So I pulled the trigger not so long ago on Taigen's Sherman 'kit' they recently started offering in their new 76mm turret release. Naturally I got to slapping it together ASAP and even before the paint was fully cured I have something that resembles a Sherman. 

First impressions were very good, it's a solid chassis that's been offered by Taigen for over a year now that was first released with the 75mm version. The kit didn't include gearboxes so I ordered a set of 4:1 reduction steel-gears with bearings. From what Ive seen so far having not run it, they are a solid set & rotate easily with hand pressure... many gearboxes normally require some effort in tweaking to get them running smoothly. 

Negatives include sprocket and idler wheel caps that are VERY tough to get on. I spent about 20 minutes with a hand file getting them close & then a few cycles of on-off with a brass punch and hammer before they would mount easily. You need the cap OFF to install the idler so there isn't much tolerance for tapping while on the chassis. Remember to paint AFTER the fact... Beyond that each of my idler wheels was missing a ball bearing but Erik @ Taigen got back to me within hours letting me know new ones were in the mail. Woot. 

I'll just post pictures from here on in explaining what I'm up to. 

[url=[url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161223_201708_zpstwflmj3z.jpg.html][/url] [url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161223_201747_zpsra1ndfri.jpg.html][/url]] [/url]

My first job was grinding out a portion of the transmission cover to allow the slightly different sized gears of the 4:1 gearbox to fit in smoothly. This isn't very unusual for different Sherman based builds and was simple enough with a dremel. Erik already gave me the heads up so no problem here.

[url=[url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161223_201708_zpstwflmj3z.jpg.html][/url] [url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161223_201747_zpsra1ndfri.jpg.html][/url]] [/url]

^^^
Since I don't consider any r/c tank a true warrior until it has at least half a pound of M3 hex-head bolts in it I started drilling and tapping for the gearboxes & transmission cover. The chassis mounting standoffs are very solid and nearly the exact size for an M3 tap, so all I needed to do was drill through the hull and thread away. Fantastic. Gearboxes are now solidly mounted and I don't need to worry about crossthreading the coarse screws.

[url=[url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161223_203946_zpsbh7vqn0x.jpg.html][/url]][/url]
^^^
The transmission cover was also a simple matter of drilling through the existing mounts and tapping. Now it'll never come off accidentally. 

Coincidentally the suspension bogies were already tapped in M3 so where possible I installed a bolt instead of the included machine screw. There isn't enough room between the chassis and gearboxes for a bolt so the screw remains.

[url=[url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161223_213750_zpsrm7w1giu.jpg.html][/url]][/url]

^^^
Painting begins! I set a counter sunk screw into each wheel to keep paint from fouling up the internal ball bearing and bushing surfaces. Keeps things nice and neat.

[url=[url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161223_213919_zpsjumvytya.jpg.html][/url] [url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161223_230112_zpsjys5ar87.jpg.html][/url] [url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161224_005640_zps31yvgpim.jpg.html][/url]] [/url]

^^^
More paint... so far just a simple Canadian Tire rattle can of primer and super-flat camo green. This is a great inexpensive way to get a durable base coat onto your tanks. It's perfect for Shermans and anything Russian.

[url=[url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161224_011046_zpslelhxle2.jpg.html][/url] [url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161224_011706_zpsslhohbf0.jpg.html][/url] [url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161224_012003_zpshquz8ilq.jpg.html][/url]] [/url]

^^^
The wheel assemblies are simple and robust enough & went together in a way I haven't seen before. They have a single ball bearing on the inside rim which the long threaded axle passes through. On the outside rim & basically the entire remaining length of internal axle is a brass bushing. I assembled these adding high-speed bearing oil to each bushing and bearing & once all together they spin freely. I don't think having two bearings per wheel would have helped much & probably would only make things more complicated; the threaded axle need not be 'just right' for the wheels to spin. They can be pretty snug. 

The wheels themselves are 1-piece and solid; probably indestructible. Tires are rubber and come off & on easily.

As I always do some blue lock-tight holds everything together. This stuff is essential if you want a tank that 'hardly ever' falls apart..

[url=[url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161224_021843_zpsixn5ze1m.jpg.html][/url] [url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161224_044013_zpszpj1kktk.jpg.html][/url] [url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161224_044107_zps30wpw1oh.jpg.html][/url]] [/url]

^^^
This is what my idler looks like after spending some time 'convincing' it to seat properly. I poached one of the bearings (Remember my set was missing one bearing per wheel) to complete a side & mount a track. The idler axle is secured with a small C-clip on the inside & then covered with the scale-looking idler adjust nut. This tank does not have functioning idler adjusters, however. 







A minor downside here, but situational; the C-clips holding the idlers on are TINY and pretty fragile.. I've already had to re-bend mine after installing/removing them twice. Good luck if you drop one outside of a clean-room...! Now once you're happy with your idler setup they need not come off ever after. I'll make a point of asking Erik for a bunch of extra C-clips

[url=[url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161224_044308_zps6xkews3o.jpg.html][/url]][/url]

^^^
The tracks are nice & solid. Single pinned, just like Heng Long but without the nasty 'hollow' on the inside surface that makes that tank howl as it drives. The duckbills are a cool feature with this kit; they have a false pin that slots into portion of each link that, in a true Sherman track, would also have a pin but in this case are fixed. The special track pins have a large flat on one side that holds the duckbill on & closes each link.

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^^^The turret is what makes this kit a bit different as it's mostly cast metal sitting on a plastic base. The barrel is metal (aluminum? It's turned) with a brass muzzle break. Recoil is the old reliable Asiatam elevation / snap-back unit now in black plastic. They can be a bitch to wire if you're using different electronics but they're solid. 

I like the small bearings that the turret rotates on; I think this is common in tamiya tanks but I wouldn't know, who buys those?  Basically without the turret ring gear installed you can spin the turret around with a touch and it keeps on rotating.. nice. 


[url=[url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161224_052308_zpswguamzuz.jpg.html][/url] [url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161224_052318_zpszqdsj09l.jpg.html][/url] [url=https://smg.photobucket.com/user/Strato50/media/Taigen Sherman M4A3 76/20161224_052332_zpstluqvdvu.jpg.html][/url]] [/url]

With some basic paint it's starting to look alright! Upper hull appears to be a standard HL Sherman with Taigen turret gearbox inside. I don't plan on changing much here, I like the paint as is and the colour. Maybe some stencils. The harsh angles of this turret and M4A3 hull really pop out

Nothing at all is wired yet and I haven't decided on a control board.. Benedini? Who knows..

That turret is sweet. I am not a big fan of Shermans in general but this is very nice.

I know Dean is crinching right now but I use the same two Canadian Tires grey primer for metal and the flat camo olive green for base coat. That stuff is absolutely amazing and I swear dries in 2 minutes flat.

looking Good 
does that primer hold up on metal parts or does it scratch off
is it the armor coat can do you have pics of the cans

Yea the armor coat is one of the primers I use. 

I tend to ignore the 'cure for 24 hours' bit a lot of the time, so yea paint scratches off if I'm working on something like sprockets or wheels... meh. I also used whatever we had leftover at work, a polyester filler-primer but I forget what that was... 

Yea the green camo paint dries so fast you can watch it cure, handle parts in a couple minutes!