M4A1 Half Track

I was shocked at the fit and finish of this kit the vehicle body is cut into 6 sections the back each side the front grill and the hood as well as 2 back panels behind the drivers these did not fit well at all leaving large gaps especially in the rear corners. The suspension is very fragile and the rubber tracks crush the rear idler wheels even after setting for several days the tracks are simply too small for this kit. I dealt with this by stapling the tracks together with a few MM gap to allow for some slack in the tracks and hid the staples just before the front drive sprocket. seems to work okay but the over all of this kit is just bad.

This kit includes parts enough to build one M4A1 Halftrack with some build options. Summary Pros: Good detail for Scale, Good value, Many parts. Summary Cons: Very small kit. Parts are fragile, Painting soldiers and building rubber tracks are a nightmare. The Detail of the undercarriage is good for the size. Their is no engine build or much interior parts. The detail on the interior is fair but passable due to the tiny scale of 1/72. There are soldier models included as well but they are small and detail is fair. The seated troops have rifles that are crooked and will need some modeling skill to correct. I don't normally include crew models in 1/72 because they are small and the detail is lacking no matter what brand you buy. The exterior detail is quite good and bolts and panel lines are visible. The sprues are packaged well and there was no damage to the parts on unboxing. There is some flash on many parts that require some sanding and trimming. The pieces fit well and require only minimal filling and sanding. The one part that is an absolute nightmare is building the track. The tracks are one piece rubber bands that heat connect. It is so hard to heat the tracks together i ended up just super gluing them in an area that is not so visible. The tracks also seem tight and on both sides they pull the drive gears inward which is a bit of a bummer. The kit comes with a rag top and machine gun ring which allows for some customization. I have built mine with a free floating rag top because I did not include crew but still wish to display the interior. There are a few decals which apply well. The kit is simple due to it's tiny size but still takes some skill to build satisfactorily. From my experience Hasegawa makes better armor kits then aircraft. Hasegawa details are better on the Armor especially in 1/72 scale. I am actually quite happy with the overall value of this kit.