History

Shortly after the beginning of World War II, it became apparent to US Army planners that there was a dire need for an armored, self-propelled artillery vehicle to support the troops involved in armored operations. Until something more viable could be developed, the army used the M3 half-track with an M2 105mm howitzer mounted in the crew compartment. This vehicle was designated as the T-19. However, this quickly proved inadequate and needed to be replaced, preferably by a fully tracked, armored vehicle able to offer better crew protection. Using the chassis from an M3 medium tank, two pilot models designated T32 were built and tested. Upon successful completion of the tests, the T32 was accepted for service in February 1942 as the M7 HMC (Howitzer Motor Carriage) with production starting in April 1942. The main armament was the M2 105mm howitzer, along with the M2 .50 cal. machine gun for AA and personal defense.

Once in a while, I like to build one of the older kits from the stash, adding additional details and such to bring it “up to modern standards”. One of these sitting in the to-do pile is the old AMT/ERTL F7F-3N Tigercat. This kit was recently re-boxed from Italeri, and is the only 1:48 plastic kit of this aircraft anywhere. Quickboost again provides a timely release with these replacement landing gear bay doors.

In the Box

The hanging bag with paper instruction insert comes with five resin parts on three casting blocks. All the bay doors are replaced with items in this set, including both pairs of main landing gear doors and the nose gear door. Casting is flawless in the familiar dark grey resin, and the attachments to the casting block is minimal.

For the lovers of Soviet cold war armor, decades have gone by without any accurate, readily available kits. What was out were either resin or very limited run, and usually done from sketchy plans and grainy photos as a reference. The fall of the Iron Curtain saw the availability of reference material open up some, and a few kits from former Soviet Bloc countries trickled in, but we were still left wanting. Tamyia, Esci, Dragon, and others started covering the “heavy hitters” during the 1990s, yet that still left many vehicles untouched.

Enter the 21st century market with an onslaught of kits from the Far East. Trumpeter has been steadily working its way through the Soviet inventory, or so it seems, and after starting a series of eight-wheeled vehicles, they begin the four-wheeled with the release of the early model BRDM-2.