History

The M1 Abrams tank has been in service since 1980. Since that time, it has been upgraded with multiple improvements. The first M1's where fitted with the 105mm rifle gun. An upgrade to the 120mm smoothbore gun resulted in the M1A1 in 1985. By 1992, the M1A2 was produced that possessed upgrades in its optical, fire control, and data link systems. The end of the Cold War meant new M1A2 production was halted at just 62 tanks, but 566 existing M1A2s were upgraded to the M1A2 standard between 1994 and 2001. Upgrades continued after 2001 with the M1A2 SEP (Systems Enhancement Package).

Hobby Boss continues its run of tanks and vehicles from the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). When you look at the cover art for this kit, the vehicle bears a strong resemblance to the iconic HMMWV. Well, this was based on said vehicle. It’s manufactured by the Dongfeng Motor Corporation for the PLA. I don’t know if this means Hobby Boss will also begin producing the HMMWV line, but their catalog indicates several variants of this vehicle in the works. The kit of approximately 170 parts includes six sprues and several body parts, one small sprue of clear parts, a fret of photo etch, four tires, and decals. As with most Hobby Boss kits, it includes two color profiles, one for a UN mission and the other for the PLA. The PLA version has no markings. The parts look great, with a fair amount of detail, though there was a small amount of flash on some of the parts.

Upon receiving this kit in the mail, I looked over the artwork on the box top to see which paint scheme I thought would be cool to do. I noticed a camouflaged scheme that had a blue pattern. Immediately, I questioned the blue color. I checked the instructions and yes, there it was – sky blue color callouts. The other thing that I noticed, aside from the standard Dragon instruction, was there were nice decals, 23 grey sprues, 2 clear sprues, a PE fret, and 2 bags of magic tracks. The instructions show quite a few sprues with the majority of unused parts (which I included pictures of). I was still wondering a few days later which scheme to do. I was really intrigued by the sky blue scheme. At this point, I decided to post on Hyper scale about its validity. Tom Cockle, one of the technical consultants for this kit, shot me a reply saying no, it was a fake, and added this kit was missing a sprue C. Upon this, I contacted Dragon care and finally got my part around New Years.

Dragon Models has released the Sexton II Self-Propelled Gun in 1/35 scale. Out of the box, the detailing looks absolutely stunning, even for Dragon. The engineering and detail of the on-board stowage, radio equipment, driver’s compartment, and surface texture is as good or better than any release I’ve seen. Their excellent 25-pdr Mark II main weapon has been pulled from a previous release, and the chassis contains all the good stuff from their equally superb Dragon Models M4. The Commonwealth makeover of the U.S M7 Priest sports over 150 new parts, including a completely reworked driver’s compartment and transmission, radio sets, ammunition lockers, etc. An engine is not provided, but everything that is exposed is brilliantly represented.

At first glance, the Diamond T 4-ton Truck looks like the “Deuce and a Half” (2½ CCKW GMC series) on steroids. The U.S. Quartermaster Corps and Corps of Engineers needed a truck that could do everything the “Deuce and a Half” could do – and much, much more. The Diamond T 4-ton truck filled the bill, serving throughout WWII in all theatres. But the Diamond T had one major problem: it cost as much as twice that of the CCKW! So it was bought in smaller quantities and served the U.S. Military just over 10 years. It was the basis upon which the post-war M-34/M-35 2½ trucks and M-41/M54 5-ton series were based.