Kit: No. AF35015
Scale: 1/35
Manufacturer: AFV Club, distributed by Marco Polo Import, 532 S. Coralridge Pl., City of Industry, CA 91746
Price: $31.98
Comments: Injection molded, 434 parts (1 brass, 2 vinyl, 1 string), decals.
After decades without an M18 Hellcat, this past year saw the introduction of two kits in 1/35 scale - my Workbench Review of Academy's kit is in the October 1997 FSM.
AFV Club's kit is molded in olive drab plastic with black vinyl tracks. The molding quality is excellent. Of note is a turned-brass main gun barrel. Twenty pages of instructions printed in both English and Chinese include the decal schematics. A sheet of "revisions" shows the location of most of the pioneering tools.
Several assemblies were tricky. Some of the locator pins on the torsion bar snubbers (C18 in step 1) didn't fit in their locator holes. I cut off the pins, then glued the snubbers in place. I made a special effort to dry-fit everything. Still in step one, the idler-arm shafts had to be filed to fit into the hull. The idler arms move to adjust track tension, just like on the real thing. File carefully or there will be too much play and it won't adjust correctly. In step two, I snipped then filed the extra rods from the "shock-absorber arms" as I fit each into place to avoid mixups.
The box art shows the fighting compartment floor painted white, but it should be olive drab along with the turret interior and main gun housing. The sides of the fighting compartment should be gloss white. The kit doesn't provide drive shafts from the transfer case to the final drives, so I added two lengths of styrene tubing for a hint of them. The steering laterals, shift lever, and gas pedal are missing, but a basic interior is included in the kit.
When assembling the upper and lower hull, I had to clamp the rear corners to get the sponson bottoms to line up with the hull sides. Also, there is no mention in the instructions of the transmission cover's lifting eyes, which are on its upper corners. Use spare part No. C-7 for them. Assemble the headlight and horn guards on the hull to allow the hull to act as an assembly jig.
The main gun has a spring you'll have to compress while assembling. Fit the brass gun barrel to A9 before assembling the trunnions (A6). If you follow the instructions in this step, you'll run into frustrating fit problems. I had to do a lot of filing inside of the trunnion assembly before it would slip over the brass tube without binding. The same was true of the mantlet (A26). The mantle lifting eyes are shown as parts A29, but they are C23.
When assembling the gunner's platform, leave off the tubular bracket (A51) and the commander's and gunner's seats until the platform is attached to the turret ring. Immediately after gluing the platform assembly to the turret, place the turret ring in the hull so the hull serves as a template to assure proper fit. It's easier to slide the slip-ring assembly pin into its slot in the fighting compartment floor without the seats in the way. Place the loader's ammunition ready rack as close to the turret wall as possible.
Other nice touches include the .50-caliber ring mount that rotates within its frame. The separately molded tie-downs around the upper edge of the turret and the main gun travel lock can be flipped to the engaged or stowed position. You have a choice between a closed ammo box for the machine gun or a belt of rounds leading to the breach.
The instructions give paint numbers only for Tamiya, Gunze, Humbrol, and Revell, but I used Model Master paints on my Hellcat. The lack of color names will leave those without reference books guessing.
I painted the tracks steel, following a photo of a Sherman that had rust and grime scrubbed off by maneuvering in sand. It could be right, but it doesn't look right.
The decals offer markings for one French, one Italian, one Chinese, and four American vehicles. The decals went on easily, and the white letters and numbers are opaque. Not so the pinup girl who turned a sickly green when applied over the olive drab paint.
The finished model measures only four scale inches too narrow and three too short in length according to the dimensions in R.P. Hunnicutt's Stuart, a History of the American Light Tank.
I spent 15 hours building and painting my Hellcat and like the way it turned out. Because of all of the fussing with dry-fitting and filing of parts, I'd recommend it to any intermediate or experienced modeler who needs a tank destroyer to pick off those Panthers and Tigers - from the right angles of course!
- Ron Poniatowski