Thunder Model 1/72 scale US Army Tractor VAI with Field Compactor Roller, 2 Kits edition / with Tractor VAC conversion included
Wow, what a title to put on the box, eh? This kit contains 2 models of a Case tractor in 1/72, and they can each be built as either a VAI or a VAC in Army, Air Corps or civilian guise.
For Thunder Models first foray into the wonderful world of Braille Scale modeling, they chose to give us a really beautiful kit of a really obscure vehicle, the Case VAI tractor. I'd never heard of it, or the company, Case, before receiving the kit.
As it turns out, Case was a very successful maker of agricultural vehicles. They also built B-26 Marauder wings and 155mm shells during WW2, and after the war, bought out the International Harvester brand as well.
As to the VAI, there's not much I could find on it's military service, other than that it was used for some construction roles in the army, especially in the Pacific, and served in the USAAF for airfield maintenance use-cutting grass, and field compaction. From what I've been able to determine, both the VAI and VAC served in the civilian roles you'd expect to see a tractor used for, mostly agricultural ones.
Upon opening the box, one finds 4 sprues. , One set is larger than the other with most of the tractor's components on it and a smaller one with the roller parts and plastic wheel parts. A bag holds decals, photoetch sheets and some "rubber" tires.
The parts are beautifully molded, flash free and SMALL!! Make no mistake, this is a tiny vehicle, and yet, less roller, is made up of almost 60 (!) parts.
The instructions consist of 10 steps, 4-6 being for the VAI variant only, 7-8 likewise for the VAC, 9 for assembly of the compactor, and 10 shows how to attach an included, but not mentioned otherwise, armored shield for the operator supplies as a photoetch piece-nice inclusion.
Assembly is pretty straightforward, other than the small size of pieces like the starter, oil filter, front suspension, exhaust system-well, basically everything except the rear axle and main body halves. The sprue attachment points are mercifully small and well thought out as to their location, but their size still results in cleanup being a challenge. I did manage to send a couple of pieces flying while attempting to sand the burrs and one starter is somewhere still in plastic heaven-Evergreen rod rode to my rescue.
The kit has good, positive location points for many of the components, but they're so small, they're hard to see without magnification for my 66 year old, near sighted and almost ready for cataract surgery eyes. An Optivisor is helpful during construction.
Despite that, the construction was really trouble free, and I enjoyed building the 2, one as an airfield tractor and the other as a civilian tractor in the Flambeau red color, though I faded and rusted it, wanting to make a bit of a derelict. Both will go into vignettes, the VAC will have a dog watching a cat sleeping on the seat, and the VAI will get some USAAF figures and a dog near it. It's a good kit, and I highly recommend it. Now, Thunder Models, scale down the LRDG trucks!
comparison against an Airfix Mosquito B XVI and a Tamiya Mersu.
the mostly finished VAI and field compactor, it just needs a flat coat
the VAC civilian tractor-notice the difference in the front wheels and axles between it and the VAI.