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Saturday, November 21, 2020

M4 is for Sherman Calliope

Also from Poland (see previous few posts) and also soft polyethylene, comes forth this interesting beast from Centrum in Warsaw;

"Caliope"; "Centrum"; 00-950 Warszawa; 1:72 AFV's; 1:72nd Scale; AMRCR; Anti-Mine Reconnaissance Castor Roller; Atlantic AFV's; Atlantic Sherman; Atlantic T34/85; Do Skladania Bez Uzycia Kleju!; model; Od Lat 5; Plastic AFV's; Plastic Tanks; Polish AFV's; Polish Copy; Polish Toys; Schemat Montazu; Sherman Calliope; Sherman Tank Model; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; T34 Tank; T34/85;
Mounted on a full [packaging] sized card, it's not so much a header as a backer! Also, while the main body of the tank, running-gear and turret are a straight copy from Atlantic's own clip-together 'readymade', the rocket-tube bundles and bed-frame seem to have been copied from the 1:72nd scale Esci-Revel-Polistil (and other brands) kit.

To the point where it is on a separate small runner, while the rest is on a runner which is also a copy of Atlantic's own with each component in the same place! To produce the M4 Sherman [with] Calliope therefore meant some changes to the Atlantic turret

"Caliope"; "Centrum"; 00-950 Warszawa; 1:72 AFV's; 1:72nd Scale; AMRCR; Anti-Mine Reconnaissance Castor Roller; Atlantic AFV's; Atlantic Sherman; Atlantic T34/85; Do Skladania Bez Uzycia Kleju!; model; Od Lat 5; Plastic AFV's; Plastic Tanks; Polish AFV's; Polish Copy; Polish Toys; Schemat Montazu; Sherman Calliope; Sherman Tank Model; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; T34 Tank; T34/85;
Close-ups for those who can compare with the Atlantic set (I won't de-'sprue' this until I have a duplicate one!), while the reasons for assuming the Calliope is from Esci, are twofold, A) this predates the Airfix one and is clearly pirating other makers and B) see the T34/85 in a minute!

"Caliope"; "Centrum"; 00-950 Warszawa; 1:72 AFV's; 1:72nd Scale; AMRCR; Anti-Mine Reconnaissance Castor Roller; Atlantic AFV's; Atlantic Sherman; Atlantic T34/85; Do Skladania Bez Uzycia Kleju!; model; Od Lat 5; Plastic AFV's; Plastic Tanks; Polish AFV's; Polish Copy; Polish Toys; Schemat Montazu; Sherman Calliope; Sherman Tank Model; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; T34 Tank; T34/85;
The card art shows an Allied star as one of the markings, bu what you actually get along with the bridging disc and formation sign is the Polish 'Winged Hussar' symbol, so presumably representing the Polish 1st Armoured Division in the Normandy/Western campaign?

"Caliope"; "Centrum"; 00-950 Warszawa; 1:72 AFV's; 1:72nd Scale; AMRCR; Anti-Mine Reconnaissance Castor Roller; Atlantic AFV's; Atlantic Sherman; Atlantic T34/85; Do Skladania Bez Uzycia Kleju!; model; Od Lat 5; Plastic AFV's; Plastic Tanks; Polish AFV's; Polish Copy; Polish Toys; Schemat Montazu; Sherman Calliope; Sherman Tank Model; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; T34 Tank; T34/85;
The upper shots are another Sherman, slightly better card shot and slightly different plastic colour by the looks of it, below it is a T34, and a late war T34/85 at that, probably also copied from Atlantic? Both shots supplied by Tomasz Karpowicz about 12-years ago! Everything will appear here at Small Scale World . . . eventually!

"Caliope"; "Centrum"; 00-950 Warszawa; 1:72 AFV's; 1:72nd Scale; AMRCR; Anti-Mine Reconnaissance Castor Roller; Atlantic AFV's; Atlantic Sherman; Atlantic T34/85; Do Skladania Bez Uzycia Kleju!; model; Od Lat 5; Plastic AFV's; Plastic Tanks; Polish AFV's; Polish Copy; Polish Toys; Schemat Montazu; Sherman Calliope; Sherman Tank Model; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; T34 Tank; T34/85;
Tomek also sent me this, which is quite delightful, as 'readymade' toys go, it's the same T34/85, but with the AMRCR (anti-mine reconnaissance castor roller) mine-clearing frame taken from the Esci Churchill IV kit (albeit greatly simplified) - hence the Esci assumption for the Calliope's origins. Again this would have required a change or two to the Atlantic clone, to take the Esci-cloned parts.

Markings for both T34's are - of course - the other Polish Army of WWII, that recruited by the soviets, but mostly trained at the Western Allies expense in Syria!

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