The M1078 Light Medium Tactical Vehicle is the U.S. Army's replacement for its aging line of 2.5-ton trucks. In Trumpeter's usual light gray plastic, parts have mold seams and numerous knockout marks that need to be removed; however, many of the knockout marks are in places that are impossible to remove without damaging surrounding details. Care is needed in removing the parts from the sprues, as many of the smaller pieces are attached to the sprue by their locating pins (as I found out by cutting several off). The fit overall was very good, with only a little bit of filler needed on the gas tank. The photoetched metal was easy to use and bent very easily with pliers.
I veered from the directions right away by building all the subassemblies called out in the directions, such as the gas tank, air tanks, differentials, etc., then moved on to the frame.
The frame consists of 11 parts, so care needs to be taken to make sure it is square. No motor is included; it's merely a flat piece of plastic. The bottom half of the motor becomes part of the frame.
I left off the lights, D6, to paint them later. I glued parts B39 and B38 to the frame instead of the leaf springs to get a better bond to the frame, snapping the leaf springs in later. Part F8 fits loosely into the rear differential, so I left it off until the rear differential was connected to the leaf springs. The front wheels can be built to turn. But, once I had the angle I liked, I glued them in place.
The truck bed assembles without any problems. There are 26 small hooks to add for the canvas top (parts H9). These are very small and often disappear. Trumpeter includes extras; I used almost all of them.
Seats in the bed of the truck can be posed down or stored. The seat assembly was not glued to the bed until after it was painted.
Considering that big windshield, the cab's highly-visible interior is rudimentary. There is no detail on the inside of the doors, so if you would like to show them open you will have to add the missing features. To lend interest to the seats, I applied liquid glue to the seat cushions and stippled with an old paintbrush. The gauges are merely small circles with no detail. (The fit of the cab to the floor was very good so I avoided gluing it down, hoping for Archer to come to the rescue in the aftermarket with gauges and placards.) Parts C34 are very fragile and should be left off until the end of the build. (I broke mine off several times.) This also goes for the mirrors.
A color guide provides two different color schemes, one a NATO tricolor and the other in desert paint. However, no guidance is provided for the small parts; a good photo reference is essential. The best I found was the blog on this kit at
www.armorama.com, with pictures from people who actually drive this vehicle. Included are great photos of the interior.
I left the cab, frame, box, and front bumper as subassemblies to make painting details easier. All the marker, tail, and directional lights also were painted separately off the kit; I started the lights with either Tamiya clear red or orange, then, depending on which color surrounded, hand-painted the rest of the light. The tires were dry-brushed with panzer gray to bring out the detail of the vinyl tires.
The decals were thin and responded well to Solvaset. Finally, I added a little road patina with weathering powders.
It took me about 23 hours to finish this kit. The level of exterior detail agreed with photos in the
Encyclopedia of Modern U.S. Military Tactical Vehicles, by Carl Schulze (Tankograd Publishing, ISBN 3-936519-04-8). Anyone who lives near an Army Reserves base should see these vehicles driving around quite often. This kit will fit in nicely on all those M1 and Stryker dioramas.
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