History

The Type 16 maneuver combat vehicle (16式機動戦闘車Hitoroku-shiki kidou-sentou-sha) is a wheeled tank destroyer of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. The Type 16 maneuver combat vehicle (MCV) equips designated combat units. Due to its light weight and small size, it is designed for easy deployment (by aircraft if needed) allowing rapid movement on narrow roads and in built-up areas in response to various contingencies. Despite its small size and light armor, it can successfully attack much larger armored fighting vehicles as well as personnel, using its large caliber gun.

Kit

The kit is produced by Tamiya, a well-known company who is known for producing quality midrange priced model kits. The box artwork is outstanding and shows the Type 16 Maneuver Combat Vehicle traversing open ground. This kit belongs to Tamiya’s 1/48 Military Miniature Series.

The kit consists of approximately 100 parts and comes on four olive drab sprues, six vinyl tires, and one sheet of decals. The parts are nicely molded with no flash whatsoever. All panel lines are engraved and all the sprues have small gates. The instruction manual comes in 18 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 top and bottom halves of the hull and then attach the two side skits and then front and rear of the hull. You will end up with a seam showing were the side skirts meet the bottom half of the hull. The other mating surfaces are beveled so the seam ends up being invisible. This is a very nice touch to the design of this kit!

Next comes the undercarriage which is really straightforward to build and no real pitfalls, just pay attention to the instructions. After that it’s just finishing off the hull with the detail parts.

Next comes the turret assembly. The main gun is assembled so that it has the ability to raise and lower. The barrel is molded in one piece and the muzzle flash is attached as one piece also. The turret is then finished off with all the detail pieces. There is a torso only figure supplied if you want to pose the model with the hatch opened. I waited until after painting to attach the vinyl tires to the rims and then onto the vehicle. The rims fit so well that I didn’t even need to glue them on.

Painting

I painted the Combat Vehicle with the recommended Tamiya paint choices as specified in the instructions.

Decals

There are two decal options for the kit, the Armored Division JGSDF Fuji School, and the 4^th Company Tank School Unit Fuji School Brigade. I chose the 4^th Company decals for the “Winged” horse emblem. 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 armored combat vehicle! The fit and detail is outstanding with no filler required.

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