Fred Boucher takes a nostalgic look at one of Aurora''s finest from the early days of plastic armor - the M8E2 tractor and M115 8-inch howitzer.

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Thanks!

There's also the fabulous (in my view) box art on these Aurora kits!

Hi Matthew,

Quite true! Jo Kutola's artwork is great -- I always remember the Bf 109 box with the pilot trying to bail out while getting hosed by a Spitfire. I'm not sure of the artist but the 'square box' Sherman is excellent art, even with all the pink.

Tamiya's original Tiger I box art, with its blues and violets in the shadows, had a great influence in my color theory.

Here's a slideshow of Kutola box art: http://www.jitterbuzz.com/man_aurora_slide_show.html

While seeking box art, I clarified a question I had in my review. Aurora did issue the 8" howitzer separately:

Thanks for the review Fred! Looks very good!

Boy, those were the good old days when we didn't know the difference on the quality of kits and couldn't afford Tamiya yet either.

I have a few left to build but after the Helicopter from AURORA I think I need to take a break, and a breather too!







~ Jeff

Hi Gang,

I just discovered that defunct Japanese model maker Nitto made an M8A1 in 1/35: M8-A1 TRACTOR CARGO. It was Military Series No.6 and numbered ART No. 93-800.

I never had this kit but i had other Nitto models. Most are pretty rough -- toys really.