AFV Club had released its M548A1 kit a while back and it is still great. Later on, they released Nancy, an M35A1 gun truck from Vietnam armed with Quad fifty caliber guns. In the natural progression of things, AFV Club have combined the guns from the Nancy kit with the gun ring mount from their Dodge WC63 truck and the M548A1 to create the one off prototype trialled in Vietnam.

So, we get a box, see photo one, claiming a 3 out of 1 kit with nice a nice profile of Snap Fox, the one off vehicle. Inside the box, we find it full of excellent parts along with instructions in color photographs, resin parts, a pre-cut styrene sheet for door armor, vinyl tracks, decal sheet, and a photo-etched brass fret for screens and other details.

The kit is designed to be built as a Vietnam era M548, Snap Fox, or a modern M548A1.

The photos:

1. Box top
2. One of the two the suspension sprue labeled A
3. Sprue B for Chassis details and the modern gun ring
4. The ex Dodge ring mount (Sprue L)
5. PE fret, the cabin cover and one of two sprues Z for the guns
6. Sprue V for the M55 Quad gun mount
7. Sprue V was modified to include bolts to be shaved off an glued on.
8. Ammunition container are found on Sprue Z
9. Decals, clear parts, and the pre-cut styrene sheet
10. The lower hull
11. Lower hull plugs and hatches (from the manual)
12. Data plate, marker, and decal locations (from the TM)
13. Data plate which can be printed and glued onto your kit (from the TM)
14. Modern gun mount details (from the TM)
15. Ammunition load if building an M458 or M548A1 (from the TM)

The assembly was straightforward and presented no problems whatsoever. I decided to replace the tracks with aftermarket link to link. The quad gun mount comes with resin parts for the trailer (without wheels) and this was taken to correct the shortcoming of the M35A1 Gun Truck kit. Nancy's M55 was placed onto the truck bed with the trailer after removing the wheels. The resin trailer parts are nicely detailed and well cast by HobbyFan. However, several of the hasps were broken and I had to replace them with styrene sheet into which I cut the slow. The resin jacks are also very nice but they keep the trailer off the bed. I will modify them to place the trailer on the bed.

The choice of gun mounts reflects whether the M548 will be Vietnam era or later. The ring mount sourced from the Dodge kit, sprue L, is for the Vietnam era track. In either case, the lower hull hull is devoid of details and the modeler may want to add the drains and hatches shown in photo 11.

I am not accustomed to the photo type instructions but they weren't hard to follow. The guns on the Quad mount are not as detailed as they could be and I am considering the new Tasca guns for them. The flash suppressors are there and the muzzle must be modified to add them. Ammunition for the guns is plentiful and the rest can be used for a load on another vehicle. For those wanting to portray heavier artillery loads, see photo 15.

The decals are extremely simple and cover markings for one of each. A Vietnam era M548, Snap Fox and an IFOR M548A1.

This is an interesting model of an unusual item. It is worth getting if you want the trailer to fix the M35A1 Gun truck and you still have a respectable M548 to add to your collection. The kit is recommended and I thank Merit International for the sample.

References Used

On the Web:
http://photos.kitmaker.net/showgallery.php/cat/14088 Rob's Motorpool at KitMaker

Visit Terry's review at PMMS for another opinion of this kit:
http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/afvclub/afv35s32.htm

User Contributed Notes