GB Modelli, Carro Amato M 11/39, Kit No. 72018

Historical backgroud:

Having been shocked by the close encounters with the T-26 during the Spanish Civil War, the Italian Army began asking for a medium tank resembling something between the T-26 and the Vickers 6-Ton, possibly armed with the largely available 37mm gun and twin Mod. 38 Breda MG. The first production along this route was the M11/39, which was going to be short-lived because an unexplicable design choice had the MGs in the rotating turret and the 37mm in a fixed casemate on the right side, while it was immediately evident to every observer that the armaments had better be switched. Switching them produced the M13/40, but that is another story ...
Despite its flaws, 95 tanks were produced, which saw action in East Africa (24) and North Africa (70), where most of them were incapacitated or destroyed by British Matildas; some of them were captured and re-used by Australian troops during the Tobruk offensive.
The last surviving tank was used in 1944 against the Allied in northern Italy by the Italian Social Republican army.

As usual, GB Modelli ships their products in unprotected plastic bags, only backed up by a piece of thin cardboard.

Parts are finely cast in the typical cream-colored resin, with no short shots, pin holes or warps, but with some light flash that will be easy to clean up.

Wheels and suspensions are cast in two halves: this simplifies assembling and saves the modeller from fiddling with a lot of tiny pieces, Overall detail does not suffer from this approach, though.

Nice detail on sprockets, idlers and return rollers. Some teeth are cut from the sprockets to avoid problems when placing tracks.

Tracks are divided into two halves per side, which can be bent and glued in place. They can be easily separated from sprues, have quite a bit of flash but show accurate detail, almost on par with aftermarket tracks that would cost extra money.

They look the same tracks sold separately as item 72019 in GB Modelli catalogue, being mounted on the M13/40 tank and M40 Semovente too, so they could be eventually used on the Esci/Italeri kits.

The whole body with mudguards is a single piece and it is a small masterpiece of design, with every possible detail present, without sink holes or short shots which you would expect in such a big single resin cast. The turret is a single piece too with every single rivet in place and in scale.

Operating M11/39s had a small hole drilled in the anterior mudguard, inner face, for track checking and cleaning. It is not present and must be added, an easy task to do.

The last two sprues include the remaining details, such as armament, mufflers, engine deck, hatches, lamps, access ladders. Very small details, such as the frontal towing hooks, must be scratchbuilt.

Instructions are very detailed with pics of each building stage, so no mistake is possible.

Conclusion

Another winner for GB Modelli, giving the modeller the possibility of building a main character of early war stages.

Preview sample provided by GB Modelli.

This model can be purchased from

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Article Last Updated: 29 October 2016