Military history at car-kit size: 1:24 military vehicle model kits arrive in the format you know from sports-car boxings. Alongside historical machines of the Second World War you will find modern light vehicles and even science-fiction subjects with walking machines. A 1:24 vehicle finishes around 17 cm long and gives you a complete interior, so the instrument panel and the tyre tread both repay the effort. Below: how to find your way through that mixture and what to prepare before the body goes together.
This is the home size of car modellers, and military subjects in it trade on exactly the same strengths: fully detailed interiors, opening bonnets, and a scale at which the dashboard and the tread pattern are both worth painting properly. The mixture is broad, running from interwar saloons in military colours through Allied light cross-country vehicles to the fantastical walking machines of alternative history.
Historical vehicles suit anyone who enjoys documents and period photographs: building to a real original comes with clear rules. Science-fiction machines tear those rules up, since camouflage and wear are entirely yours to invent, and they make rewarding joint projects with children. Either way the techniques are identical, so you can move between the two freely.
Large scale shows everything that smaller sizes swallow: the gear lever, the pedals, kit stowed on the seats. Plan on brush-painting the interior carefully before the body goes together, because afterwards you cannot reach inside. Glaze the windows with an adhesive that will not fog clear parts, and canopy masks will save you hours of cleaning up.
A driver at the wheel turns a vehicle into a scene. 1:24 figures match the size, fine metal detail comes from 1:24 and 1:25 armour photo-etch, and gun armament from 1:24 and 1:25 turned metal barrels.
Tracked machines and all the remaining sizes are listed in the military model kits overview.
