We would like to take this opportunity to apologise, the last post we announced about the Thunderbolt VII M4A3E8 was mistaken, after further research we discovered that the Thunderbolt VII was actually modified base on Chrysler manufactured Shermans, it was in fact an early/mid production hull and turret set up instead of the one we had shown last time (late production). We will make modification to our 3D model and publish news again in 2nd week of January.
This is the 4th Sherman variants in our Sherman development program - The Sherman M4A3E2 Jumbo. Sherman tanks had long been criticised for its weak firepower and armour protection. By 1944, the United States Army decided that they needed an up-armoured version of Sherman, the underlying idea of the Jumbo. With only 254 units built, the Jumbo is a very rare Sherman variants compare to all its brothers (nearly 50,000 units). One of the most noticeable features of the Jumbo is the extra thickened armours on glacis, hull side and turret. With all those extra armours, the Jumbo weighted close to 42 tons, the standard VVSS suspension tracks could not provide enough flotation in muddy roads, so the United States Army had put side extension to the steel chevron tracks to increase flotation, this extension is commonly known as duckbill.
Since our 3D model is made by resin, we are not able to make the sample duckbill tracks yet. In mass production, we will make the armour edges with heavy scratches because thats what we had noticed from Jumbo footages. This Jumbo variant will also feature the full detail GAA-V8 engine and engine compartment details.
