Type 16 MCV

Materials used:  

Tamiya Type 16 MCV 

Voyager PE35935 

Voyager barrel VBS0527 

The Type 16 is one of the modern tanks on wheels that is a part of several armies arsenals. As usual this Tamaiya kit is a straight forward construction with only a minor amount of filling needed. Clear plastic for the lights and periscopes is included as well as pre stencilled masks  to protect them during the painting process. The barrel is one moulded piece but there are no holes in the end of the barrel acting as a compensator, there is a mask with small dots on that can be wrapped around the barrel and the holes can be drilled out. Tamiya recommend this only for experienced modellers. I replaced it with the tuned metal barrel from Voyager that uses some of the plastic parts from the kit. The photo etch from Voyager adds some more scale correct details such as clasps for the pioneering tools and parts for the machine gun. A barrel for the cal .50 is included as well as a piece of copper wire to replace the moulded cable. There are several small handles and loops that are moulded on the vehicle. If that is not to satisfaction, Voyager supplies two options:  pre bent handles or you can bend them yourself. However, they are photo etch and are therefore of cause flat. Instead, I used heat stretched plastic sprue and copper wire, which was also used to simulate the springs on the turret hatches.  Voyager also  supplies parts to replace the turret basket with photo etch and metal rods, which I found a bit stiff to work with so I used copper wire instead. The model was painted with Tamiya colours. No room for heavy weathering with rust and chipping, only what can be expected after some days on the exercise field for which AK products was used. 

Finally, a comparison between my previous build the: Erhardt Armoured Car from Copper State Models and one of the latest race car looking products for mobile warfare showing one hundred years of armoured car evolution, not to mention the inside of the modern vehicle with luxuries such as heather, AC, exhausts for powder gases and ballistic computer.