Artitec 387.117 Highlights:
Model: Artitec's 387.117 1/87 scale WWII Sherman Crab is fully assembled and painted US Army/Navy (AN) 319 Olive Drab. All the new Artitec finished models are highly detailed works of art. They are all hand painted and finished using the highest quality resin, plastic and metal parts. Add a few to your collection today before they are sold out. Models are made in small production runs so don't delay in ordering.
Prototype: In early 1942 the British Army began to experiment with motorized mine flails, numerous chains attached to a rotor mounted in front of a tracked vehicle and spun at a high speed. The spinning chains, digging up sand and earth in front of the vehicle, would strike and explode mines in its path. The flail device was successful but early experiments required an extra external motor to be installed on the side of its host vehicle, an arrangement that left the extra motor vulnerable to shrapnel and made the vehicle too wide for narrow bridge crossings. This problem was rectified when a flail, mounted to a Sherman tank, was mounted directly to the vehicle’s engine. This configuration, known as the Sherman Crab, subsequently went into full production. The arms holding the flail were hydraulically operated, allowing the flail to be lowered in order to strike mines in dips and divots in the ground. Powdered chalk was released from containers on the sides of the tank in order to mark a path through the mine field and poles marked with lights were mounted on the back for clear identification at night. Sherman Crabs were particularly useful on D-Day and during initial operations in France where large German minefields were frequently encountered.
PLEASE NOTE: These models are all handmade and painted which makes every one unique. This means the paint patterns may vary a little and the detail parts like sandbags, turret tracks, antennas, etc. may also be arranged differently. This was also the case in real life. These models are very prototypical.
