Tamiya- 1/48 U.S. Light Tank M5A1 Stuart

History

As the need to evolve from early attempts at a light tank in the M2, the M3 was used mostly by British and Commonwealth countries through Lend-Lease and was designated by them as the Stuart- which was also the name of the later M5. It was a fast and maneuverable tank used for reconnaissance and infantry support in North Africa initially. The M5A1 was an improved version that entered service in 1942 with a crew of four, a 37 mm main armament, and powered by twin Cadillac V8 engines that gave it speeds of up to 58km/h. It was 15'11" long, 7'6" wide, and 8'5" high, and weighed 14.7 tons.

Around 6,800 M5A1s were produced, and after debuting in North Africa they were deployed on the new Italian and Western Fronts from 1943 and 1944 respectively where they struggled against heavier German tanks like the Panzer IV and Panther due to its light armament and relatively thin armor. After the M24 Chaffee was developed, the M5A1 was exported to other countries, including China. The Chinese Nationalist Army received the M5A1 in 1948, and many were captured by the Chinese People's Liberation Army during the Chinese Civil War.

What's Inside

The kit includes four olive drab colored sprues, a decal sheet for two schemes, string for the tow cable, and two weights to give it some heft. We get two of sprue A which contains road, idler, and sprocket wheels, return rollers, suspension arms, link and length tracks, and lights, tow cable ends, and grab handles. The underside of the tracks have some sink marks every three links on the longer lengths and every other link on the shorter lengths.

Sprue B contains parts for the lower hull tub, the interior partition, upper hull parts, tools, headlight guards, and antenna mount. The tools for the rear end are molded right on the part so I will be using my AK paint markers to color them up.  The lower hull parts come from the previous 1/48 U.S. Howitzer Motor Carriage M8 kit (32604 ) while the front and upper hull and turret parts are newly molded. Some sink marks on the outside of the hull sides may prove a bit challenging to fix but may be hidden for the most part by the suspension and wheels. There is some slight cast texture on the front glacis plate.

Sprue D contains the top hull deck, a half figure for placing in the turret with binoculars, grousers, rear tow pintle, turret and mantlet parts, and the main gun and machine guns. The 37mm barrel and mount for the AA .30 caliber machine gun are slide molded whereas the .30 caliber barrels are not. There is a bit more cast texture around the ball mount for the hull machine gun.

The decal sheet offer options for two schemes-  C-34 “CAROL” and C-12 “CONCRETE” of the 3rd Armored Division at the Western Front in July 1944.

Conclusion

This is a small piece-- especially so in 1/48 scale. It looks to be a quick build and the total parts count overall is relatively small. The interior sink marks on the tracks look to be an easy fix and as is typical for link and length tracks should be trouble free in the installation. The width scales pretty accurately to 1/48 but the length is just a bit over according to the scale calculator I used. I am looking forward to adding this early war stalwart to my quarter scale collection.

Highly Recommended for Beginner to Advanced builders, pending Full Build

Thanks goes out to Tamiya for this review sample.

Reviewed by Michael Reeves

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