| Manufacturers
of 1/72nd Scale Sherman Tank Models and Accessories Click on the manufacturers' logos
to be taken to their company websites, if they have one.

Aber
Gun
Barrels
Most large scale armor model builders will recognize the
name Aber from their large line of photoetched details
for 1/35th scale armor. In small scale however, Aber has
not yet entered the photoetch game, and has instead
provided us with a large selection of turned aluminum gun
barrels. As of this writing, they make two barrels for
the Sherman family: a 75mm M3 cannon for all versions of
the 75mm-armed Sherman, and a 3 inch M7 cannon for the
M10 Tank Destroyer. These are both excellent pieces and
highly recommended.

ACE
Decals
Best known for producing limited-run armor kits in this
scale, ACE has not provided us with any Sherman kits,
however they do market a nice set of waterslide decals.
Very high quality.

AFV
Decals
Decals
From Sweden, this company is no more, and has been
reformed as Bison Decals. AFV Decals had many of the most
original decal sets I've ever seen, meticulously
researched, and accompanied by detailed instructions.
Although Bison has a higher printing standard, I wish
that they would also re-release the original AFV decal
sets.

Al.By
Resin
Kits and Conversions
A very well-known resin kit manufacturer, once considered
the best in the world, but now with serious competition.
Al.By's resin casting is flawless, and generally their
kits are outstanding; very well researched and with
excellent detail. In our scale, they have marketed a few
Sherman and tank destroyer conversions, and sell some
conversion turrets as separate sets. They also sold at
one time some Combi-Kits, which consisted of their resin
conversion parts bundled with a plastic Sherman kit from
ESCI. All of Al.By's sets are old, and were designed for
use with the ESCI Sherman kits.
Aleran
Decals
A waterslide decal company from the US, I've not yet had
the opportunity to use any of their products. Although
marketed as 1/76th scale, I feel that tank markings are
small enough where such a scale difference isn't
noticeable. Aleran markets several generic sets of
British armor markings that can be used with Shermans as
well as other British tanks. They have also recently
released a couple of sets of specific Sherman tank
markings that I know were well researched.

Archer Fine Transfers
Dry
Transfers
Not waterslide decals, but rather dry rub-on transfers,
Archer's products are truly outstanding. They take a
little more effort to use than waterslide decals, but the
final result blows the decals out of the water. Archer
markets several generic sets of British armor markings
that can be used with Shermans as well as other British
tanks, along with generic stars for US tanks. They have
also recently released a couple of sets of specific
Sherman tank markings.

ARMO
Decals,
Gun Barrels, Resin Kits and Conversions
A well-known resin company from Poland, ARMO valiantly
attempted to satisfy Sherman modelers by releasing a
large number of Sherman conversions back when the ESCI,
Hasegawa and Revell kits were the only choices of Sherman
on the market. The result was hit-and-miss. Their gun
barrels and 76mm T23 turrets are superb. But their full
Sherman conversions were not done to the typical high
standard that I had come to expect from this company. It
seemed as though they felt rushed to get their product on
the market, and the conversion work looks a little
sloppy. The conversions sets certainly are useable, and
will save the modeler a lot of time and effort in
scratchbuilding, but they will require some cleanup, more
than other resin conversions on the market (but in their
defense, they are also much more affordable).
Note that in the kit
lists, you will see many of their conversions labeled as
"early", "mid" and "late".
These are all, in fact, early versions of the Sherman
tank (56°, dry stowage hulls). The "early",
"mid" and "late" designations refer
to the nose piece, gun mantlet, and turret details.
ARMO has recently made a
name for themselves with after-market decals. They
produce a large number of sets of decals, many of which
include, or are specific to, Sherman tanks. They have
focused on Polish Shermans and armored vehicles in
particular, which makes me very happy personally as I
have a special interest in all things Polish. The decals
are extremely high quality, and some of the best I have
used.

Armorscale
Gun
Barrels
From what I understand, this company was founded by
former employees of Aber, and the gun barrels that they
market are the same very high quality items as the Aber
barrels.
A World
of Decals
Decals
I've not yet had the opportunity to see these decals
firsthand, but the subjects certainly look good.

Bison Decals
Decals
This company was formerly known as AFV-Decals, the
creator of extremely well-researched and comprehensive
decal sets. Under the Bison label, the company switched
over to Microscale for their printing requirements, with
outstanding results. They have released a couple of sets
of decals specific to Shermans, as well as including a
couple of Sherman variants in some of their other topical
sets.

