1/35 injection plastic kit with decals, driver figure and photo etch
With the likelihood of becoming involved in World War II very real, the American Army identified the need to quickly introduce self-propelled artillery to provide mobile fire power. This lead to the mounting of the existing M2A1 105mm howitzer on the M3 half-track as an interim solution until the much improved M7 Priest became available in numbers. The T19 was an improvised Howitzer Motor Carriage (HMC) of which 324 were built in early 1942. They saw action in the Mediterranean and in particular with the US forces in North Africa following the Operation Torch landing and later in Sicily.
OVERVIEW
This 2009 Dragon release is in the Smart Kit format and as expected it share parts with Dragon's recent releases of US half-tracks including the related M3 75mm GMC which was developed in parallel to the T19 HMC. New parts are provided for the M2A1 105mm howitzer, mounting and shield, ammunition storage and fighting compartment fittings, and the side and rear armoured panels. This kit features a metal barrel and makes extensive use of advanced moulding techniques to produce crisp detailed parts and hence has reduced photo etch.
The gatefold instructions have 15 steps of line drawings that are clearly laid out. The kit has a modular approach where the four modules (chassis, forward cabin, rear fighting-compartment and 105mm howitzer) come together in the last steps, which allows for the interior to be painted beforehand. Photo etch is provided for the armoured front grills, bases for the front tow hooks, headlamp guards, cab visors and the rear mud flaps. The few injection marks have been hidden in spots, such as underneath the fenders. Clean up should be very quick.
M2A1 HOWITZER
The M2A1 105mm howitzer is all new tooling and comes complete with crisp hand wheels, sights, cog wheel, recuperator, spring and breech. The kit has a drop fit metal barrel with a drilled out muzzle with internal rifling. The gun's traverse and elevation mechanisms are realistic and feature crisp teeth on the arcs. The shield has considerable detail on both sides including girder bracing, sharp bolt heads and a metal rod with mountings. The shield has no visible sink marks. The shield is connected to the gun by four rods.
FIGHTING COMPARTMENT
The fighting compartment is full of new tooling and is based around a large tub, which features anti-skid flooring and has integrated sponsons. The side and rear armour plates are new parts for the T19 being designed to reflect the T19s internal and external fittings. The kit has a separate rear door with detail on both sides. As expected these parts have plenty of details for bolt heads and panel gaps and hinges. Separate parts are provided for the various fittings such as seat squabs and backs (which have realistic folds), the internal fuel tanks, jerry cans and stowage bins. Due to the howitzers weight the T19 could only carry 8 rounds of ammunition. In keeping with the Smart Kit approach these rounds are tooled as two sets of four with the fasteners that secured them to the half-track integrated with the shells. This approach will ensure that the rounds sits nicely aligned in the finished model. An M1919A4 Browning machine gun is mounted on a pedestal in the rear of the fighting compartment and has a separate ammunition box.
CHASSIS & CAB
The chassis and cab will be familiar to many modellers and are based on tooling from recent Dragon releases. The chassis has considerable detail including a one-piece exhaust pipe and muffler, transmission shaft, differential housing, and the basic engine block with radiator, sump, fan and gasket heads. The front tires have the bulge indicative of bearing the engine's weight and the suspension springs, brakes and axle ends behind them are replicated. For the rear tracks the sprocket is slide-molded and the bogies have plenty of small detail. The tracks are injection molded and built from two halves, which join down the center and thus no join marks visible when looking side on, while replicating the inner detail such as the guide chain. Given the tracks were single lengths of rubber over steel bands that sat tightly on the bogies, this approach works well for displaying the kit on a flat base and will simplify assembly and painting. A roller is fitted in front of the forward bumper. Slide-molding has been used to produce sharply detailed drive sprockets and rear idlers which capture these parts 3-D ribbed profile nicely.
The cab is based around a large piece, which has the cabin floor, forward mudguards, running board and divide with the engine bay. The side panels and the metal plate that replaced have a lower profile to reflect that the T19 had to accommodate the 105mm gun. The upper half of the cab doors can be built either up or down and there are PE visor covers. The floor and running board have the anti-skid nicely detailed and the separate driving controls are crisp. The spade and axe are fitted to the front and are crisply molded with integrated brackets. The roller is fitted to the front bumper.
The engine bay hood is molded closed, but it would be possible to cut along the panel recesses to open it up and reveal the engine. The cab doors can modeled open or closed and the PE visors can be left up or down, and the upper half of the doors can be assembled folded down. The front grill can be built open (with options of a PE or plastic) or closed.
DECALS
The kit includes two Cartograf decal sheets and the painting guide outlines seven HMCs, which offer a representative selection of how this half-track was deployed. The instruction sheet has 3 view profiles for each vehicle and there are colour side profiles on the box. All vehicles are US Army vehicles from 1942 which are painted solid olive drab and have white US Army stars.
Each T19 has decals for a name including Cathy (box art), Bull, Battering Ram and Alamosa. The half-track "Evelyn" from 3rd Infantry Division in Rabat, Morocco has 3 US flags painted on it which was done during Operation Torch in the hollow hope that French troops under the command of the Vichy Government would not fire on them. Several of the T19s have yellow registration markings on the sides typical of the period.
One decal sheet contains the markings unique to this kit (flags, stars in several sizes etc) while the other contains generic white tactical and registration markings.
RECOMMENDATION
This
new release fills a gap in 1/35 US WWII armour and adds to Dragon's growing
range of WWII US half-tracks. For most modellers this kit will make an impressive
model out of the box, but it also provides a solid basis for super detailing.
The open fighting compartment offers plenty of potential for adding all the
stowage that US troops carried. Definitely recommended.
- Neville Lord
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