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MPC Army Vehicles


MPC was one of the few companies to make its vehicles to the same scale as the soldiers.  Not only that: all its tracked vehicles used the same wheel-track pieces.  These snap-together vehicles were packed with many an MPC playset.  The four vehicles illustrated here came in a "Hilltop Alpha" playset of recent manufacture.  We are unsure if these vehicles are recasts or if they have been cast from cheap copy molds.  The molding quality is poor.  You can find photos of better examples in some of our photo galleries.

MPC also had another tracked vehicle, a sort of open tractor with driver cab and hatch.  It was similar to an Army cargo vehicle being  used in very small numbers during the 1950s and early 1960s.

The MPC vehicles were based on U.S. Army equipment, but were not built to match a prototype.  MPC's vehicles do not adhere to any one specific prototype vehicle.  They are composites of experimental and actual equipment.  True to the game, enemy vehicles are made by molding them in gray instead of green. 

The MPC "tank" is actually a tank destroyer, based loosely on some experimental American designs of the late 1940s and early 1950s.  It is also called a "self-propelled gun" by some vendors.  I have yet to find a prototype for this vehicle.

There is room for a three-man crew, at best.  A small hatch atop the turret is for expelling spend shell casings.  There is also a tripod and ring molded into the front hull, for a travel lock.  Atop the gun mantlet are .50 caliber and .30 caliber machine gun barrels.  The detail is amazing for a fiction piece of ordnance.

MPC's "universal track" means that the same wheelset / tracks are used on all its armored vehicles.  This is a cheaper way to make a series of vehicles.

Maybe it is a space tank?

The MPC armored personnel carrier borrows from the M59 and the Marine "Buffalo" amphibious tractor.  Note the open back.

This model is missing  the hole for the .50 machine gun, and the ramp.  

The "Weasel" is supposed to be an amphibious tracked vehicles.  Our kit is missing the gun mount.  This is based loosely on one version of an experimental World War II vehicle.

Standard truck.

In the tradition of toy soldiers, an enemy tank is made by molding it in a different color.


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