Calibre72
Resin
Detail Sets and Figures
An offshoot of the large scale Calibre35, this brand
makes some of the best resin detail sets currently
available. As of this writing, they have marketed a
couple of replacement wheel sets, as well as hedgerow
cutters and deep wading stacks. I truly hope that they
continue releases in this vein. Additionally, they
produce one of the finest sets of US Tank Crew figures I
have ever seen.
Ca.Ma.
Resin
Kits and Conversions
An Italian company that I think is out of business,
Ca.Ma.'s resin sets appear to be converted from the ESCI
Sherman kits. I've not seen any of these kits in hand.

CMK
Resin
Conversions and Detail Sets
This Czech company is well known to most modelers as
producers of very high quality resin and etched brass
conversion and detail sets for vehicles and aircraft in
all scales. They have been a very early contributor to
the small scale armor community, and have released
several sets dedicated to the Sherman tank, as well as
some generic US armor accessories. One of the best
companies out there, everyone should encourage them to
increase their output of Sherman-related products.
Commander
Series
Resin
Kits and Conversions
Commander Series is a well-known manufacturer of resin
ship models and 1/35th scale armor kits. At one time they
had marketed a line of small scale armor kits and
conversions, but discontinued them long ago. Many of the
masters for these kits were created by Ken Overby, and
some are now available through CPL Overby's Motorpool.
CPL
Overby's Motorpool
Resin
Kits and Conversions
Having started by making the master kits for the
Commander Series line of small scale armor kits, Ken
Overby now markets most of those kits under his own
label. The original Sherman variants offered by this
company were all based on the old ESCI Sherman kits, and
many of them are currently undergoing revision. Some of
the now-superfluous kits in the line have been
discontinued.

Dragon
Plastic
Kits
Well known Chinese company of plastic models, Dragon only
recently entered the small scale scene. Although the
early kits in their extensive small scale line-up were
rather poor and suffered from many design flaws, their
newest kits are extremely high quality. Their Sherman
kits are the best on the market. Still, there are certain
aspects of the kits that hold them back from being
perfect, such as vinyl tracks, wheels molded onto the
roller arms, and some tools molded onto the hull.
Regardless, with their extensive catalog of Sherman kits,
modelers are now able to build almost any variant of the
Sherman through creative kit-bashing between Dragon kits.

Eduard
Etched
Brass Details and Plastic Kits
Long known for their huge catalog of etched brass detail
sets for almost any model in existence, Eduard has been
sporadic in their release of small scale armor detail
sets. They were the first company to release details for
these kits long before small scale armor ever became
popular. Then after a long hiatus, they released a small
selection of sets for the kits that started to hit the
market in the late '90s. Eduard decided to suspend their
production of small scale armor sets due to poor return
on their investment. After a few years, they changed
their minds, and are now releasing excellent detail sets
on a fairly regular basis, although in my opinion, they
are incredibly over-priced.
Eduard was also one of
the first companies to release new Sherman kits, after
the modeling community made it very clear that we wanted
something newer and better than the old ESCI kits. Their
two versions of the M4A3 Sherman are fairly decent,
though suffer from poor running gear. They also released
their kits in a rather silly marketing scheme of a
"standard" version, followed by a
"Profikit" version of each kit, the latter
including a more extensive photoetch fret than the
bare-bones edition.

ESCI
Plastic
Kits
Long out of
production, the ESCI kit molds were bought and sold to
many different companies, and marketed under several
labels. The current owners of this brand are Italeri. One
of the earliest manufacturers to release plastic kits in
1/72nd scale, their kits were considered top-of-the-line
back in their day, and even today, many of these models
hold up surprisingly well when compared to more modern
releases from other manufacturers. The two Shermans
released by ESCI were for a very long time the only
Sherman kits available to 1/72nd scale modelers, along
with the Hasegawa M4A3E8, which was an inferior kit. The
ESCI Shermans are now rather dated compared to the newest
crop of plastic kits to recently hit the market.
ExoKit
Resin
Kits and Conversions
Resin company from France, now out of business. Some of
the people behind this company have joined with the
people behind RetroModels to form a new concern, called
Retrokit.

Extratech
Etched
Brass Details and Plastic Kits
A Czech company that got its start in small scale with
very high-end resin kits, they made a name for themselves
in the photoetched brass market, releasing very
reasonably priced sets for a very wide variety of model
kits. Their only foray into the plastic kit market is a
series of early version Shermans, the first plastic
Sherman kits released since the ESCI Shermans. Their
Shermans are pretty good, though suffer from poor running
gear. Like Eduard, they also released their kits with the
silly marketing scheme of a "standard" version,
followed by a "ExtraPack" version, the latter
including several resin details and a more extensive
photoetch fret than the standard edition.

