COBI Small Army Sherman Firefly

Freaking awesome. Lego won't go there (schmucks) so leave it to Polish Cobi to create a line of WW2 vehicles for us WW2 hobbyist. Mine came in the factory fresh box. It all came together easily. The instructions were clear and all the parts fit easily. I couldn't tell they weren't legos. There were even a few track pieces to serve as replacements. I'll be purchasing more Cobi WW2 vehicles in the future. Hurry up with that Spitfire! Cobi is making quality vehicles that come together with great detail. If this were a Lego set it would be 3 times the cost. I'm grateful for cobi indulging this big kid. When are they going to have an IS2?

I tried another block company, a helicopter, and it sucked. The bricks were cheaply made and wouldn't stay together. You can guess how frustrating that is. I found Cobi, out of Poland, a company that does a lot of military models (Lego does none).And this was awesome - really well made, good instructions, and just fun to assemble. The details are great, right down to the shovels on the side, and several features work, like the turret and wheels. On caveat, the track, which is about 72 pieces, was a pain to get on the tank, the scale makes it a bit tricky. But that did not diminish the happiness I felt once I finished.Cobi makes Jeep sets, several tanks, half tracks, trucks, even small vehicles like the Kubelwagen, which I doubt anyone else has. So this is a big thumbs up, and would i buy another? Uh, I already bought two more, a Tiger tank and a Cromwell. They are just fun, got the half track in my queue, but have to pace myself, after all..

Pros and Cons:Pros:- It's a Sherman Firefly, you don't see those often in Lego,even Brickmania doesn't have one, they have an M4A3E8, but not the Firefly- At around $30-35 USD, not a bad pickup- It's got wonderful markings all over the tank, that are printed on the pieces- NEW Commanders Hatch, again, its a 3rd Gen WWII kit, Cobi is upping their game in making specialized pieces.- Suspension pieces are much more detailed than on the first M4 Sherman kit they introduced (thats why the redo kit is called the M4A1 Sherman) hinting back to Cobi's commitment to this line of toys with specialized pieces- the same new Silverized Engine Block from the Chaffee- uses those same new gun mounts as well, but with a new Gun Mantlet designed specially for the Sherman's (It's however also getting used on the new upcoming M26 Pershing Kit they are developing, [hehe buy 2 of those, build one, use the pieces of the other to modify the built one into a T26E4 Super Pershing])- Those new tracks really convey the intricate detail of the track pads that some Shermans had, specifically British ones I believe, not all Shermans had the Rubber track pads, or the Rubber pads with the chevrons in them, nor the metal one with the chevrons, i remember seeing a few Shermans with tracks similar to these.- Easy to build, the angles of the front plate, and rear plate are deceptively simple in their design, adding to the fun of this tank- It's got nice little details like 1 Drivers Hatch (Because on the Firefly, the hull gunner was removed, and its port bolted over, so its nice to see they didn't just outright copy the M4A1 Hull), Headlights, Shovels, Pick, Toolbox, and Fuel CanCons:- Hull Roof, I don't like how they have the Drivers Hatch 1 plate lower than the rest of the roof, though if it were any higher it would affect the turret rotation, but still... (Actually it wouldn't affect the turret rotation, just checked it) but with the angles coming up, i can see how this raising of the plate could interrupt the flow of the hull front, seems like Cobi could have Designed some Sherman Specific Hull Hatches... perhaps If/When they make an M4A3E8 or M4A3E2... its bound to happen.- Suspension, the requiring of the user to remove those plates in order to play with it properly and with ease is just a big design flaw, its got to be because of its 400 Piece count- Tracks, this time, the tracks are a bit tighter than the Chaffee's, but if you add in another link, they're to lose, thus these track are tighter, requiring more effort in order to push the tank... I guess its a way of further limiting how fast you can push this tank. (I know in World of Tanks this tank goes about 32 Km/h... which is slow for a Tier 6 Medium Tank)*Neutrals*- Gun Elevation/Depression, its got good elevation... but absolutely no gun depression whatsoever, I would have played this as a con, but once again, in WoT, the Firefly has pretty garbage depression as well.- Sideskirts, yeah they're nice, but I feel they could have been designed a tad better.Overall OpinionOverall I feel its a good kit, but not a great one, it's cheap price tag helps it in my rating system, because i wouldn't pay more than $45 USD for this kit, however, I feel it really suffers from its makers 400 piece limit for medium sized vehicles (although it may be getting bumped up soon, because the M26 Pershing is a 450 piece kit, ALTHOUGH, it may just be the first in a new category of medium/large vehicles for Cobi) yeah, it looks the part of a Firefly, its slow like a firefly, but it could look the part a whole lot better if it just had 50 more pieces... and because of its certain shade of green I cant really add to it, because Lego doesnt make this shade of dark green. Plus im a Kit Purist, sure ill modify my own builds over and over again, but I like to keep kits how they were meant to be, unless I know im going to use the parts later, or it theres are design flaws I must fix., and because of it's slight lack of detail because of its makers parts limitations, and the slight design flaws I had to fix, I give this kit a strong 3.95/5... if I didnt have to modify it to fit my needs, it would have been a strong 4.45/5 (I say this because some of you might not feel the need to remove those plates like I did, and if so, then the hull still hurts it slightly, that's why I gave the double rating)

It looks good once built, but the directions are difficult and the pictures sometimes inaccurate. My 9 year old would not have been able to build this. Also, the tracks are very small and hard to put together with adult hands. They come apart easily when played with. There were missing pieces.

Nice detail and it looks good but the tracks aren't very sturdy. The tracks on the Tiger tank were much better.I would have given it three stars due to the tracks by my 7 year old said the cover that opens over the engine compartment more than made up for it.

The firefly has good design, great detail but the tracks are not as good as the T34.It has good detailed instructions + good minifigs.From Zach age 11

It is a good tank, however the traks were a pain in the butt to put together, and the intructions were confusing at times.My dad and I had to cut some pieces with a razor knife so they would fit.

Instructions were a little hard to follow at times. Graphics were not a clear as, shall we say, another name brand product produces.But otherwise all of the pieces were there and we got it assembled OK.