Embracing the Market

CMK have certainly embraced the ever expanding 1:48 scale armour market, and are producing detail and conversion sets for it at a prolific rate. The latest addition to their range is the ubiquitous and perhaps not as sexy as the Firefly variant of the Sherman, the M32 Recovery Vehicle.

Designed to be used with the Tamiya M4 kit (32505) or any of the other Tamiya Sherman’s, (M4A1 and 1C Firefly) although I imagine that it could easily be adapted for use with one of the Hobby Boss Sherman’s, or perhaps even the old Bandai kits.

Usual Standards

As per usual for CMK detail sets, the resin is cast to the highest standards, and the detail sublime. There are some details that will need adding, namely some wire to represent the rungs on the main A frame, and in a couple of places the detail is somewhat representative, but at this point I had to remind myself that this is not a 35th scale detail set, and not everything is possible in this scale. So all in all it gets a very high rating in the details department.
The instructions are clear and easy to follow, benefiting from bi-lingual Czech and English text. Profile drawings are provided of the M32 in transport as well as working position, inspiring several diorama ideas immediately.

Highly Recommended

Overall it is an excellent looking detail set, and while the real test lay in how easily it builds up with the donor kit, if we are to go by previous CMK releases, I am very confident it will fit well. There is a great deal of scope in this kit, and as I mentioned earlier, it will be easily adaptable to several M32 variants. With the addition of some smoke generators Israeli variants are possible and should you want to build some trunking you could have some waders as well. Let’s hope CMK decide to do a version with wading gear.

I would highly recommend this conversion highly to those with an interest in Sherman’s, Recovery Vehicles, Allied Armour or anyone looking for something a little more than the ordinary for a diorama.