One of the newest versions of the Sherman tank to be released by Dragon (abeit, a few years ago), this one was released to recognize the 70th anniversary of the Korean War. As one can see from the kit scans below, the kit includes an amalgamation of sprues from several prior kits in order to get all of the necessary details for this specific version of a Korean War Sherman. Wikipedia has this to say about this tank:

"When the Korean War broke out the Marine Corps put together nine CWS-POA-H5s from Pendelton and Hawaii out of the 26 flame tanks it had received during WWII. Together they formed a platoon, named the "Flame Dragons" attached to Hq 1st tank battalion. They landed at Inchon in 1950 and were the only U.S. mechanized flame unit to be in Korea. These tanks would first see combat on 15 September 1950 landing in the second wave on Wo-mido Island. From there they would advance and participate in the First Battle of Seoul."

This final scan shows the parts that are new to this kit. Photo-etched front fenders are a very nice touch. And the brass tube for the flame projector is a necessity. Dragon added a plastic projector tube to the turret sprue (circled in red in the scan above), but that piece is mismolded and would have been a real bitch to clean up for use. I am very glad this replacement was provided.

Some Missing Items

The following photograph is borrowed from the outstanding Sherman Minutia website. It illustrates a couple of items that are missing from this kit. This is what the site has to say about the items shown with the arrows:

"Also visible here is the overflow outlet on the left hand side of the tank (white arrow). This was a pipe that passed through a flame cut opening in the turret’s bullet splash rail and usually a flexible rubber hose was connected to the pipe’s end (inset). Note that this should not be confused with the Simplex track attaching tool also seen here (red arrow), which is often seen stowed attached to spare track blocks on the hull side."

There is also something on the front upper hull just to the right (in the photo) of the driver's head. Looks like a brace or support for something, but I don't know what.

These next two photos I found on the internet through Google. This first one shows that these tanks had the infantry telephone box attached to the rear hull, which is not included in the kit. Also circled in the photo is what I believe is another one of those Simplex track tools, which I had never heard of before.

The next photo shows some additional, unidentified items on the tanks' fenders. Stowage? Gas cans?

Markings

The decals are very nicely printed, opaque and very sharp. They are only a single color, so registration is not a problem. Markings for three tanks are included:

• 1st Marine Regiment in Korea
• 1st Marine Tank Btn in Korea
• US Army in Hawaii in 1945

Both Korean War tanks actually are in the same unit; the 1st Tank Battalion was attached to the 1st Marine Regiment. Both of these tanks should have a large US star on the final drive housing.

The individual tank numbers indicate the following: F23 = Flame Platoon (F), 2nd Section, 3rd tank. F11 = Flame Platoon (F), 1st Section, 1st tank.

Dragon got the serial number for F23 wrong. They have it listed as 182345, which is clearly incorrect when one zooms in the photo. I have looked at this photo in my editing software, and tried every photo enhancement I could think of to try to clarify the image, but to no avail. The clearly identifiable numbers are: 1?2?56. I've seen one site list the number as 182356 but my best guess is that is should be 182156.

The Hawaii vehicle should have T-shaped towing shackles, which I don't believe I've seen included in any Sherman kit.

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