People who know me know my modeling quirk for the strange and unusual. This new kit by ICM certainly fits the bill – literally a chapel on wheels! Mounted on a short Studebaker chassis, this vehicle was designed to travel from location to location, dispensing spiritual solace to soldiers in need. Of course, this vehicle was clearly Church of England, so I’m not sure what they provided for their Jewish or Muslim troops, although they may have had similar vehicles.

The boxy rear cabin was large enough to provide ample space for altar and organ as well as a nice fold-down stage from which to preach. In inclement weather it appears there would have been enough space in the closed cabin for a small gathering if required. Because of its nature, though, I doubt profoundly that this machine would have been seen anywhere near the front lines.

NASAMS – either defined as Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, is a short-to-medium range ground based air defense system originally brought into service in 1997 as a point defense system.It employs the AMRAAM Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air missile in a six-silo set mounted on a fully pivoting ground launcher. Designed in collaboration with both Norwegian and U.S. arms manufacturers as part of an integrated air defense system for sensitive ground targets. It has been used here in the States to protect targets in Washington D.C. and is currently in active service in the Ukraine opposing Russian missiles as well as other aerial targets. Reportedly, so far the system has destroyed over 100 Russian missiles and drones. At least two have been destroyed in combat – the main flaw in the system being its stationary nature – a real handicap in a highly mobile war.

Pen & Sword Books are not new to the plastic modeling industry. The UK-based publishing company has been around since 1990 while churning out titles covering subjects from the military, aviation, maritime, and other areas of history.

The Author

The following is taken from Pen and Sword’s website.

Anthony Tucker-Jones, a former intelligence officer, is an author and commentator who specializes in military history, with more than 50 books to his name. His work has also been published in an array of magazines and online. He regularly appears on television and radio programs commenting on current and historical military matters. His books includeArmoured Warfare in the North African Campaign,The Battle for the Mediterranean,The Desert Air War,The Devil’s Bridge,Hitler’s Winter, andChurchill Master and Commander.

Pen and Sword books is a prolific publisher of military history base in the United Kingdom and distributed by Casemate Publications here in the United States. This is a partner volume to NATO and Warsaw Pact Tanks, published in 2022. As with most books that come from Pen and Sword, the book’s binding, printing, and photograph quality is outstanding. The pages are printed on glossy paper and the photographs (color and black and white) are crystal clear. Given the varying quality of published photographs concerning military history topics for hobbyists, it is nice to see that they are investing in quality products.

General

I rarely build 1/72 armor now, but this is a kit of the M60A1, which I commanded while serving in the US Army. I never operated this version, but it will add another variant to my collection. Academy has produced a 1/72 version of their previous 1/35 USMC M60A1 MBT as deployed by the USMC in DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM in 1990/91. The sprues are arranged differently than their 1/35 version of the same vehicle. It is very nicely detailed, there was no flash, mold seams were minimal and easily removed as the plastic is easy to sand. Parts fit, with a few exceptions, such as the road wheel arms to the underside of the hull, is excellent and very little filling was required. Filling large gaps in the lower hull above the final drives and the underside of the fender mounted sponson boxes (see photo #15) was necessary.