days after this Dragon kit:

The Dragon kit is lovely - just look at the texture of the cast turret, the weld details etc. Plus there's all that brass detail… if your eyes and hands are capable of using it all! However, the regular Heller Sherman is still a very nice kit - especially if you don't want or need the M4A4 Firefly variant.

Prime in light green:

Pre-shading and highlights:

• Vallejo Model Air - Nato Black
• Mig Ammo - Cold Grey

Olive drab and stowage parts painted:

• Vallejo Model - N41 Dark Olive Drab
• Stowage parts painted in various browns, greens - mixture of flat colours and washes, speed colours, inks etc.

The kit has several schemes, but none of them have much in the way of markings.

Colours in lightest (outer edge of rust) to darkest (inner rust patch):

• Vallejo Model Colour - Pastel Green
• Vallejo Model Colour - Russian WWII Uniform Green
• Vallejo Model Colour - Chocolate Brown

Actual rust streaks from these patches will be added later.

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