Build review: ICM's 1/35th scale Humvee M1097A2

Today Paul Lee presents his build review of ICM's 1/35th scale Humvee M1097A2. See how the kit goes together and how it looks with a load & paint in his guide...

Build review: Humvee M1097A2
From ICM
1/35th scale
Model #35435

Type: Polystyrene and water slide decals multi-media kit

Price: $55 USD from HobbyLink Japan 
ICM website

The subject, the Humvee M1097A2:

The M1097 and M1097A1 HMMWVs are higher payload capacity cargo/troop carrier configurations of the HMMWV family. The vehicles are equipped with basic armour and used to transport equipment, materials, and/or personnel, like the M998/M1038 series, except with a higher payload capacity. The M1097, M1097A1, M1097A2, and M1123 heavy variant cargo/troop carriers are used to transport equipment, materials, and/or personnel. The heavy variant troop carrier is capable of transporting a two-man crew and eight passengers. The heavy variant cargo carrier is capable of transporting a payload (including crew) of 4,400 pounds (1,998 kilogrammes).

The M1097, M1097A1, and M1097A2 use a troop seat kit for troop transport operations, a 200-ampere umbilical power cable to power shelter equipment, and stowage racks for ammunition and equipment. To accommodate the higher payload capacity, the vehicles are equipped with a re-enforced frame, crossmembers, lifting shackles, heavy duty rear springs, shock absorbers, reinforced control arms, heavy duty tyres and rims, and a transfer case and differential with modified gear ratio.

The M1097, M1097A1, M1097A2, and M1123 are specifically designed to accommodate a higher payload capacity. The M1097A2 models have new bumpers, which make the vehicles slightly longer. A 9,000-lb winch is also available for the M1097A2 models as an option.

US Marine Corps (USMC) Marines toss boxes of Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) off of a M1097A2 High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) while involved in a Security and Stabilization Operation (SASO) in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, during Operation Iraqi Freedom

These vehicles can climb 60% slopes and traverse a side slope of up to 40% fully loaded. The vehicles can ford hard bottom water crossing up to 30 inches without a deep water fording kit and up to 60 inches with the kit. The M1097A1 is equipped with the self-recovery winch, which can also be used to recover like systems, and has the latest modifications applied to the vehicle.

The kit from ICM;

For me, the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), more affectionately known as the Humvee, is the ultimate representation of the millitary/industrial might of the USA. While it isn't a frontline combat vehicle, the big and boxy shape makes it a fairly conspicuous vehicle; that is the point. It is in your face, and we don't care.

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.

The build;

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. Interestingly enough, the instructions illustrate this mould line; however, the mouldings result in an overbite on one side and an underbite on the other, so I sanded them off, but this will not be visible as the underside of the body hangs over the chassis, so you can save yourself some time and just leave that seam as there will be no way to see it on the finished model. Parts B11 and B12 form part of the front wheel wells and have the tiniest of connection points with fairly vague instructions on their placement, so take your time finding the notches where these pieces are attached.

The engine is only detailed on the underside, but the mouldings suggest a full interior version may be in the near future. The design of the suspension units means that the wheels can only be posed going straight ahead and would require major surgery if you were to try modify it. The drive shafts from the engine to the transmissions at the front and back are slightly angled, so rotating them to the desired angle and then a drop of Extra Thin will be your friend once you get the desired angle. As mentioned before, only the underside will be visible once the upper body is attached, so you really don't need to spend too much time on this area.

With no further work needed on the chassis and needing to start painting on the upper hull anyway, I decided to paint the chassis, which was quite simple as it is pretty much all black with some metallic parts. I also attached the wheels, which are vinyl tyres with styrene hubs. Unlike a lot of other vinyl tyres I have used, these ones had only one very small attachment point and almost indiscernible centre seam, which was a nice change as the vinyl seams can be quite difficult to get rid of. 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. The decal dials are fairly simplistic though, and I was tempted to find more detailed dials, although only the main one is really visible. The windscreen is sandwiched between a front and rear frame, but I was able to assemble it later without any issues. The driver and passenger seats are simple enough, although the kit does not give you seat belts in any form at all so I made some out of tape. The side mirrors can be attached at the end of the build if you wish, but they feature a nasty ejector pin mark right in the middle of the mirror, which is not the easiest of spots to sand.

The rear tray is a fairly straight-forward affair, and the fit of the various panels went together perfectly with only minimal amounts of filler needed at the joints. Likewise for the front hood, which comes in three pieces with the two sides to be attached. Now we come to the weakest part of the kit, which is the clear parts, and while you get clears for the headlight lens' the other lights are all supplied as decals. To be fair, most of us armour modellers will apply some degree of weathering to our models, so clear parts do not necessarily stay clear, but while it may be passable from a distance, up close they are still quite visible and not a great way to finish off the kit. Unfortunately for me, I accidentally threw out the sprue with the lens' so I had to replace them using sticky tape with the weathering, giving them a passable appearance. Attaching the body to the chassis was a simple affair, and the fit was quite good.

Two decal options are provided in the kit, with one in Nato three-tone camouflage and the other being the dark yellow all over. I think the desert scheme is more iconic of the two, so I went with that one. Decals are limited to just stencils and the aforementioned light fixtures and seemed to like adhering to the surface more than average, so I had some mild issues trying to move them around to their desired spots with one of the stencils folding on itself, but that wasn't a major issue, and they settled quite well with a bit of Mr. Mark Softer. As you can see, the decals for the clears really do detract from the rest of the kit.

The rear tray looks quite cavernous on its own due to the large size of the vehicle, so I went through the spares box and found some old stowage items for the rear tray, and a carbine for the driver. Being a desert-based vehicle, I limited weathering to a light dusting all over, and also running a dust wash into the tyre treads to give them that dusty look.

The whole vehicle with stowage in a wider walk around...

Overall, 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 it the best HMWVV out there? I’d have to build the others to give you a fair answer, but it does look the part and is quite buildable if you are able to look past the lens’. Maybe this will be corrected when the full interior version comes out?

A closer look at the vehicle.

Paul Lee

Thanks to ICM for sending this kit and paints to paint and review