Today, Jersey hits the beach with the US Marines and takes a look at the “Amtank”. Oo-rah Devil Dogs!
Hi everyone, Jersey here;
One problem with not being able to hobby over the summer was that Battlefront had very kindly sent us some USMC to review and I physically couldn’t paint it! A few boxes of the gun armed “Amtanks” (a play on the troop carriers nickname of “Amtrak”) and infantry were sat glaring at me; willing me to paint them and I would have liked nothing better to oblige!
Now though, i can paint, I have light and I have time to be able to get those marines done and I have been enjoying them alot.
The infantry have been built, based and sprayed, but first I did all of the Amtanks and Amtracks, all 12 of them! Thank you Battlefront, thank you USMC, thank you Time Magazine and thank you, swampy terrain of Florida.
Battlefront’s Amtanks are quick and easy to build. The every necessary, yet fiddly, metal hull machine gun on resin models did result in the odd super glue coated fingertip; but there was relatively little to do on most of the models with few mold lines and no mold flash.
One bit of advice: Try and fit every hull top with every hull bottom to work out the best combo before doing any gluing! Due to the hazards of resin molding, not every top will fit every bottom and if you can’t find a fit, a lot of filing is going to be needed. Do not try and force the top in, the resin will be damaged under the stress. I considered it at one point and could feel the resin strain. Take the time and file carefully!
Battlefront’s new molding techniques do pay dividends on the hull though; where there is space under the hull instead of a block of resin, which always makes a model look nice. This along with the clean lines and good crew really makes these Panther sized tanks stand out.
In the game they’re interesting; very low armour but veteran rating means they’ll need to duck, dodge and dive (and use smoke) to get into position though the canister rounds on the 37mm guns will be interesting. I’d also love to be able to disregard interestingly placed rivers in tournament games. The real challenge will be getting enough support to get the company going.
Next will be some Marine Infantry and Guns to go with them and I’m keen to get them done and take a USMC company to a tournament!
Jersey