Video build guide Pt.I: US M10 Booker in 35th scale from Magic Factory.

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...

Video build guide Pt.I.: US M10 Booker in 35th scale from Magic Factory.

From Magic Factory

Kit No. #2008

1/35th scale

Plastic injection model kit

Photo-etch included

Two marking choices provided in the box

Price: $80 USD from HobbyLink Japan

Magic Factory Website & Facebook Page

The Subject: The M10 Booker

During a celebration of the service’s 248th birthday. The U.S. Army announced the new name for its latest light armoured combat vehicle, known and developed with the name MPF, and now the M10 Booker.

The Army has officially renamed its Mobile Protected Firepower programme the M10 Booker combat vehicle.

The M10 Booker (formerly known as the Mobile Protective Firepower or MPF) is a new tracked combat vehicle of the U.S. Army that was designed and developed by the American company GDLS (General Dynamics Land Systems) to enhance the combat capabilities of the U.S. Army Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT). The IBCT is one of the main types of brigade-sized units, designed to be highly mobile and flexible, and it's the basic deployable unit of manoeuvre in the U.S. Army.

In 2016, it was reported by defence news outlets that the Army was keen on creating a light ground combat vehicle to maintain the relevance of Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (IBCTs) during extensive combat operations against a comparable adversary. 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). Despite its technical flaws, the M551 was greatly appreciated for its robust operational abilities. In June 2023, the U.S. Army announced the award of a $1.14 billion contract to GDLS for the production and fielding of up to 96 MPF vehicles. The U.S. Army Acquisition Objective (AAO) for MPF is 504 vehicles, with 14 MPFs per IBCT.

The kit: Magic Factory's 1/35 M10 Booker light tank (No. 2008)

This all-new-tooled kit of the US Army's latest fighting vehicle, the M10 Booker, is the next in the line of the latest fighting equipment from the US armed forces from Magic Factory. 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 gun's barrel muzzle is rifled.

-The pitch of the main gun is adjustable, the turret, of course, is turnable, and hatches can be posed open or closed.

-The kit features a well-detailed of DVE-WIDE, Infantry phone and Tow-bar arms;

-This kit includes the PilarV Acoustic Gunshot Detection System and a detailed turret rear basket;

On opening up the box, you are met with a full package of plastic photo-etch, metal barrel, masks, coloured stickers for lenses, and an instruction manual. 

.Magic Factory makes great use of high-quality slide moulding to render large portions of the model in single components without sacrificing detail. Examples include the hull and turret tub, mantlet, turret armour, and stowage bins. 

The quality of the moulds on the hull was the first thing that was noticed when looking at the hull and turret of this kit

Turret detail and welds were impressive, showing detail that need not be altered or added to for a change.

Magic Factory has tried to mould as much detail into larger parts to lower the plastic count and give the modeller as much detail as they can without everting to photo-etch where they can.

Speaking of photo-etch, there is one small sheet included, plus masks, and the kit includes pre-cut clear holographic film and pre-cut masks for all optics. Photo-etched parts are included for the necessary in-scale details.

All wheels and the gun elevation have poly caps. The instructions are clear and without error. 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.

To know more about this kit, check out my video on my Panzermeister36 Youtube page.

Evan MaCallum

Thanks to Magic Factory for sending this kit to Evan to build and review. Check out the Magic Factory Website & Facebook Page

For more of Evan's works, check his Facebook (Panzermeister Models) & his excellent Youtube page - Panzermeister36...