Italeri

1/72 Dodge M6 Anti Tank Vehicle

Kit Number: 7025

Reviewed by  Phil Peterson, , IPMS# 8739

MSRP: $15.00 Thanks to Model Rectifier Corporation (MRC) for providing this review item. www.modelrectifier.com Italeri has re-released several of the old ESCI 72nd scale vehicle kits. Some of these are still excellent models while others need quite a bit of work. This kit, unfortunately, is one of the latter. The M6 was one of the first attempts by the US Army to mobilize its 37mm AT gun. When used in combat in Tunisia, the 37 was inadequate against the German Mk III and IV tanks. I have been after this kit for a long time based on a photo of one with mud applied camouflage hiding among some cacti. That scheme is included with the kit along with 3 other generic options, none detailing which outfit they belong to. One of the most notable issues with this kit is the high sit of the vehicle. I have read many build articles of the old kit and they mention lowering the suspension anywhere between 1-4 mm. But no one tells you the best way to accomplish that. My solution was to shave some of the detail from the rear axle so it sat a little higher up the springs. It seems to work ok. The kit has several injector pin marks in obvious places that require clean up. The worst of these are on the back of each tire. Luckily, they are not that visible on the finished model. The instructions give you the general location of most parts but actually getting them to line up in the correct place is a little guesswork. Test fitting is the only way to go here. The kit includes a winch but no cable and no indication that cable of some type is needed. The positioning of parts of the gun mount is very frustrating and I still don't know if I got them right. Other details that need improvement are the gun scabbards which have a stock of some weapon that I can't figure out, the jerry cans need the triple handles and the 3 man crew is best put out of their misery. It can be built into a nice looking vehicle but I got so frustrated with it that I never did add the mud camo. Maybe someday. I can't recommend this kit unless you really want to add this version to your collection.

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