Pro Art Models has another new set of enhancements, and this time it’s a vehicle communications package for those of you who are into super-detailing the newer types of vehicles in the U.S. Special Forces genre. This set comes with 18 pieces of high quality light tan resin which is detailed to the max. I have yet to find any bubbles within the resin that are so often found in lesser quality resins. Also included in the kit is a photo etch fret containing parts which make up the shelves, cases, legs, and small switches for the radios and computers to fit on or into. The resin parts consists of the radios, power inverters, PC screens, keyboards, a hand- held GPS, antennas, and even the plug-in power modules. The detail is the best it can get and the photo etch antennas and shelves (including legs) add to the already fine detail. I have assembled some pieces to show what it could look like, and this will be placed into my vehicle when I reach that point in assembly.

This kit is a representation of the British Army’s attempt to mount the 25 pdr Field gun on the Valentine chassis to create a self-propelled gun. The need was created by the fluid nature of the North Africa battles. This stopgap design served the British Army till replaced by the American M7 Priest and the Canadian Sexton.

Box Contents

Sprues and decals

History

The Sd.Kfz.6 Mittlerer Zugkraftwagen was designed by Bussing-Nag and Mercedes Benz as a prime mover for the German army – one of a number of half-track designs. The unit was produced during the 1930’s. The Sd.Kfz.6 had a five ton pulling force, capable of pulling off the road. It was built from 1935 to 1943 in several versions. In 1942, production ceased, and the Sd.Kfz.11 took its place, as this unit was cheaper and easier to manufacture. The pioneer version had a passenger body of up to 15 soldiers. This vehicle weighed 9 tons and was powered by a 6 cylinder 115 php Maybach NL54 engine, with a maximum speed of 50 km per hour.

Items in the Box

The model is made from injection-molded plastic, tan in color, with thirteen good presentation instructions, decal sheet and clear window and lens sheet, and a photo-etch sheet.

Let me start this out as saying this is my first IPMS review and I hope you find it informative and interesting. The IT-1 was a Soviet Cold War missile tank based on the chassis of a T-62. Instead of a main gun, the tank fires specially designed 3M7 Drakon missiles from a pop-up launcher atop the turret. The vehicle saw very limited usage from 1968-1970. The tank became unpopular with the military due to the limited amount of ammunition and a large dead zone around the vehicle which was created by the missiles minimum range. Eventually the IT-1s were converted to recovery vehicles.

Anyone who has ever worked on his own car, either tinkering with a modern Honda Civic or Dodge Grand Caravan or a classic automobile like a 1960s Mini Cooper or Ford Mustang, will know the series of repair manuals under the Haynes brand name. Over the past few years, the Haynes title has begun producing a series of books covering aviation and military vehicle topics, including the title in this review, the M4 Sherman tank. As the blurb on the title page states: “An insight into the history, development, production, uses, and ownership of the world’s most iconic tank”.

This book is a hardback edition, A4 format in size, and contains 164 pages. It is divided into 8 main sections, each of which is well illustrated with black and white and color period photos, color photos of restored vehicles, together with numerous tables covering production and serial numbers, as well as photo captions from wartime Sherman tech manuals: