AFV Club's much maligned M18 Hell Cat Tank Destroyer was always my choice to go on the Dragon Wagon's trailer. I had begun work on this miniature about a year before the Dragon Wagon was released. I had worked so darned hard on the Hell Cat that I really wanted to mate it with a model like the Dragon Wagon promised to be. I never thought I had to invest so much additional time balancing the level of detail on both miniatures in the end. I quite like the finished product, and the combination with the Dragon Wagon - though the load might seem a bit light - the Dragon Wagon was rated at 40 tons, but often carried much, much, greater loads.

Instead of rehashing the gripes about the AFV Club model kit, I'll just touch upon the details I modified or added to reach the final product. I tweaked the suspension a bit. The AFV Club model is a bit undersized in areas. I sanded the road wheel attachment nubs flatter on the suspension arms to allow me to 'boost' the lower hull up slightly - correcting complaints about the ground clearance in the finished kit. In retrospect this was a good thing too, as I left the floor rails on my M15 Semi-Trailer in the 'up position' - the M18 Hell Cat wouldn't have cleared them if I didn't tweak the suspension. After permanently attaching the road wheels, I backfilled with white glue mixed with the lower hull color and moved on. I also tweaked the number one suspension arm, as they positioned them pretty close to the drive sprocket in the model kit as presented. If you'll notice above, I kept the distance between the road wheels constant, but on the right side I should have tweaked the Idler Wheel too - it's much too close to the number five road wheel. Interestingly, this was a detail never pointed out to me by a prospective judge or know-it-all modeler. Maybe they were amazed I got the damn thing together in the first place...

For the most part, the AFV Club model's interior for the M18 Hell Cat is passable - though Spartan. With a little scratchbuilding, I combined parts of Academy's M18 Hell Cat interior with that of AFV Club's to better fill up the voids.