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Up to a few years ago, if you wanted to have a M10 in your showcase, the only possible option was the Tamiya kit in the M10A1 version. A very bad kit indeed that was almost impossible to correct. By that time, a resin option offered by Accurate Armor (Ref K26 in their catalogue) already existed, but it was much more expensive than any plastic kit.
Only when nearly at the same time, AFV (Ref: 35024) and Academy (Ref: 1393) decide to manufacture a M10, there we find an excellent value for money. Neither of these kits is absolutely outstanding, but at least they are a great step forward with respect to the old Tamiya´s mould.
My intention was to achieve this Tank Destroyer in the African front, so, I decided to purchase the AFV Club kit since I’ve already built other kits from this company which turned out to be of high quality, having always in mind that this kit is based on the M35 Prime Move (Ref: 35S08) that has been manufactured since some years ago.
The kit
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When opening the box, I found the typical AFV Club kit in excellent plastic featuring 333 parts, among which there were 6 vinyl ones, an aluminium gun barrel, a spring, a sheet including decals for six versions, a cord to scratchbuild the tow cables and excellent rubber tracks to be glued with normal glue for plastic.
The spring supplied is for the gun barrel to simulate the recoil (actually quite an unnecessary detail).
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The vinyl parts are the bogies shock absorbers that are useful to adapt the wheels in a rough or uneven ground in case of placing the M10 on a diorama.
The kit features a one-piece hull (which makes its assembly easier) with the engine grill separately in order to be able to include any aftermarket engine, since the kit doesn’t supply one.
The parts with very few flashes, are well injected. The only exception are the wheels showing a few ejector marks on the rubber tread, needing to be puttied.
I was greatly disappointed at seeing the poor interiors and the few ammo racks supplied with the kit. If you’re trying to represent a vehicle with all the ammunitions in place, you’ll have to purchase the ref. 35018 since the kit supplies also just a few.
Building
Once I drew up the plan about the extra tasks I would carry out to build this model to my liking, the construction began.
Instructions are very easy to understand, offering no mistakes and will allow you to assemble the kit with no difficulties.
To improve the kit; I used these books as references:
 M10/36 Editorial Wydawnictwo Militaria #115
US. Tank Destroyer in combat 1941/45 Concord #7005
US. Tank Destroyer - Squadron #2036
After comparing the kit with the references, I defined the improvements I would try, diving my job into two groups intending a better organization.
The Turret interior and exterior
The Hull interior and exterior
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