In the introduction to one of David Doyle's latest offerings, he writes: The M551 Sheridan is often referred to as a light tank, but in actuality it was an armored reconnaissance/airborne assault vehicle. The M551 was designed to be a lightweight, amphibious, air-dropable vehicle armed with a massive 152 mm gun that doubled as a rocket launcher. The gun launcher was designed to fire the MGM-51 Shillelagh antitank missile, or 152 mm conventional rounds with a combustible cartridge case. The vehicles saw extensive use in Vietnam, Operation Just Cause in Panama (where they saw their only combat air drop), and Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The Sheridan ended its service with the US Army masquerading as Soviet Bloc vehicles at the National Training Center.

This is another book in the Tank Craft series which details tanks and also covers model kits and accessories to build the tanks covered in the book. This book covers the Chieftain a British Cold War main battle tank. The Chieftain was designed in the late 1950’s as the replacement for the successful Centurion tank. It was believed to be the best tank in service with the NATO allies during the 1960’s and 70’s.

I found this book contains so much detailed information and pictures of the Chieftain and its variants. The Profile pictures are a particular favorite and has given me a few great ideas of the color schemes for when I build my Takom and Tamiya Kits.

It covers the use of the tank during the Iran- Iraq war and the Gulf war.

The chapters on the different model builds and kits are of great interest and will provide a good resource when modelling this tank.

When you click the 'About Us' tab on Masterpiece Models website this is what you'll read...

'Masterpiece Models manufactures and sells the highest quality resin assembly kits on the market today. Featuring kits for a variety of interests including WWII, Vietnam, Sci-fi, and aircraft bases. We have acquired the rights to a large selection of the Custom Dioramics line that are now available through us as resin assembly kits. Our kits are manufactured at our Vancouver, Washington, USA fabrication and casting shop.”

What they have left out is that this company also has a line of dinosaur stuff: a T-Rex tooth in one to one scale, several different dinosaur skulls (Velociraptor/Triceratops in 1:9th scale), and a superb, 31” Nautilus submarine of Jules Verne fame, to name a few.

In the Box

Instructions

The instruction booklet was divided into four pages of clearly marked parts and their construction sequence. Illustrations for the parts and their construction sequence were very clear and crisp. The instructions contained 10 separate steps to complete the model. My instruction book was missing step seven but that appeared to be the step when the wing is attached to the fuselage.

Included with the instructions is a drawing for paint and decal applications for either of two aircraft. One version was in natural metal finish and the other was in German camo markings.

Clear Plastic

Supplied was one piece of vacuum formed plastic with two canopies molded into it.

Canopy Mask

For painting the canopy I used my own masks cut from Tamiya tape.

Background

The 8-inch Gun M1 was a 203 mm towed heavy gun developed in the United States and was also used in small numbers by the British Army. Serious development began in June 1940 of an 8-inch (203 mm) gun that would have the longest range of any US Army field artillery weapon in World War II. The gun used the same projectile as the 8-inch coastal gun and the US Navy's 8-inch cruiser gun. The M1 consists of equilibrator assemblies, elevating and traversing mechanisms, two single-wheel, single-axle heavy limber, and a two-axle bogie with eight tires and two trails. After 1962 it was designated the M115 Howitzer.

AFV Club Kit

Originally issued in 1997 & reissued in 2000 as the post-1962 M115 Howitzer, this kit release has been modified to the original WWII M1 version with new parts. The new parts include: