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

For the First Look at this kit- head here: https://www.amps-armor.org/SiteReviews/ShowReview.aspx?id=15366

Construction

Things begin as usual with the first four steps- construction of the lower hull tub. Seven pieces comprise the bottom, hull sides, front and rear panels. Two metal weight cylinders are glued to the bottom and held in by a partition that the top deck attaches to. Step 5 attaches the return rollers and sprocket wheel. There are tabs atop the return rollers used to position the top track run length later. Steps 6 & 7 add the road wheels and idler in between the suspension arms. Being careful with the glue ensures all of these wheels spin freely. The instructions caution you as to which side should be facing out. Step 8 completes the lower hull construction with the addition of the link and length tracks which are trouble free to assemble.

Steps 9 and 10 comprise assembling the upper hull together- the top deck and glacis, as well as underside sponsons in 9 and the rear plate in 10. The axe, sledgehammer, and track tension wrench are molded on but can be easily painted- I used the AK Interactive paint markers here. Step 11 attaches the upper hull to the lower and the headlights and siren are added- but I left these off to paint first...

After painting the OD using Tamiya as a base and AK Real Colors Faded Olive Drab, I added those details as well as the headlight guards, lifting hooks, tools, ball mounted .30 cal, spare tracks, and rear lights through step 14. Steps 15 through 18 assemble the slide molded main gun and .30 cal machine gun to the mantlet, and then the mantlet to the three part turret. The top plate fits into this and then the grousers, antenna mount, and anti-aircraft machine gun mount are added before the turret is fit into the hull. 

The commander's hatch is posed open and the half figure then placed inside. The AA machine gun is a 4 piece construction- the two halves of the mount sandwich the gun inside and an ammo box is attached and all is then added to the mount. The instructions suggest the tow cable string be cut to 130 mm, but I found that to be a bit too short- luckily there was plenty of extra to fix that.

Weathering and Finishing

After construction is complete, you have two options for markings- both Normandy based. I chose the markings for Carol since it seemed cooler to be to have the tank named after someone's sweetie. Decals went on with no issues and were snugged down with some Micro Sol. I weathered the tank using a custom mix of AMMO pigments for the European mud. These were set in place with some Tamiya thinner.

Conclusion

The best compliment I can give for this kit is the fact that it was so enjoyable to build, I never even thought to stop to take progress pictures. I was so engrossed that it wasn't until after I was taking the final shots I realized I hadn't done the early shots. Hopefully the aftermarket decal companies can get to work with some non-Normandy options, but the kit decals were a breeze to use. I had the entire thing build in one afternoon for the most part and it was a pleasant diversion from larger scale kits for a bit.

Highly Recommended for Beginner to Advanced builders.

Thanks goes out to Tamiya for this review kit.

Reviewed by Michael Reeves

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