Dragon Article by Doug Chaltry; last updated 3 August 2008.
This was the last Dragon kit for me to acquire, although it's not really a new kit. The base kit is the same as Dragon's M4A4 kit, and I refer the viewer to the M4A4 Preview in order to see all the standard kit parts. This page will show only the new parts for the Tulip kit. What is a "Tulip"? Well, aside from being a fairly pretty spring flower, it's also the nickname given to a handful of Shermans operated by the 1st Coldstream Guards Battalion in 1945. These tanks had two 60lb rockets (from Typhoon aircraft, I believe) mounted on the side of the turrets for use in the close support role. This was apparently a fairly successful conversion, though not implemented on a large scale. These rockets were seen on both the Sherman V (M4A4) and Sherman IC Hybrid (Firefly). This kit allows you to build only the Sherman V version. The only new sprue of parts unique to this kit is for the rockets and their launch rails:
I've not seen any close-up photos of these rockets, so I don't know how accurate these parts are. I've seen several distant shots of them in wartime photos, and from what I can tell from these, they look pretty good.
Although the etched brass fret is uniquely named for this kit, it is, in fact, identical to the fret from the M4A4 kit.
Markings are included for three vehicles of the Battalion. They are not complete, however, lacking the smaller "1A" "2B" etc, that was painted on the sides of the bustle storage boxes. There was also a small circular marking on the rear armored plate on at least some of the tanks that is not included here, and perhaps also some Squadron signs for the hull sides. FYI, vehicle "2C" was a Firefly IC Hybrid, if you'd care to build that one from a different kit. The decals are very thin, with sharply printed and vibrant colors, and excellent registration. |
