#1350:  M1025 armament carrier with M2HB or M60 (released first).
#1363: M996 with TOW missile launcher.  (Advantage: can be made into the M1025 kit above since this kit has the same parts as #1350).

Overview:

The Academy M1025 armament carrier (#1350) and M996 TOW carrier (#1363) are essentially the same kit except that the M996 TOW kit has an extra sprue called "F."  For both kits, sprues A to D are exactly the same.  Sprue F is only found in kit #1363.  Sprue F, the same size as sprues A-D, contains a mini treasure-trove of goodies:

* A TOW round for the TOW launcher
* Six TOW rounds for the interior storage rack
* 12.7mm and 7.62mm machine gun boxes
* Two M16A2s
* Fuel and water cans
* A tripod for the TOW launcher
* The M996's wider roof-mounted TOW ring
* The TOW launcher, sights, and fire-control box
* A seated driver with kevlar helmet and a passenger with floppy hat.

For a few dollars more, the M996 TOW kit contains the parts to make the TOW, a fully detailed bed interior, and two driver figures which the earlier #1350 M1025 kit lacks.  You also get the M2HB, M60, and seated rooftop soldier in the #1350 kit as well.  

M996 Construction:

I built both kits but since the M966 TOW kit has more features, I'll only cover this kit.  I built mine out of the box as a Marine version. Construction is fairly straightforward and the parts do fit rather well.  The builder has the option of making a US Army version or a US Marine version.  The US Marine version has the extended air intake and exhaust pipes.  I found the pin connection to the exhaust pipe weak even with superglue.  Just be careful not to knock it off.  

The sides and rear panels of the Humvee rest on beveled and thin gluing surfaces.  CA supeglue is recommended to bond these areas.  

One has to remember that the HMMWV is similar to a car with an interior.  Therefore, unlike an AFV where one can paint it once gluing is complete, painting and masking of the HMMWV is required during construction.  The interior is best painted with the windows and door pieces off.  Bulding in subassemblies is highly recommended.

Leave the driver and passenger figures and the steering wheel out until final assembly.  I'll cover this more further down.

The instructions show that the clear plastic headlights (D8)are glued convex (dome outward) like contact lenses.  It's really hard to glue them convex (dome outward) for the gluing surfaces are very thin and the lense tends to slide around.  Gluing them concave (dome in) is no problem and it fits.  

The side mirrors (B8) are inaccurate as HMMWVs have mirrors with horizontal bar braces on the top and bottom.  Verlinden may have the correct side mirrors in their PE and resin upgrade kit.  The side mirrors on the kit are extremely fragile and the curving arm is guaranteed to break off if you lie the HMMWV on its side.  Therefore, leave them off until final assembly.

I glued the doors and the front windshield and then masked off the openings.  I then rested the roof on unglued and airbrushed the interior and camouflaged the exterior.

The suspension's main fit problem are the wheel pegs.  They're too big for the holes in the wheel wells.  One can sand down the pegs or carefully widen the wheel wells with a slow-rotating drillbit.  CA superglue is definitely recommended for gluing on the tire pegs (C38 and C39).  You can purchase aftermarket resin tires if you dislike the vinyl ones in the kit.

The TOW launcher, interior details, and figures went together without any problems.  The TOW ring rotates smoothly once placed in the roof.

The characteristic problem I found in both kits is that the roof (C54) doesn't sit properly on the body.  It seems to "float," leaving a millimeter gap above the doors and the rear bed. In photos, the gap above the doors is pretty accurate, but there is no gap above the bed sides. I never did find the solution to this problem and have my guesses.  It could be that the figures' sit too tall and protrude beyond the top of the door frames.  Sanding their bottoms might help. I sanded the roof's gluing surfaces on the windshield (A17) down and while this helps reduce the roof gap, the gap over the bed is still present.  I'm sure with more time and effort, the roof can be made to sit properly.

Therefore, make sure your roof fits properly before installing the figures in their seats.  The figures and/ or steering wheel have a hard time being inserted since space is tight so try experimenting placing one or the other in first.  I did find the steering wheel got in the way of inserting the driver and vice-versa.

The main issue of mating the roof to the body is that both HMMWV kits are very fragile.  It's a hollow model and the door panels are made of thin styrene.  Just holding it by the doors like an overhead pincer crane will cause the doors to cave-in like a house of cards.  The suspension is also fragile so using rubber bands to compress the roof to the body isn't recommended.  The proper way to handle the HMMWV model is by grasping either the front or the rear tires with one hand or slipping your hand under the entire model.

Decals come in US Army and US Marine versions.

Conclusion:

For the extra "F" sprue, I recommend any modeler interested in buying a hardtop HMMWV to always buy the M966 TOW kit #1363 as it gives you the most value AND the M1025 parts as well.  I also found the three seated figures, included only in the M996 kit, pretty well done.  The figures can be enhanced for display apart from the HMMWV with the addition of resin heads, Tamiya kevlar helmets, and DML guns and gear.  As some of the few seated modern US soldiers available in plastic, they will make a great addition to any other modern US AFV or diorama idea.