PMMS
AFV Club

Achilles Mk.IIc
British 17 Pounder
Anti-Tank Self-Propelled Gun

AFV Club Kit No. AF 35039
1/35th Scale
First Look
by Terry Ashley
Following on from the M10 (Kit No.35024), M10 TD with Late Production Turret (kit No.35s07) and the M35 Prime Mover (kit No.35s08) , AFV Club have released the forth kit based on the original M10 kit.

This kit is identical to Kit No.35s07, you even get the turret room armour sprue. All that is new here is sprue "P" with the bits to make a 17Pdr M10, an aluminium barrel and a new decal sheet. I will confine my comments here to the new bits, you can click on any of the above links to see reviews of the earlier kits.
It is inevitable that comparisons with the Academy 17Pdr M10 will crop up, so I will make appropriate comments where applicable, but this is not meant to be a direct comparison of the two kits.

Sprue P :
The gun is very impressive with many small parts and the whole breech is noticeably bigger than in the Academy kit, the details such as shields also appear to be more accurate. You get a very nice aluminium barrel with two part plastic counter weight and muzzle break assembly. Again the muzzle break looks better than the Academy item being larger and rounder in shape. The barrel again fits into the breech with a spring so it moves as on previous kits, still haven't worked out why?
There are very minor sink marks in the middle of both barrel counter weight halves, but nothing that will loose detail when filled.

The mantlet has very nice detail with more accurate shape and includes the cut-out for the main telescope sight and small casting numbers on the top edge. The large weld seams seen on some mantlets aren't there, but overall this is the better of the two mantlets.

Six nicely moulded armour piercing rounds are provided with detailed painting instructions for the markings included The rest of the sprue has a British No.19 radio, three British style fire extinguishers, the two spare track link mounts and three superb 9mm Sten Guns with alternate metal stocks.
The box art and the instructions show rubber block track but the same steel cleat track from earlier kits is included?

AFV Club
AFV Club

The markings are very colourful and include markings for six vehicles.

  1. The 93rd Anti-tank Reg. Royal Artillery 5 Corps, Italy 1944
  2. 1st Army Corps, Normandy 1944
  3. 75th Anti-tank Reg. Royal Artillery, 11th Armoured Division, Belgium 1944-45
  4. Royal Canadian Artillery 4th Anti-Tank Regiment, Netherlands 1945
  5. 21st Anti-tank Reg. Royal Artillery, Guards Armoured Division, Netherlands 1944
  6. 1st Anti-tank Reg, Polish 1st Armoured Division, Netherlands 1944

Overall the new bits are very nice and should build into a nice 17Pdr M10, but I feel we are in the same position as with the AFV club/Academy M-18 saga where a combination of the good bits from both kits will produce the best result.

References:

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