Canadian Sherman in Korea

This set covers the following M4A3E8 76mm HVSS Sherman tanks:

• “CHEETAH”, The Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians), C Squadron, Korea, 1952.
• “CORINNE”, The Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians), C Squadron, Korea, 1952.
• “CHIPPEWA”, The Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians), C Squadron, Korea, 1952.
• “ARGYLE II”, The Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians), A Squadron, Korea, 1952.

Modelers should be aware that the drawings used in the instructions are only meant as a help for placing the decals, and not for the specific features of the tank. For instance, CORINNE had a spare roadwheel mounted on the turret sides; ARGYLE II had both a roadwheel and spare tracks, together with a rack on the hull sides; CHEETAH had a faint trace of the previous white star marking under the new squadron symbol, etc. According to the instruction sheet, all of these tanks were equipped with T80 tracks.

Looking at the decals themselves, it is immediately clear that they are printed to a very high resolution, with only a very slight trace of pixelation. There is some small text for CORINNE, which is not immediately readable on the sheet, though, while it might be once the decal has been removed from the pale blue background.
The only thing that gives the decals away as not being printed by the big decal companies is that they are printed on continuous film. Being laserjet printed, it is also wise to protect them before weathering starts on the model.
Something very peculiar to these decals (and actually to all of the latest releases by Braille Strike is that some of the decals are printed "upside down". This means that you have to flip these decals over when putting them on the vehicle (which is easy) and that it is difficult to judge the quality of the multi-color decals while still on the sheet, as the (translucent) pale colors create a sort of haze over the rest of the colors. I hope to be able to use them soon and tell our readers how this turns out. Just remember that some of the decals are NOT upside down.

My scanner always has trouble scanning white decals on a blue background, that's why the image from the Braille Strike website has been included on the right.
Note that the picture on the right shows how the color decals should appear once flipped over, while the picture on the left shows how they appear on the sheet.

Conclusion

Braille Scale continues to expand its series of well-printed decals covering some topics that are a little bit more off the beaten track. The modeler is advised to do some research to be able to capture all the specific features of the chosen subject.

Review sample kindly provided by Braille Strike.

Article Last Updated:
30 May 2021