This PSC kit contains parts for three vehicles, and as they always do, PSC gives you all the parts you need to make them all Fireflies, all 75mm Shermans, or any combination thereof. It’s nice in this case, because you can make your own 1944 troop of British tanks, which often included two, three, or four Shermans and one Firefly. (The ability to make your choice from a full set of parts for every variant also means that when a PSC kit is done you have to toss out so much beautiful polystyrene that it hurts a little bit. I am always tempted to keep things like the top half of the hull type I didn’t choose, but I also know I will never use it. Someone could make a nifty wreck, probably…)

Here in our workshop, my son made the PSC Firefly and I made the two standard PSC Shermans, as well as the Airfix Firefly — which I found to be a really nice kit. As I described in my most recent post, I was a bit baffled by British armored unit markings but eventually found my way well enough to be satisfied. My son’s tank carries the Guards Armoured badge, whereas I made my Shermans Staffordshire Yeomanry of the 27th Armoured Brigade to match the markings on the Airfix Firefly, giving me an SY/27 troop. (Never mind that it turns out that according to Dennis Oliver’s book on Normandy Shermans 27th Armoured had Sherman IIIs rather than Sherman Vs… I could make myself crazy if I really tried.)