Osprey Publishing

Modelling the US Army M4(75mm) Sherman Medium Tank

by  Steven Zaloga

Reviewed By  Mark Aldrich, IPMS# 39295

MSRP: $18.95 The name Steven Zaloga has been synonymous with Osprey Publishing for as long as I can remember. I saw his name associated with the first Osprey Vanguard book I purchased. It was the T-34-85 medium tank. As my reference collection has grown, so has the number of times I have seen his name. Now, I knew he built models, but I now have a model reference of model Shermans that only he built. The book is typical of past Osprey Modeling offerings. The book contains all the key ingredients to appease model builders: beautiful pictures, well-written text, and great Sherman stuff. The book has 81 pages and is soft bound as Osprey does. It contains seven charts and one color chart. The introduction talks about the model history (or lack there of) of true 75mm Sherman kits. It then moves onto four chapters of Sherman builds with one done in 1/48 scale. It finishes with a chapter on further research and an index. The builds are incredible and what Mr. Zaloga does with the Tamiya 1/48 Sherman I wouldn't even try in 1/35.

The model chapters are well written and photographed. My only complaints are that Mr. Zaloga gets too technical with the descriptions of Sherman components. I really don't care if the mid-production M4 (75mm) was assembled with a D70564 driver's hood or a d77160A driver's hood. For those of you into that kind of research, then this is a great book for you to have. Also, the book includes several photographs of dioramas that are not covered in the book. He is kind enough to reference where they can be found. I would have preferred for them to be included in full or not at all. The one shot of the M4A1 on Omaha Beach was neat looking and I would have loved to have read the write up on that.

Over all this is another great Modeling manual from Osprey. They continue to improve both their content and subject matter in this growing line. I would like to thank Heather Feinstein of Osprey Publishing and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this latest addition to their model building manuals. The whole Osprey line of books can be acquired at www.ospreypublishing.com or any good hobby store.

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