Reviewed by Dave Coward (March 2010)
Initial assessment
The kit comes boxed in the usual high quality manner that modellers have come to expect from Tamiya. The box itself contains 2 sprues of light grey plastic. The first sprue contains the parts for the Moto Tug along with a driver and a seated pilot figure. The tug has been available before but only as part of a combined kit with the Tamiya 1:48 F4U-1D Corsair. The second sprue is a new moulding and contains the parts for five pilots and two ground crew. The pilots come in a variety of poses; three kneeling and two standing and the two ground crew are posed carrying a large box.
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Accuracy and quality
The figures themselves are well moulded with some very nice detail including separate gun holsters, parachutes and plotting boards. Each figure is made up from various parts and initial dry fitting shows an excellent fit. The parts are all flash free and their sprue join points are generally thin and in well hidden positions so plastic scaring when removing them should not be an issue.
The Moto tug as said before has been previously released and is well designed and dry fitting shows an overall excellent fit.
Instructions
The kit contains a small two sided instruction sheet; one side covers the figures and the other the Tug. One point to note is the figure sprue does not have part numbers on it but the instructions show all the parts locations on the sprue. For this reason make each figure up individually or you may well mix up the parts. There are no decals required but the instructions do tell you to cut out the map – it would have been nicer as a separate colour sheet.
Initial Conclusion
A very nice little kit if a little expensive for what it contains. It will make a nice diorama when placed on something like the Eduard carrier base along with a WWII US Navy fighter such as the Eduard Hellcat or Tamiya Corsair.
Overall a nice addition to the Tamiya range and recommended.
Dave C.