First off, the box art is fairly accurate representation of the tank. Of course, the photo's angle is chosen to hide some things that might become apparent upon closer inspection of the finished product, such as being able to look through the interior of the tank and seeing the treads.
Some things about this kit are good, such as ease of construction. It took me about 10 minutes to get the thing together. And it looks ok when done. Certainly a good toy for the office desk, but not something I'd want to show to someone and say "yeah, I built it".
With a real model kit, you get molded plastic that needs to be painted. With this kit, its already painted. The figures and the baggage look pretty good and Motorworks did a good job weathering them and making the bags and stuff look pretty realistic. The hull is ok and its good to see the gun barrell molded as a tube instead of a rod.
The downside is that the shovel, extraction tool, crowbar, and such are molded directly onto the hull, which means if you want to dress it up you'll have to use a fine-point paintbrush and a steady hand to delineate the edge of the shovel and the flat part of the hull.
Another downside is the lack of realistic interior, which is curious since all of the hatches open (except for the engine bay), including the vent hatch in the turret. You get what you pay for here.
And another bad side - you'll need a small phillips head screwdriver to hold the two hull halves together. The screwdriver is not included but I had one sitting in my office desk and managed to get the thing together.
My specific copy had a part installed incorrectly. See those two vertical metal ridges on the front of the lower hull? On mine the starboard side was installed upside down so I had difficulty getting the upper half of the hull to fit properly. A quick trim job with a pocket knife and the problem was solved.
Good parts:
- The tracks are one-piece vinyl rubber and move.
- The track wheels rotate (nice!), the gun(s) move, and the turret rotates.
- The figures are immobile but full-body, so you can pose the commander either in the hatch or standing out on the ground. You could pose the driver sitting on a rock or tree stump if you were so inclined.
If you're serious about modeling, stick with a real model. If you just want a slap-together job that looks ok, try this kit. I plan to eventually dress mine up a bit with some silver paint on the wheels and gears and some other weathering tricks, and of course paint the tools on the hull.
Would I buy another Motorworks kit? Sure, if they come out with an aircraft set in 1:32 scale so I can pose a Mustang or Corsair next to the Sherman.
