M1046 Humvee
TOW Missile Carrier
1:35 Scale - Kit No.35267
First Look by Terry Ashley

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The kit is basically the same as the earlier Kit No.35263 M1025 HMMWV so my comments in that review also apply here. I will confine this review to the new and altered parts in this new kit which consists of 190 parts in light beige plastic, 12 parts in clear plastic, four rubber tyres with poly caps for attaching to the axles, a decal sheet and the instructions

The new parts are for the TOW missile and equipment plus the winch for the front bumper as well as additional personal equipment and items such as the CIP panels.
Two of the sprues from Kit 35263 have been updated with new details to include inside details on the rear door (sprue F) and the four side doors with supplemental armor (sprue D).

The moulding is first class as we have come to expect from Tamiya with virtually no cleanup needed except for the usual fine moulding seems.
Pin ejector marks are kept to an absolute minimum and on some parts are hardly noticeable and those that are there will be easily removed.

The kit still retains the bias ply tyres and older type radio and these items will need to be updated if modelling a later A1/A2 type HMMWV.

The TOW missile is new (not recycled for their old MUTT with TOW) and includes some nice details such as the lightening holes in the launch tube, separate ends to the spare TOW missiles plus a multipart sight incorporating the latest upgrades. The missile control box has a separate mounting plate attached to the weapons ring and there is also a ground mount and additional missiles to be located in the rear of the HMMWV with nicely detailed missile racks. The ground mount incorporates open details on the central pedestal if you chose to deploy the TOW out of the vehicle.

The new rear door incorporates internal details missing from the first kit as well as the two telescopic supports to use if the door is shown open and the side doors have the flat outer panels for the supplemental armor but retain the X stamping on the insides as they should do.

The winch for the front has the outer bumper/winch guide as well as a basic winch with cable hook but you will have to provide your own winch cable as none is included with the kit, additional fittings are provided to mount to bush guard if desired?
Three CIP panels are provided, one for each side front door with cutouts for the door handles and the other for the hood as well as a basic gunner figure which has fairly soft uniform details compared to recent figures from the likes of Tristar and Dragon.

Decals:
The decal sheet is again well printed but has the usual Tamiya thickish carrier film and provides markings for four HMMWVs as well as a selection of stenciling such as tire pressure data, sling markings and data panels for the instrument panel.

A. 1st Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Iraq Spring 2003 which retains the original NATO paint scheme.
B. 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, KFOR, Gnjilane, Kosovo June 1999 with NATO scheme.
C. E Troop, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), Iraq Spring 2003 in overall sand scheme.
D. E Company, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (Light), Iraq, Spring 2003 in overall sand scheme

Conclusion:
In all another another excellent kit from Tamiya which will build into a very nice representation of the HMMWV.
If Tamiya could add the new radial tires and Sincgars radio set and give us other versions such as the A1/A2 series vehilces or M1114 we would all be very happy.

Highly Recommended.

References:
On the Web:
Rob's Motor Pool at Armorama.com (Excellent detail photos)

	M998 HMMWV in detail Present Vehicle Line No4 Wings & Wheels Publications. Published by RAK, Czech Republic. ISBN 80-86416-14-3 60 pages all in colour.
	7510 HMMWV: Workhorse of the US Army 'Mini Color Series' No 7510 Concord Publications Co. by Carl Schulze ISBN 962-361-676-7 56 pages, 1/35 scale plans
	M998 HMMWV Family Part 1: General Data and Descriptions Military Vehicle Workshop Series MV-11 Allied Command Productions 41 pages in black and white
	M998 HMMWV "HUMMER" and derivatives Warmachines No.7 Military Photo File Verlinden Publications No.600 ISBN 90-70932-27-X 36 pages in colour
	HUMMER Humvee in Action Squadron Signal Publications No. 2032. ISBN 0 89747 323 X By Jim Mesko.

Page created 1 October 2003