In Box Review of Tamiya 1/35th Scale U.S. Military Police Set
Military Miniatures No. MM-184
Ready to Assemble Precision Model Kit
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 1976
I paid a paltry $2.88 for my kit, years ago, at a local hobby shop that went out of business.
It is available from one individual in the USA and 4 locations overseas on the web.
Ready to Assemble Precision Model Kit
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 1976
I paid a paltry $2.88 for my kit, years ago, at a local hobby shop that went out of business.
It is available from one individual in the USA and 4 locations overseas on the web.
THE KIT:
Tamiya is an old prolific plastic model kit manufacturer, based in Japan. They make all manner of plastic model kit subjects in the popular scales.
This kit comes in a shrink-wrapped end-opening type box. I am no fan of this type of box, because invariably parts or the decal sheet will find their way past one of the end-flaps of the box to become lost forever. Give me a tray and lid type box any day of the week.
The box art shows a color illustration of a military Harley-Davidson motorcycle and 2 U.S. military policemen.
One man is driving the motorcycle. The other man is standing in front of it and directing it with both arms.
Both men are dressed in khaki uniforms and steel helmets. The driver has his pants bloused at the bottom into tan laced up gaiters.
The standing man has his trousers in white cloth gaiters. Both men have a navy blue arm band around their left arms with white MP on it.
The bottom of the box serves as the painting and marking guide, with all-Japanese text only.
The motorcycle is overall olive-drab. It has tan cloth bags that are mounted on both of the sides of the rear fender. A Thompson sub machine-gun in a leather case is mounted on the side of the front fender.
It has a Plexi-glass windshield that is black at the bottom with white MILITARY POLICE on it.
The standing man’s helmet is all white, with a black MP on the front. He has a white belt on too.
The illustration is posed against one of Tamiya’s SIGNATURE all-white back-grounds, that they use for the majority of their box arts.
Tamiya is an old prolific plastic model kit manufacturer, based in Japan. They make all manner of plastic model kit subjects in the popular scales.
This kit comes in a shrink-wrapped end-opening type box. I am no fan of this type of box, because invariably parts or the decal sheet will find their way past one of the end-flaps of the box to become lost forever. Give me a tray and lid type box any day of the week.
The box art shows a color illustration of a military Harley-Davidson motorcycle and 2 U.S. military policemen.
One man is driving the motorcycle. The other man is standing in front of it and directing it with both arms.
Both men are dressed in khaki uniforms and steel helmets. The driver has his pants bloused at the bottom into tan laced up gaiters.
The standing man has his trousers in white cloth gaiters. Both men have a navy blue arm band around their left arms with white MP on it.
The bottom of the box serves as the painting and marking guide, with all-Japanese text only.
The motorcycle is overall olive-drab. It has tan cloth bags that are mounted on both of the sides of the rear fender. A Thompson sub machine-gun in a leather case is mounted on the side of the front fender.
It has a Plexi-glass windshield that is black at the bottom with white MILITARY POLICE on it.
The standing man’s helmet is all white, with a black MP on the front. He has a white belt on too.
The illustration is posed against one of Tamiya’s SIGNATURE all-white back-grounds, that they use for the majority of their box arts.
One side-panel of the box shows color illustrations of the helmets worn by the two men, followed by 7 illustrations of cloth rank insignia patches, from private on up to top sergeant, with Japanese captions.
The other side-panel of the box shows color illustrations of the Thompson sub machine-gun in it’s leather bag, a knight-stick, the blue MP shoulder band, the pistol holster, a canteen and the gaiters used to blouse the pants at the bottom. Again, with just Japanese captions.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX:
The kit holds 2 dark-green parts-tree, a clear windshield part, decal sheet, a tube of cement and the instructions in a sealed clear cello bag.
The instructions consist of a single sheet, printed on both sides, in 4 3/4" x 10 1/4" page format.
The face-side begins with a black and white photo of a line up of 8 U.S. military policemen on their motorcycles over the first 2 assembly steps.
The reverse side shows the balance of assembly steps for a grand total of 6. Text is all in Japanese.
One dark-green tree holds the parts of the motorcycle (28 parts)
The kit holds 2 dark-green parts-tree, a clear windshield part, decal sheet, a tube of cement and the instructions in a sealed clear cello bag.
The instructions consist of a single sheet, printed on both sides, in 4 3/4" x 10 1/4" page format.
The face-side begins with a black and white photo of a line up of 8 U.S. military policemen on their motorcycles over the first 2 assembly steps.
The reverse side shows the balance of assembly steps for a grand total of 6. Text is all in Japanese.
One dark-green tree holds the parts of the motorcycle (28 parts)
The other dark-green tree holds: the parts of the 2 figures (both full figured, with separate arms), 2 cloth saddle bags, 2 steel helmets, two .45 cal. pistols in holsters, a few motorcycle parts, the Thompson sub machine-gun in holster (28 parts)
The clear windshield part, dried-out tube of glue and decal sheet complete the kit’s contents.
The detail is excellent.
Highly recommended. My only wish was for some English in the kit.
Highly recommended. My only wish was for some English in the kit.