There are certain things that seem to define some nation’s armor in WW2. The Soviets had their political slogans painted on vehicles, and the Americans had lots of personal equipment stacked and hung on the vehicle. If you are modeling the US Army in WW2, you have wall-to-wall Olive Drab in your display case. Value Gear provides the modeler with a wide selection of low-cost stowage to break-up that OD.

Value Gear from the USA specializes in stowage sets for military vehicles. Many are generic tarps and boxes that will work for any county and almost any period. Others are specific to an Army, era, or vehicle. In this review, I will be covering three sets for USA vehicles in WW2

• 1:35 WW2 USA Packs & Bags Set #1 item number USA001 $11.50 USD
• 1:35 WW2 USA Packs & Bags Set #2 item number USA002 $11.50 USD
• 1:35 Halftrack Pack & Fender Set #3 (USA WWII) item number HT003 $18.00 USD

Each set is packaged in a zip lock bag with instructions for preparation. The parts are cast in a soft gray resin. There are no pour plugs or blocks to remove. Only a couple of parts had flash. There are no mold parting seams. The molding and casting quality is excellent. I did not detect any pin holes or other casting defects in any of the parts. The mastering is good. The parts are sharp and have good detail. The Packs & Bags sets each include 25 of the commonly found US WW2 stowage items – musette bags, duffle bags, ammo bags, rolled sleeping bags, barracks bags, ration crates, etc. Each item is unique – except for the crates, there are no duplicates. The Halftrack Pack and Fender Set includes a blob of stowage for each fender, hanging stowage, pack and tanker’s roll stacks, and gear for the back. Again, there are no duplicate pieces in the bag.

The product is easy to prepare. I only had to trim up the bottom edges, and wash in warm soapy water before use. Although the halftrack set is designed for the Dragon kits. I did find a couple of issues with the fender blobs on my Dragon halftrack. The left side fender blob did not fit well with the shovel and mattock installed. This was solved by dunking the part in a coffee cup filled with boiling water for 45 seconds and bending it to improve the fit. I also had to carve out the back side a bit to get it to fit tighter around the shovel. The right-side fender blob will not fit with the early headlights installed. I did not have a set of late headlights available to see if it fit with them. I added straps cut from an old wine bottle seal to the musette bags so that they can be hung from the side of the vehicle.

I found that Value Gear lives up to its name. This is the best priced stowage that I’ve found. With its reasonable price, the modeler can buy a selection to add to his or her parts bin and have immediately at hand. Thanks to Value Gear or providing the review sample.