Sherman M4A3 76 Free French
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2026 3:56 am
I'll just slip this one in here while the board is quiet so not interrupting some of the more active builds. Starting this one off from a Taigen M4A3 infrared model. The tank I am hoping to replicate is this example. Quite a famous tank as it is the one believed to have knocked out the Panther on the Place de la Concorde during the liberation of Paris and was itself knocked out on Sept.13,1944 at the Battle of Dompaire. All it's crew escaped uninjured. It is now a monument tank in Ville-sur-Illon. These 2 images are from this site which is quite a treasure trove of information. Apparently this was one of the first 50 M4A3 76 built so also has some interesting features. The US originally wanted all M4A3 to go strictly to American units but the Free French got some of the earliest ones as they had suffered high casualties in Normandy and needed replacement tanks asap
http://the.shadock.free.fr/sherman_minu ... 3_76w.html
I know I'm certainly not the first one here to do this tank but I found it a very interesting subject for my first American tank and a bit more colourful than the usual US Army examples
Anyway wish me luck on this one. It could end up in disaster as I'll be using a Peddinghaus decal sheet and they can be a nightmare for folding on long thin strips like the "Champagne" one but I am going to try a new method to hopefully minimize that. I have a lot of experience with Peddinghaus decals and he does produce lots of interesting subjects i just hate how thick they are and the whole sheet is just one piece.
Also apologies in advance to our posters from France who will no doubt be rolling their eyes with all the mistakes i make on this one
http://the.shadock.free.fr/sherman_minu ... 3_76w.html
I know I'm certainly not the first one here to do this tank but I found it a very interesting subject for my first American tank and a bit more colourful than the usual US Army examples
Anyway wish me luck on this one. It could end up in disaster as I'll be using a Peddinghaus decal sheet and they can be a nightmare for folding on long thin strips like the "Champagne" one but I am going to try a new method to hopefully minimize that. I have a lot of experience with Peddinghaus decals and he does produce lots of interesting subjects i just hate how thick they are and the whole sheet is just one piece.
Also apologies in advance to our posters from France who will no doubt be rolling their eyes with all the mistakes i make on this one