Hi Woodsy,
Following on from the recent item on the Tri-ang Minic Sherman Tank, here is another horrible Sherman.
This is from my small collection of pencil sharpeners.
It is diecast metal, with purple-brown plastic parts. It has been given an Antique Bronze finish, which is common among these sharpeners. The base is plastic, and is marked MADE IN HONG KONG.
The track units are solid, so the model runs on four small plastic wheels. The commander is also plastic. The turret rotates, but the gun is fixed. The actual pencil sharpener is located at the rear.
There are so many problems with this model.
The hull and turret are clearly based on the US M4 Sherman tank of WW2, but the suspension is clearly German. The hull sides extend over the tracks forming track guards, but there is no depth. There is no hull machine-gun. The gun mantlet is a strange shape.
Then there is a strange box at the rear. But the upper hull is well detailed.
My example came loose, and was bought at a fair.
Length 72 mm.
Paul Adams
New Zealand
I would have liked this when I was at Secondary school Paul, anything to distract me from the tedium of being there. I would have rotated that turret ad nauseum and sharpened my pencils till they were nothing. Please tell me the little driver goes up and down when the pencil is sharpening!
ReplyDeleteAlas, no - I just checked. Actually, the figure in the turret is the Commander, not the Driver, the Driver sits in the front of the hull, on the left hand side in a Sherman. I have not been collecting these sharpeners for very long, but they are good fun, and fairly cheap. Even the boxed examples are reasonable, although most of mine were bought loose.
ReplyDeleteHa ha its a Sherpanzer!
ReplyDeleteThat gag's tanked Wote!
DeleteThat is categorically, a ‘horrible Sherman’
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand from a marketing point of view the makers have satisfied both collectors of Allied and Axis tanks. Well, maybe satisfied is the wrong word.
ReplyDeleteYep, a crossover. I once had to find an old board game called Axis and Allies for a customer in my toy dealer days. I recall the box clearly. Wonder if its still collectable?
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