Stephen Brezinski Wee Friends Sherman T23 Turret

This kit preview covers a 1/72 scale resin aftermarket kit of what is known as the T23 turret, a larger turret than the original 75-mm Sherman turret and holding the higher velocity 76-mm gun. This turret was mounted on the M4A1, the M4A2 and the M4A3 big-hatch hulls; it was not used on the M4, M4 Composite, M4A4 or M4A6 hulls. It is characterized by a long gun barrel, wide gun mantlet, all-round vision commander's cupola, and either a split-hatch loader's hatch carried over from the 75-mm turret or an oval loader's hatch on later production T23's.

My review is from the viewpoint of a display modeler looking at historical accuracy as well a quality of the casting and the parts. The parts come in a small plastic bag with no boxart or assembly directions. Wee Vehicles turrets are part of the Wee Friends family of resin and white metal figures and kits.

My primary references for this review are: Son of Sherman Volume 1, The Sherman Design and Development, published by Ampersand Group (2013), and the Sherman Minutia website. Sherman Minutia website is the best on-line reference for details of the Sherman tank variants; not as much about vehicle combat history though: http://the.shadock.free.fr/sherman_minutia/index.html.

Left is a scan of the Wee Vehicles conversion kit with 1/72-scale T-23 turrets from Dragon and Trumpeter model kits. This conversion consists of a solid pale amber cast resin turret and a gray cast resin gun mantlet (the resin color may change with production batches) and nine cast metal parts: all-round vision cupola, cupola and loader's hatch with details on both sides, the machine gun storage brackets for the turret rear. I think this resin turret may be based on the Dragon T23 kit.

The metal parts are done well. The gun barrels need sanding and we should drill out the muzzles; one barrel has a thread protector while the other has no fittings at the muzzle.…

Up close we can look at the identifying features of the Wee Vehicles late model T23 turret: oval loaders hatch, casting numbers on the turret roof, ventilation dome off the rear of the turret bustle, holes under the hatches for half figures

The overall shape and proportions of the turret look good.
I am generally not a bean counter but it appears pretty close to accurate 1/72 scale. The kit number begins with WVC76, which may imply 1/76 scale. So using the reference diagrams in Son Of Sherman book, I measured height, width and length of this Wee Vehicles turret and found it to be almost exactly 1/72 in scale. I inquired with Ian at Wee Vehicles and he advised that the number 76 at the beginning of the part number does not reflect the kit scale with several of his Sherman turret kits.

Like all Sherman turrets, etched brass detail parts would be very helpful for a good display model.

Preview sample purchased by the author.

This model can be purchased from