Mato Sherman

[SoCalBobS]

I just received a Mato Sherman unpainted "static" kit. Similar to Heng Long, it's minus the controller, main board, speaker and in this case a turret rotation motor. It does include the main motor/gearboxes and servos for gun elevation and barrel recoil. I have everything that was missing. The HL turret rotation motor fits exactly. A couple of observations;

- I bought it through Matomart, price was equivalent to elsewhere, and by going through them I was able to specify the T-49 tracks I wanted. I also wanted some other accessories, and they were very helpful about that.. I'd had a struggle with them some years ago which left a bad taste, but I have to say they were great this time.
- Matomart drop ships directly from China using DHL. About four days, not including the CNY delay of about a week. Well packed, with the extras tucked in nicely.
- The road wheels have ball bearings. Pretty cool. I imagine the rest do too, but I didn't check.

- Interesting development. I used my Can Shou TK-26 radio system just to see that the tank ran. What I found is that the TK-26 is not as smoothly proportional as HL 7 or Clark boards are. Not bad, but you can tell the difference.

Now I gotta decide what to paint it as; either IDF Sand Grey, or Korean War shark mouth. Any other options you can think of?

[RichJohnson]

Mato used to ship direct from Canada. That’s interesting they drop ship now.

I’ve had mostly good business with them but the time it went bad, it was tough getting them to make it right.

A vvss Sherman isn’t quite right for the Korean tiger face that was done on ez8 Sherman’s but who cares.

[SoCalBobS]

Yeah, I have seen a few photos of IDF Shermans that hadn’t been upgraded. I’m actually planning for the tiger face on an Easy 8 conversion someone’s developing!

[MrChef]

Yeah, I have seen a few photos of IDF Shermans that hadn’t been upgraded. I’m actually planning for the tiger face on an Easy 8 conversion someone’s developing!

Hi Bob, have you done an IDF Sherman before? I havent seen an RC one done up like that yet. I was never a fan of Shermans but thought "Inside the Chieftains hatch" Video That Nicholas Moran did on Youtube was pretty cool- https://youtu.be/_KyNYO03g1E

I say IDF since you always seem to have such nice pics in the sunny sand.

Chef

[Delta_19]

Mato used to ship direct from Canada. That’s interesting they drop ship now.

I’ve had mostly good business with them but the time it went bad, it was tough getting them to make it right.

A vvss Sherman isn’t quite right for the Korean tiger face that was done on ez8 Sherman’s but who cares.

When I ordered my T-72-ERA late November it shipped via Canada post from Barrie Ontario. Could just be Mato stuff that is shipped from China.

[SoCalBobS]

Chef, here's what I had and what I used for inspiration:



Here in Southern California it seems that tan tanks fit in better!

[SoCalBobS]

Got an idle (for now) question for the cognoscenti: I'm working on the Mato Sherman, and I notice that Torro makes a 76mm turret for their Sherman. Will the Torro turret fit on a Mato Sherman?



On an unrelated note, how about this for a Sherman conversion?

[RichJohnson]

The taigen / Torro brand tanks have a different (larger) turret ring than the henglong tanks use.
I do not remember what size the mato metal hull uses but I think …. It’s the henglong size ring.
I have one you can test with, I can drop it off tomorrow if you want.

[SoCalBobS]

Thanks. I'll compare the Mato with a HL I have. I think they're the same, which would make the Torro swap infeasible. Ah well, just a thought.

I'm going to the LA battle Saturday. I'll bring the Sherman parts and some other goodies.

[RichJohnson]

Just wait a little bit for my turrets to be produced.

[SoCalBobS]

Notta...

Not a Super Sherman, but he wants to be! Like movies that say "inspired by a true story" which means accuracy be dammed, this is a regular Sherman dressed up in Israeli colors. They were definitely present in Israel, but who's to say how they were painted up. The color is IDF Grey Sand, which looks dark in the bottle but lighter in the daylight. It's destined to be an L.A. Tank Battle event IR fighter; short barreled, small tank to navigate around buildings. The color will also fit in to the San Diego battles, full of sand and at longer ranges.

No detailing or weathering applied yet.

[RichJohnson]

Loos good Bob. This was basically what they had till the M50s were built. You could build it into an early m50 with a couple shapeways parts if you wanted to but it looks good,
what brand paint did you use?

[SoCalBobS]

Loos good Bob. This was basically what they had till the M50s were built. You could build it into an early m50 with a couple shapeways parts if you wanted to but it looks good,
what brand paint did you use?

Thanks! Just a personal preference, I'm going to keep it all metal, otherwise I'd consider a T-23 turret! The smoke launchers and the first aid boxes are metal. I'll take a look at Shapeways just for fun. For paint, I sprayed it with flat black automotive primer first, then airbrushed Vallejo's IDF Israeli Sand (year 61-73) #73.614. They call it an Acrylic Polyurethane Surface Primer, but it seems to work just like their paints. I'm working on the weathering now.

Ultimately I intend running a TK-50 board, but for now I've installed an HL 7.1.

Edit; you're right, Shapeways has some good stuff! maybe for a future Sherman..

[RichJohnson]

You can use the shapeways parts and turn the 75mm into the high velocity m50 75mm. The first batches built All had vvss suspension