Fine
Scale Factory
Resin
Kits
Resin company
from Germany, its current situation is flux. They have a
large line of small scale wargaming kits, figures and
accessories, and a much smaller line of display-quality
tank kits. Fine Scale Factory was one of the first resin
companies to release several versions of the Sherman that
were missing from the marketplace (well, pretty much all
of them were missing at the time). While they were
modified conversions of the ESCI kits, the standard was
very high, but unfortunately so was the price. The
current owners of the company don't seem to be interested
in continuing the production of their Tank Line kits, and
are focused more on their wargaming line.
First
Aire Model Factory
Resin
Conversions
Resin company
from Japan. I know very little about this company, and
have only seen photos of their products at some Japanese
modeling websites. I don't think their kits are still in
production.

Goffy
Resin
Kits, Conversions and Accessories
This company
(another Czech resin firm) hit the market really hard in
2004 with several detail and accessory sets for small
scale diorama builders. They eventually expanded their
catalog to include vehicle conversion and detail sets,
plus a small line of amazingly detailed figures (which I
truly wished they would have continued with).
Unfortunately, their only Sherman kits were based on and
designed for use with the rather poor Revell Sherman kit,
and their utility with other manufacturers' kits is
limited.

Hasegawa
Plastic
Kits
A very well
known plastic model company from Japan, Hasegawa is one
of the largest model manufacturers in the world, making
kits of armor, aircraft, cars, ships, figures, just about
everything, in many scales. They were one of the first
companies to produce armor kits in small scale back in
the 1970s, and in fact, the first 1/72nd scale Sherman
kit was from this company. Normally I would say that
because it is such an old kit, it is rather poor by
today's standards, but honestly, it never was a very good
kit. Although Hasegawa releases a new 72nd scale kit
every now and again, I doubt we'll ever see any new
Shermans from them, considering the severe competition
from Dragon and Trumpeter.

HäT
Plastic
Kits
HäT was very
well known for years as a producer of soft plastic 1/72nd
scale figures of the medieval and ancient periods.
Several years ago they began a line of hard plastic
wargaming kits of WW II armored vehicles, and now produce
several versions of the Sherman tank. These kits are very
simple to build, but are remarkably accurate for such
simplistic kits in regards to shape and scale. They can
actually be turned into very decent display pieces if one
cares to invest some time and effort into
scratch-building and kit-bashing. That being said,
however, the fact remains that they are targeted towards
the wargaming audience, and due to their simplicity, they
really should not be compared to other plastic kits.
Thus, in the kit lists on this site, I've put an N/A (not
applicable) in the rating columns for all of these kits.

Hauler
Plastic
and Resin Kits and etched details
An offshoot of
Extratech, this Czech resion company has marketed a
couple of plastic and resin combi-kits of unusual
vehicles based on the Extratech M10 kit. They also
released several small, etched brass details sets meant
for use with the HäT series of plastic kits.

HQ72
Resin
kits and Conversions
This US resin
company has recently changed ownership (Tiger Productions
diorama products) and has resumed production of their
small scale sets, which were in limbo for several years.
The company markets lines of resin diorama accessories,
buildings, kits and conversions, including several
Shermans.

Italeri
Plastic
Kits
One of Europe's
largest model manufacturers, this Italian company
produces plastic kits of planes, tanks and automobiles in
several scales. Italeri is the current owner of the ESCI
molds, and each year they release several old ESCI kits
as well as a couple of entirely new-tool vehicles of
their own design. The original ESCI M4A1 Sherman is
currently available, and I believe that the M4A3 will
soon be available as well under the Italeri label. Truth
be told, these kits are most appealing for their
nostalgic value for many modelers, since they don't
compare very well against today's latest crop of plastic
Shermans from Dragon, Trumpeter, and even UM.
Leva
Resin
Kits and Conversions
Leva was a
resin manufacturer from Canada whose current status is
unclear. Most of their items are hard to find (at a
minimum) and perhaps may be out of production.

MIG Productions
Resin
Figures and Conversions
MIG (from
Spain) was one of the earlier resin companies to make
accessories and figures for 1/72nd scale. Although their
catalog has remained rather small compared to others,
each item is usually very high quality. They haven't
given us any Sherman-related items, but some of their
figures can be used with Lend-Lease tanks.

Milicast
Resin
Kits and Figures
Milicast (from
Scotland) is a very well-known manufacturer of 1/76th
scale AFV kits and conversions. They also have an
extensive line of figure sets which are some of the best
sculpted figures in the field. Although they are 1/76th,
I feel they mix well with the larger scale.

