I don't include any scans of the kits parts in this article, because you can see them in the excellent Preview written by Francesco Giovagnorio several years ago. In that article, Francesco provides close-up images of the highly-detailed parts from this kit, and also evaluates the kit's accuracy. My intention was to build this model out-of-the-box, without any extra detailing, so that viewers can see what exactly you can produce with what's in the box. I shared this 2-kit boxed set with a friend, so I don't have the second kit. If I had, I would build it with a few modifications to accurately portray a Vietnam-era vehicle, which would be fairly simply to do.

I took these two shots immediately after construction:

The kit went together very easily, though I did manage to mess up the front left track a bit, so that the links are not perfectly aligned. Perhaps I did not have the same attention to detail back then as I do now. Or... more likely, I had one too many martinis while building it. Unlike many of S-Model's kits, this one has separate road wheels, and the tracks are fully detailed inside and out. But the twin rows of track guide teeth are molded as a single block, which is the weakest part of the running gear. I recall having to spend an inordinate amount of time sanding off mold seams from many of the smaller parts, however.

Here are some shots of the completed model:

I was ALMOST able to keep with my goal of building it entirely OOB, with the exception being the .50cal machinegun. I lost the gun that came in the kit, and had to use a replacement; a 3D-printed piece from MIG. If I was going to do this kit over again, I would replace the etched brass headlight guards with wire bent to shape, because the brass is simply too flat. I would likely replace the ammo and fuel cans for more highly detailed after market parts. But just adding some attachment straps and buckles would go a long way to improving the kit parts if one chose to stick with those. I believe that these are the weakest aspects of the kit. OKB Grigorov makes replacement tracks and wheels in resin that look gorgeous, and I would say that if you wanted to build a competition quality replica, you should likely use those instead of the kit parts. Other than those minor points, it really was a joy to build, and especially paint. With all the rivets and other gorgeous details, it is a dry-brusher's dream. I couldn't find the kit decals so I left it unmarked, but in retrospect, I should have found a spare set of white stars for the hull sides, as that would have livened up the final appearance quite a bit. Lesson learned.

7 December Update:

Will Alcott pointed me to a website that reviews the 1/35th scale M551 from Academy, and informed me that this S-Model kit is actually a miniaturized version of that Academy kit. I've looked over my model in detail, and it appears that he's entirely correct. And that is not a good thing, because it is actually beset by a great many errors in shape and details. I think that perhaps many of those errors are less visible on this smaller kit, and many of the mistakes in the running gear and suspension would have occurred anyway, because of the simplified approach that S-Model always takes when reproducing the chassis on their quick-build kits. But the fact remains that when you consider the sum total of all of the mistakes in kit accuracy, it's best to describe this model as more of a "representation" of an M551 Sheridan, rather than an accurate "reproduction" of one. The Sheridan tank had such a unique shape to it, that it's probably one of the more easily recognizable AFVs out there. As the author of that Academy kit review stated, "And this model once assembled is unmistakably recognizable as M551 Sheridan." Unless and until we get a better version of this tank available to us in plastic, that's good enough for me.