ROC Army CM11 Main Battle Tank

Published on
February 3, 2020
Review Author(s)
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$79.99
Product / Stock #
AF35315
Company: AFV Club - Website: Visit Site
Provided by: AFV Club - Website: Visit Site
Box Art

History

The CM-11 Brave Tiger (勇虎式戰車) is a Main Battle Tank (MBT) that was developed by the American General Dynamics and the Republic of China Army (ROCA) Armored Vehicle Development Center[1] It was introduced to the public on 14 April 1990. Being a variant of the M48 Patton, it is also known as the M48H Main Battle Tank. The CM-11 is a hybrid M60 chassis fitted with the turret from the older M48 Patton and the fire control system of the M1 Abrams.[2]

Kit

The kit is produced by AFV Club, a well-known company who is known for producing quality mid range priced model kits. The box artwork is outstanding and shows the ROC Army CM11 Main Battle Tank Brave Tiger in front of a Taiwanese building. Included in this kit is a frame able print of the box art. This kit belongs to AFV Club Bonus line of kits.

The kit consists of approximately 250 parts and comes on 17 olive drab sprues, 2 photo etch sheets, 1 clear sheet, 2 vinyl tracks, and one sheet of decals. The parts are nicely molded with no flash what so ever. All panel lines are engraved and all the sprues have small gates. The instruction manual comes in 42 well laid out steps.

Assembly

This kit is a high quality designed kit so the fit is outstanding! You start the assembly by fitting together the bottom hull and suspension and then progress through attaching the road wheels. The instructions have you build a wonderful looking driver’s controls and seat. But curiously there are no other parts to build the actual driver’s compartment. So you end up with this really nice set of driver’s controls and seat in a bare open hull area of tank. The driver’s hatch can be posed in the open position but the interior is devoid of detail except for the driver’s controls. Next you finish building the rest of the tank chassis. The tank tracks are really interesting and I was skeptical at first to see if these worked. The tracks are one-piece vinyl and are joined together using one pin. It actually assembled very easily and holds together easily.

The next assembly is the main gun. There are two different options for the main gun. Again you build a really detailed gun breach and install it in the turret. But there are no parts to detail the rest of the interior of the turret. Then you finish detailing the outside of the turret. The main hatches can be assembled in the open position and the one hatch rotates. But if you open the hatches the interior of the turret is devoid of detail except for the nicely detailed gun breach. On the rear of the turret is a nice photo etch basket. The turret is finished with adding machine guns. There are a couple of different options for turret machine guns. The guns are nicely detailed including the brackets. There are no figures included with this kit.

Painting

I painted the Brave Tiger using Tamiya paints in the patterns specified in the options. There are 13 different color decals options. I chose the 1st Mechanized Infantry battalion, Guandu Area Command.

Decals

As already stated there are 13 different decal options. The decals are printed within registry and there was no silvering when laying them on the model.

Overall the kit is a joy to build and builds into a handsome ROC Army CM11 Main Battle Tank “Brave Tiger”. The fit and detail is outstanding with no filler required.

My thanks to AFV Club, and IPMS USA for the opportunity to build this great kit. I look forward to building more AFV Club kits in the future.

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