ICM’s 1/35th-scale Humvee M1097A2

There have been a few kits of the Humvee, but it feels like it has been quite a while since a kit of this was released, so a kit is due, and this is the latest by ICM and represents the cargo-carrying variant and what we would call a pick-up or a ute in the civilian world.

Construction starts with the lower chassis, and the frame comes in a single piece, which helps avoid any alignment issues, although there is a mould line along the length of the frame. The instructions show this mould line, but the mouldings cause an overbite one side and underbite the other. I sanded off the mouldings, but it won’t be noticeable on the finished model as the underside hangs over chassis. The instructions are vague on how to attach parts B11 and B12, which form the wheel wells. These pieces have tiny connection points and the instructions are not very clear. Take your time when locating the notches. Due to the design of the suspension unit, the wheels are only able to be posed straight forward. Modifying it would require extensive surgery. You can rotate the drive shafts to get the desired angle. Then, use Extra Thin to achieve the desired angle. The underside of the body will only be visible after the upper body has been attached. This means that you don’t have to spend a lot of time in this area. The wheels are also vinyl tyres and styrene rims. The vinyl tyres had a very small centre seam and only one attachment point, unlike many others I’ve used. This was a welcome change, as vinyl seams are notoriously difficult to remove. I gave the treads a light sanding to give them a slightly worn look.

Construction of the body starts with the dashboard, which I painted up first to make applying the instrument panel decals and associated stencils easier. I found the dials to be quite simplistic, but was tempted by more detailed dials. Only the main dial is visible. The windscreen was sandwiched in between the front and rear frames, but it was easy to put together later. Seat belts are not included in the kit, so I used tape to make them. If you want, the side mirrors can also be added at the end, but there is an ejector-pin mark in the middle, which is difficult to remove. The front hood is also in three pieces, with two sides that need to be assembled. The clear parts are the weakest part, as you only get them for the headlight lenses, but the rest of the lights come in decal form. While it is true that most armour modelers weather their models to some extent, clear parts are not always clear. They may look fine from afar, but up close, they’re still very visible. The lenses were damaged when I threw away the sprue. I replaced them with weathering tape and they now look passable. The fit of the body was good, and it was easy to attach. The desert scheme seemed to be the more iconic, so I chose that. The

decals are only available in stencils, as well as the light fixtures mentioned above. They adhered to the surface better than most, which caused me to have some minor issues moving them to their intended spots. However, this wasn’t an issue and they settled down nicely with Mr. Mark Softer. The decals on the clears are a real distraction from the rest the kit. As this is a desert vehicle, the weathering was limited to a light dusting and a dust wash on the treads of the tires to give it that dusty appearance.

The whole vehicle with stowage in a wider walk around…DecalsOverall, this is quite a nice kit and goes together quite well, although the lack of clears apart from the headlights is a real downer, as is the lack of seatbelts, although that is much easier to remedy than trying to paint or replace the clear sections yourself. Is this the best HMWVV available? Maybe this will be corrected when the full interior version comes out? This will be fixed when the interior version is released.

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