Reviews : Tamiya US Light Tank M5A1 w/4 Figures

This kit meets all of Tamiya quality. PRO'S: Easy to follow instructions. Decals went on good for the 3rd & 2nd armor divisions. Since this is a older kit by Tamiya it still leaves you some different options. You can leave the hedge cutters off (c-4) and install two tow eyes instead. The instruction do not mention this. But you will find them on a extra tree with a .50 cal. machine gun. My research also showed the tank with out the sand skits a lot. If you leave them off you can skip the instructions in step 3 of removing them off of parts b-17.If you leave off the .30 cal. machine gun storage of the turret. You will have a early version. They give you 2 sand bags for extra detail. I also add a tarp roll from my extra part's box. Single piece rubber tracks. Going to use this tank along with the 4 figure mortar team in a diorama. CON'S: I had a difficult time installing the upper hull to the lower hull. Just take your time and it will fall in place. Nice kit for a beginner. Plan on buying it again and leaving off the hedge cutter, sand skirts and gun storage.

This is a nice older kit. The level of detail is not up to today's standards, but it builds up nicely. The parts are big enough for young modelers to handle. this one also has the rubber band Tamiya tracks that glue does not like to stick to. I heated and flattened the posts in the tracks after the track ends were joined, as per instructions. Just in case, I put a staple across the join. To install the tracks, I left the side skirts and drive sprocket off until last. I threaded the track around the wheels, and then fit the drive sprocket inside the track. The drive sprocket was pressed into place. This keeps pressure off of the track join and makes it easy to slip the track in place. the skirts were added last. Why only 4 stars? it is an old mold with a bit of flash to trim off.

This kit is infamous among bolt-counters for being inaccurate. However, it is worth the price, and was very enjoyable to build. If you leave the Cullen device off, it could be in anywhere in Europe, from Normandy to Post-war Germany. It can also be in the Italian Campaign or even in Africa. The mortar team is kind of a strange bonus, but nice. I explained them as being on the hunt for snipers or machine gun nests. There is also a bunch of goodies to accompany the team, including a bazooka and four rockets. There was no tow cable, but I added a string one with scratchbuilt end pieces. I also drilled out the front lights and used clear glue as lens on them. The searchlight on the turret was accurized with metal tape in the back of the light and then filled in with glue.

This was my first Tamiya kit that gave me problems. I've had minor ones before but this kit just kept on piling them up. Had problems with the fit and had to either cut pieces off or fill in gaps. Not what I usually have to do with a Tamiya kit. I have photos of a couple of the problems below. In spite of the problems I am happy with the result just not with the journey getting there. From the other reviews I must have gotten the cull of the crop. Hope this is a once only thing. I have switched over from German armor to American for awhile. So don't be put off by my review. You may have a better experience than me as most other reviewers seemed too.

This kit is similar to the Tamiya Panzer II (DAK) and the SDKFZ 251 kits. When you open it there's about four trees and it's a VERY straight forward kit. The pieces all fit together with minimal trimming or shaving. However, if you ware wanting to make a representation minus the side skirt armor, you will need to shave down two portions of the lower hull. I'm hoping to get pictures up loaded soon showing what I'm saying and save everyone the heart ache of explaining. Over all, an excellent kit and the potential is limitless given the amount of extras you can buy in the way of stowage and figure sets.

I recently purchased this 1/35th scale winner of the model equipped with the Cullens Hedgerow Cutter on the front. Fully aware that Tamiya really goes to great lengths to preserve history made my choice clear with this kit; place it in the hedgerows, and replace the M3 that was already shown there. After highly detailing and weathering the M5 I placed it into the battle, complete with crewmen seeking the Germans and ready to plow through the overgrowth. My diorama was immensely improved by this model. I did not use the version of the kit with the mortar crew.

The Tamiya M5A1 Tank kit was, overall, a good kit. In fact, normally I would give it a 5 star because the fit was great, instructions were clear, and overall it looks good. However, I gave it only 4 stars because there was a lot of trimming required to get rid of molding and clean up edges, something that I've never experienced with Tamiya before. This extra work wasn't a problem, but like I said, not what I'm used to from Tamiya products.

This tank was very fun to build. It contained all the pieces necessary and I was satisfied with the end result. The extra figures was also an awesome bonus! The only problem i found was when I was mounting the upper body to the hull. It took some work and multiple tries but I would recommend this tank especially to beginners.

A good kit. Not a modern kit and a bit fiddly at times. A good kit for the price. A set of aftermarket tracks is recommended as the kit supplied ones are wrong. The end connectors do not connect each track links. Otherwise a nice little, quick kit that looks good in the end.

Yes, this is an older kit. But, it is one of my favorites. The fit is good and goes together well. There is so much you can do with this model with aftermarket pieces and a little imagination. Like a AAA mount on her.