Tamiya TAM35055 1/35 US M41 Walker Bulldog

This was my very first tank model (I usually build ships and aircraft), and I was surprised at how easy and fun it was to build. It comes molded in a shade of green that would do well for those who want to minimize painting, but for those who wish to give it a more accurate and realistic finish, one doesn't need an extensive assortment of colors. The parts fit well and the detail is quite nice. The instructions are complete and easy to understand, and it comes with decals for US Army and Japanese Land Defense Force versions. I found building it quite easy despite my lack of experience with land vehicles, but what I enjoyed the most was painting and weathering it. The tracks are made of a rubber like material that requires a heated flathead screwdriver to join the ends together (you can't glue them, you have to heat seal them), and painting the tracks to look dirty and weathered requires patience and persistence, as the material doesn't take paints as readily as styrene plastic does. Overall, I highly recommend this kit as a starting point for anyone interested in trying out building a tank or two.

I've been building models for 30yrs. This brand is very precise on the engineering of the product!! No bad improfections in the molds. Very impressed, well worth money. Enjoyed building it .

This was the perfect model for my first model tank. First and foremost, the price is awesome. It was less than half the cost of most model tanks and so I didn't feel bad if I made a mess of things. It was also a Tamiya made model, which means I knew I wouldn't have to worry about fit or detail. So here are a few other things that I liked a lot:1. Moving parts- I really liked that the turret still moves, and the cannon, AND the tracks! I also decided to not glue the machine gun on top, so that still moves as well.2. The scale figures- I really enjoyed painting the little guys that came with it. I thought it added a lot to the model.3. Multiple Decals- It was cool to be able to choose between a few different decal schemes. I don't know the history behind the Japanese Defense Force, but the figurines definitely look American with their gear and all, so I went with the American Army decal scheme.As I said, the fit and the detail were both fantastic, which is to be expected with Tamiya. I really enjoyed this model, and would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking to make a model tank for their first time. The only thing that I might change would be the antennae on the turret. I thought they were a little thick, but that's something that I might change on my own anyways.

Model is very detailed and precise, mold lines easy to remove and all holes were in the inside of the model. would rate 5 stars but box arrived with one corner crushed although all pieces of the model were intact, but some had bent off their sprue (with no damage to the pieces)fit of the model was good, almost no pieces had any space between themeasy to assemble level 2 kit, there are maybe 10 pieces which will require tweezers to place on the model, assembling the included US tank crew will require patience. Good for beginners.

The M-41 and it various modernizations have kept this one active for many years. The Tamiya kit has a great appeal for new modelers and is very simple. The 3 Infantry figures are Korean War-era and add to the value of this old kit. The 76mm gun was bored out to 90mm and had much success in many battles, not so much in Vietnam. Give this one a 5 for overlalllll ease of assembly and enjoyment.

I have avoided armor builds in the past because of some of the horrible things I'd heard about the difficulty of putting tracks together. This was my first tank, and I have to say, this was actually much easier and better compared to some of the Revell aircraft kits I've put together recently. The instructions aren't very clear on a couple of the smaller pieces that fit to the hull, but if you play around with them, and look up some pictures online you should be able to get it sorted out. The fit was fantastic, and I was very pleased with the moving turret. I built this for my nine year old son (he enjoys watching and helping with some parts of the build, but isn't quite dexterous enough yet for some of the finer details) and he absolutely loves it. I'm going to buy another to do a full out weathering and detailing on. Be patient with the decals, especially if you are used to Revell quality, they seemed to take a little longer to become pliable enough to remove from the backing. Also, I did the main base painting of olive drab with a can of camouflage enamel I had laying around, and it worked out perfectly.

For the money it's nice little kit. It was a little ragged for a Tamiya but maybe that's the way tanks come? This is only my 2nd tank, I'm used to doing airplanes and they seem to be much cleaner but...it's worth every penny and fun to build! I like the way they did the tracks on these, melting together...much better than the Revell I did. Lots of parts for high detail, I think I counted around 145 parts which is amazing for the price.

This is the first model tank I've put together (I've had experience with other kits before this though), and I gotta say, I was very impressed! All the pieces come molded in olive drab, with fantastic definition, a decal sheet to mark the tank three different ways, and two instruction sheets (one in English, one in Japanese). I REALLY like the fact that there wasn't too much painting required to make the kit look good, seeing as I don't have much time besides the weekends to work on kits. You can easily complete this kit quickly within a couple days if you wanted to do it quickly, or spread out the project over a longer period of time. The only gripe I had was the fact that the painting sheet (or lack there of) is very ambiguous, no real direction is given as toward painting, more than a few foot notes.All in all, GREAT buy for model collection!