Magic Factory offers the US M10 booker at 35th scale.

When we found out his enthusiasm for the new US M10 “Booker” & Magic Factory’s new kit in 35th scale, we were thrilled to have Evan MaCallum (Panzermeister36 on Youtube) to make a build review of the kit for us in the news today…

The Subject: The M10 Booker

During a celebration of the service’s 248th birthday. It was developed and designed by General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) in the United States to improve the capabilities of U.S. Army Infantry Brigade Combat Team. IBCT units are brigade-sized and highly flexible. They’re the primary deployable unit in the U.S. Army. Initially dubbed a “light tank,” U.S. Army representatives christened the novel concept the Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) to discourage troops from treating it like a traditional tank and using it in a similar fashion to the M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank (MBT).

The MPF’s evolution presents a chance to fill a capabilities void left by the retirement of the M551 Sheridan Armoured Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle (AR/AAV). The M551’s robust capabilities were appreciated despite its flaws. The U.S. Army awarded a contract worth $1.14billion to GDLS in June 2023 for production and deployment of up to 96 vehicles. Magic Factory 1/35 M10 Light Tank (No. This new-tooled M10 Booker kit is part of Magic Factory’s line of latest US military equipment. This very modern vehicle (don’t call it a tank) has found the imagination of man-modellers, and the kit will see a lot of those early adopters we would think–and why not?

The feature set of the kit:

-The detailed armour & hull of the type are recreated with a minimum of parts and to great detail…

-This kit contains moveable tracks and a suspension system. The main barrel’s muzzle has been rifled.

-The pitch is adjustable and the turret can be turned. The kit includes the PilarV Acoustic Gunshot Detection System and a detailed turret rear basket. The quality of the moulds on the hull was first thing that I noticed when looking at this kit’s turret and hull. The quality of the moulds was first noticed on the hull.

The turret details and welds are impressive. The necessary scale details are provided by photo-etched components. All optics, front and rear lights are included in clear parts. Clear parts are included for all optics, front and rear lights.

The.50 calibre machine gun is exceptionally detailed, with holes in the barrel cooling jacket, but a little more needed for the muzzle…

We will look at the tracks in the assembly video, but there are eight parts to EACH movable track; this could get sticky!

A detailed suspension (working with tracks) and nice-looking drive sprockets are present on this kit.

Summary:

Overall, the kit is fantastic. It has all the hallmarks we expect in a modern, high-quality kit: excellent fit, detailed, complicated slide-moulded assemblies, a metal gun barrel, poly caps for the wheels, photoetched parts only where they are necessary for detail, wheel and optic masks, anti-laser optical coatings included, and clear instructions.

An example of how the lenses look after application. A simple but realistic solution.

However, I can’t recommend the kit to a new modeller for two reasons: one, a couple of the PE parts were difficult to bend and required a PR bending tool. Two, the individual-link tracks included in the kit are incredibly complicated and may be frustrating to a new modeller.

A view of the hull with etch details in the engine decks, and the one part that needs a lot of precise bending…

Additionally, the.50 cal blank firing adaptor advertised in the kit requires some scratchbuilding; I wish it were included. There were a number of pin marks to clean up on the interior faces of crew hatches and in the stowage bin, though they will be obscured by stowage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC27vrOAWwA

Evan MaCallum