Hello all,

I'm doing a model of Tamiya's M8 Greyhound armored car, and I'm opening up the hatchs and adding crewmen, my question is this,

The seat backs seem undersized for the figures, they don't seem to come very far up the back of the figures, Is this to scale, and the seats in AFV of WWII looked a bit undersized, or is makint them underscale a way for the company to save money on the kit manufacturing process?

Thanks.

Delbert

Not sure of 'reality' but other Tamiya kits have the seats fairly low on the figures backs. I'm sure you'll get a 'reality' answer here.

IIrc most afv seats only suppot lower to at most mid back not realy meant for comfort. at least this was true in my 60. Seats are usualy not all that padded either especialy for the long hours spent in them under combat conditions. the divers setup might be a bit more comfy eveyone else is usualy moving or hunched over a sight. gunner at sight, loade moving around and TC standing more than sitting.

Josh
aKa shiryon

Read a good tip recently about making seats look better. Maybe it is common knowledge to you guys but its handy for those who dont. Add tissue and white glue to seat to add some texture and then some can be lifted in places to show tears in the outer material. The inner layer then can be painted a different colour for a very nice effect!

As Josh stated, seats in AFVs are usually not too supportive and are just big enough to place your a** in. They are also small because of the room constraints in a turret, not much room for a big, cushy chair. They are definately not made for comfort, but for function. The seats on the M8 model are correct. It has nothing to do with manufacturers skimping to save money.

Here is a site with detail photos of the interior of an M8 which includes the seats.
M8 Greyhound

A quick note about seating in APC's. The driver and TC also had seat backs, but they were so uncomfortable that we always removed them. My observations of seating in all military vehicles was that as stated above, they were only there to put your butt on, not for comfort. This included jeeps and trucks that I had occasion to ride in.

Gino,

Great web site. I guess I should have checked it out before I built my M8. Explain to my wife why I need anothe one, will ya. LOL