Quality
Like all Tamiya kits, the plastic is well produced with the barest of mould seams to clean up; there are some prominent ejection-pin marks inside the turret hatches. The undersides of the trackguards and the long track runs are also peppered with pin marks but these are much less noticeable.
Compromises have been made over fittings and details, some of the tools are moulded integrally with the panels they sit on, all the hull and turret hatch-handles are moulded solid and the inner road wheels of each pair have no detail on the face, given the scale these things aren’t really that surprising.
Despite the limitations of injection moulded plastic Tamiya have done a decent job of representing the external fire-extinguishers, turret aerial brushguard, the complex vane gun sight forward of the commanders position and the hinge and latch detail of the stowage-boxes.
Instructions
The layout of the instructions will be familiar to anyone who has built a Tamiya kit before; they are clearly illustrated and cover assembly in 16 stages with a painting guide for the marking options.
Pay attention to the notes and callouts, make sure to drill out the locating hole for the turret searchlight and take your time identifying each of the smaller track parts, the assembly is clearly described but some of the curved parts look almost identical and could get muddled up on the bench.
Decals
The decals cover three subjects, all in N.W Europe, two gun tanks and an Armoured Observation Post tank.
- C Squadron, 5th Royal Tank Regt. 22nd Armoured Brigade. 7th Armoured Division.
- B Squadron, 2nd Bat. Welsh Guards, Armoured Recon Regt. Guards Armoured Division.
- Armoured Observation Post Tank, 5th Royal Horse Artillery, 7th Armoured Division.
A fourth set of serials is included on the decal sheet along with some stencilling and white stars for the Allied recognition markings.
Being Tamiya decals they are sharply printed with good colours, registration and details; alas the carrier film is rather thick and so some effort and decal solvent solutions will probably be needed.
Conclusions
Overall the kit is a solid product typical of the 1:48th scale range from this Japanese maker.
The problems with the fit of the hull might be a bit off-putting but are easily rectified with a little effort; the overall quality of the kit is more than good enough to result in a pleasing model even built straight from the box.
Les P.
