Masterpiece Models manufactures and sells resin assembly kits at their Vancouver, Washington fabrication and casting shop. Their kits include Dinosaurs, WWII, Vietnam, Scifi, and aircraft bases. Each kit is cast to order.

Background on the Hellcat

From Masterpiece Models website: The Mark 49 Hellcat Armored Walker was developed after the 3rd World War in 2046 as a forward attack and reconnaissance Vehicle. The need for walkers after the War was due to the amount of rubble strewn thru the landscape, tracked vehicles tended to bog down in the rubble making maintenance and mobility an issue. The first Walkers developed in 2099 were quite ungainly and had limited range and power. Later on in 2112 after advanced fusion drives were developed and fitted to the walkers did they become a more practical weapons system with more power and almost unlimited range.

For those of us who attended the IPMS Nationals in 2017, we were able to see the 1/48 scale M1A2 that Tamiya would soon be releasing. I built the original 1/35 Tamiya offering in the 1980’s as the tank was just entering service, and I knew that I would need this new release in a smaller scale. The folks at Hauler have released a photoetch set to improve detail on some items and add more/missing details in other areas. I would highly recommend this set to modelers building this Abrams tank, but also recommend that you have experience with some rather small detail parts.

AFV Club has released the third version of Israeli’s rework of the venerable American M109 Self-Propelled Howitzer (SPH). This time around we meet the ‘Doher’, or ‘Galloper’ - an augmented boxing of their recent ‘Rochev Bet’ release. The M109A2 Doher was fielded in 1993, eventually replacing all of the earlier Rochev models in active service by 1997. After the active service units received their share, the IDF began to replace some of the reserve units' vehicles. Today one can find in the reserve units both the Doher & Rochev models.