Tamiya Model Magazine – September 2019

FULL-BUILD: WW2 ALLIED ARMOUR

TAMIYA 1:35 M10 IIC ACHILLES BRITISH TANK DESTROYER ● KIT NO.

10 September 2019 TMMI 287

T

he 17pdr SP Achilles

(officially 17-pounder,

Self-Propelled, Achilles)

was a British variant of the

American M10 tank destroyer,

armed with the British Ordnance

QF 17-pounder high-velocity

76.2mm (three-inch) anti-tank

gun in place of the M10's

considerably less powerful

three-inch (76.2mm) Gun M7.

A total of 1,100 M10s were

converted to Achilles, making

it the second most numerous

armoured fighting vehicle to

mount with the 17-pounder gun,

behind the Sherman Firefly.

The name 'Achilles' was

officially a designation applied

to both the three-inch gun

and 17-pounder versions (as

Achilles I/II and Achilles Ic/

IIc respectively) but was

used infrequently during the

Second World War; at the

time, the vehicle was called

17pdr M10, or 17pdr SP M10,

or even occasionally, 'Firefly'.

It has since become identified

almost exclusively with the

17-pounder version.

Source: Edited from Wikipedia

Tamiya released the 1:

M10 TD back in 2016 and it

possessed all the qualities

that we love; ease and

speed of construction, subtle

surface detail, near-perfect

one-piece tracks plus superb,

'new generation' figures.

Now, Tamiya have invested

substantially in new moulds

to create the British variant,

the most notable being the

potent 17 Pounder main

gun, plus a new turret and

counterweights, upper hull

and or course, an all-new

crew. The latter are fantastic;

not in active 'firing' poses but

on the hunt for a Panther or a

Panzer IV and very naturally

animated. Over the following

pages, we can see just how

much this kit has to offer, so

please sit back and enjoy! ●

TAMIYA 1:35 M10 IIC ACHILLES BRITISH TANK DESTROYER KIT NO.

Source: Edited from Wikipedia

crew. The latter are fantastic;

not in active 'firing' poses but

on the hunt for a Panther or a

Panzer IV and very naturally

The VVSS bogies

are nicely detailed

and now include

inner faces to the

road wheels and

even the tiny rivets

around the rims.

The return skids

are still missing

their bolt-heads

and the four holes

are absent from the

front of each unit

Only minimal hull-interior detail is included,

consisting of a floor and rear bulkhead. Once the

turret is in place, nothing else is visible anyway

The breech of the 17-Pounder

is really well detailed and

thanks to some clever

engineering, surprisingly easy

to assemble

Only the missing bolt-heads around the turret were

added to the turret interior. Tamiya does offer a decent

amount of detail out of the box, but there is plenty of

room for the super-detailer to add their mark

Archer Fine Details resin foundry marks were added

to the mantlet. These are missing from the kit

part, which is surprising as they are so prominent.

Interestingly they are present on the suspension units

Just to do something

a little different, one of

the one-piece grouser

racks was replaced

with some Evergreen

channel section. One

grouser was carefully

removed from the kit

part and added to the

Evergreen rails. This

was to replicate photo

from a reference book

The rear hull is again, nicely detailed, including

the British-pattern fire extinguishers. To detail

the rear plate, the missing tool tie-downs were

added using photo-etched items from Accurate

Armour and the kit tail-light guards were

replaced with photo-etched items

On the engine deck, Tamiya included their

usual solidly-moulded grab handles. These

were carefully sliced off using a scalpel

blade. These were then replaced with some

thin nickel wire. Also, the tiny retaining

chains were added to the fuel, coolant and

oil dipstick cap locking pins

As with the tail-light guards, the headlight

guards will be replaced with photo-etched parts

from Passion Models. Tamiya, have included the

British antenna-mounts and the two racks for

the spare track blocks