Model Military Vehicles

A model military vehicle is a scale replica which represents a military vehicle — tank or other armored fighting vehicle, artillery, truck (lorry), Jeep, etc.  Scales for commercially produced kits vary from 1/9 to 1/300, with 1/35 and 1/72 being the most popular.  A relatively new trend led by Tamiya is military vehicle kits in 1/48 scale — a popular scale for military aircraft models.

The Three Military Eras

Military vehicle modelers tend to focus on vehicles from three eras. World War I, World War II, and the modern era.

World War I

The first denotes armored vehicles from their inception into combat during the first World War until approximately 1936.  Vehicles of this time period are considered to be experimental for the most part and did not make major contributions to what few battles they took part in.

World War II

Vehicles used between 1936 and 1945 fall into the Second World War category.  Even though this era spans the shortest number of years, it is by far the most popular for armor modelers due to the enormous range of vehicles used and the vast improvements in armor technology.  During the early part of the war, most armored vehicles were smaller, less heavily armored, and lightly armed.  Major tank engagements early on convinced governments on all sides of the need for more survivable and deadlier vehicles. Tanks designs created near the end of the war remained largely unchanged until the 1970s.

Modern

Any vehicle designed after 1945 is considered "modern".  This encompasses a longer time span and very large number of armor designs from all countries, therefore the groupings tend to be associated with country of origin, i.e. modern US, modern British, modern Russian, etc.

Crossover

There is generally a lot of crossover of modelers between the eras, though some focus solely on a specific era, country of origin/operation, or even to a specific vehicle.

Kits And Scratch Building

The models themselves can be delineated into kit models or ones built from scratch.  A large number of armor modelers engage in the use of aftermarket sets and built from scratch (scratch-built) parts to make their models more accurate.  One particular type of modeler known as the "superdetailer" or "finescale" modeler focuses on accuracy to the extreme.

The Manufacturers

Several companies produce armor model kits, the most famous of which are Dragon Models Limited, Tamiya, Trumpeter, Academy, Hobby Fan, Italeri, Revell-Germany/Monogram and AFV Club.  The focus of many manufacturers of late has been to increase the accuracy of their kits and provide alternative types of material such as photo etch details, turned metal barrels, and cast metal parts.

Aftermarket Parts

"Aftermarket" is a term that denotes any kit or detail set that is sold to replace existing kit parts in order to reproduce a more accurate model.  The media used by aftermarket companies range from turned aluminum and brass, photo-etched steel or brass sheets, pre-bent brass wire, cast metals, and resin.  Notable aftermarket companies include Eduard, Verlinden, Fruilmodel, Legend, and Modelkasten.

The Enthusiasts

Enthusiasts may pursue military vehicle modeling in its own right or as an adjunct to other military modeling.  There is also some crossover with "wargaming".