I’ve built a few Tamiya armor kits over the years but never one of their new 1/48^th scale kits. I thought that I would dip my toes into Tamiya’s quarter scale pond with their new U.S. Light Tank M5A1 Stuart. By the time the M5A1 entered service it’s 37mm gun was no longer effective against German armor. However, the M5 still saw extensive service in all theaters of the war until its end. The Stuart had the advantages of having speed, reliability, mobility, and transportability, and were available in large numbers. The Stuart was used effectively for scouting and infantry fire support.

The kit includes four trees of olive-drab plastic, instructions, decals, polycaps, thread for simulating the tow cable, and two steel weights. The kit depicts a relatively early version of the M5A1 with disk road wheels, without the turret machine gun shield, no sand shields, and no rear stowage bin.

Helion is a UK-based company that produces books on many aspects of Military History from the Late Medieval period through to the present day. Helion was established in 1996 by University of Warwick graduate Duncan Rogers. Since then, they have published over 1,200 books, with 100 or more new titles coming out every year for readers around the world.