Mirage
Plastic
Kits and Details
Polish
manufacturer of extremely high quality plastic kits. They
were the first company to have announced a line of
Sherman kits several years ago, but those plans have
lived up to the company's name, and we're still waiting .
. . Mirage has released lines of M3 Lee/Grant and M3
Stuarts, both of which are really well done, so a line of
Shermans would certainly be a welcome addition to their
catalog, but considering the competition they would have
from other plastic companies, one wonders if they have
dropped their plans for Shermans completely. They have
also released a series of plastic and etched brass tracks
for their M3 Lee kits, which are also perfectly suitable
for the Sherman.

ModellTrans
Resin
Kits and Conversions
One of my
favorite resin companies, this German firm has released
some of the most exciting and interesting resin kits in
the world over the past several years. Their Shermans
(and variants) are typically very well done, and their
choice of subjects is quite original. With the choices of
Sherman variants missing in this scale shrinking every
year, perhaps ModellTrans should focus on detail sets
instead of complete kits, such as replacement wheels,
HVSS tracks, stowage items, etc.

MR
Modellbau
Resin
Kits and Conversions
Another
outstanding resin company from Germany. MR Modellbau
answered the dreams of Sherman enthusiasts several years
ago when they released a line of resin conversion kits
for the Italeri (ex-ESCI) M4A1 Sherman. Their conversions
were the finest Sherman kits ever made, and even with
today's latest plastic kits from Dragon, I still feel
that MR's resin conversions are superior in many ways.
But as I said with ModellTans, the potential for new
Sherman releases from this company are low, but I hope
they can increase their effots in giving us detail items
for the many plastic Shermans on the market.
OKB
Grigorov
Etched
Brass Details
As far as I
know, this company is the only Bulgarian involved in the
modeling industry, at least for this scale. They produce
an extremely extensive line of etched brass details for
small scale armor, including some for the Sherman tank
(such as tracks). They make their sets a little
differently than other brass companies, by using sheets
of brass of varying thicknesses instead of a single
standard thickness, thereby allowing them to make items
that wouldn't be practical to make with thinner metal,
such as tracks. I hope to see much more of this company
in the future.
www.okbgrigorov.com

PART
Etched
Brass Detials
From Poland,
PART is one of the masters of etched brass detail sets.
If ExtraTech's sets can be described as small or lean,
PART's sets are the opposite. Usually composed of about a
billion tiny pieces, these sets really are designed for
advanced modelers, or those who like to inflict emotional
pain on themselves. Seriously though, PART's sets are
very high quality, and relatively inexpensive considering
the amount of material you get in each set. Just be aware
that you'll probably end up with a great many spare
parts.
Peddinghaus
Decals
Water-slide
Decals
I believe this
is a German company. I've not yet had the priveledge of
using (or even seeing in hand) any of their products.
http://www.peddinghaus-decals.de/

Revell
AG.
Plastic
Kits
The German
affiliate of the Revell-Monogram conglomerate, Revell AG.
has for years produced the highest quality plastic kits
of small scale tanks. Although Dragon has certainly given
them a run for their money these past couple of years,
the jury is still out on who is the better manufacturer.
Of course, it's a moot point when it comes to 1/72nd
scale Shermans, since Revell has released only a single
Sherman kit, and it is quite poor.

Retrokit
Resin
Kits
From UK,
Retrokit was formed by former employees of Exokit and
Retromodels. I've not seen any of Retrokit's kits, but
their predecessors certainly made very fine kits.

TP Models
Resin
Kits and Conversions
A Czech resin
company, their products are aimed a bit more towards
wargamers. Their quality isn't quite up to the same
standards as most other Czech companies, in particular
their older products, but they do have several very
unique vehicles in their catalogue.

Trumpeter
Plastic
Kits
A large Chinese
manufacturer of plastic kits of all types and all scales,
Trumpeter's small scale released have always been
hit-or-miss. They appear to have different teams of kit
designers with one team being amazing (Elefant and FAMO,
for example), one team being fairly poor (Brummbar), and
another team being middle of the road (their Shermans).
Had Dragon not released their own line of Shermans,
modelers would be raving about the Trumpeter Shermans,
since they are leaps and bounds better than the old ESCI
and Hasegawa kits, yet in comparison to the Dragon kits,
well, they don't quite stack up.

UniModel
(UM)
Plastic
Kits
A plastic
company from Ukraine, I was very excited when they
announced a series of Sherman kits. Their previous small
scale armor kits tended to be extremely well done (though
not flawless), and I was hoping for the ultimate modular
Sherman kits. That hope was not realised, however. While
their Shermans can be described as decent when related to
the old ESCI and Hasegawa kits, compared to Dragon, and
even Trumpeter, the UM kits are found lacking.
VVV
Models
Resin
Kits and Conversions
Another Czech
resin company, I believe that they are long out of
business.
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