Bolt Action M8 Greyhound / M20 Scout Car

Before the Sherman Firefly and Churchill will pop up in the novelties for Bolt Action, i'll take a look at the M8/M20 Scout Car by Warlord Games.

This is a combi-kit, made in cooperation of Warlord Games and Italeri, and gives you the parts to build an M8 Greyhound or M20 scout car. Both are armoured cars with 6 wheels, the main difference is that the M8 has a turret with gun, and the M20 has an open top superstructure including an MG-ring and was used as an command / scout vehicle.

This plastic kit in 1:56 / 28mm scale is available as a single vehicle for 18 GBP or as a squadron of 3 for 50 GBP. And it can be used by american and british armies. The german heer even managed to capture some M8 and M20 armoured cars, so they fit in for Operation Greif among others.

Inside the kit are two hard plastic sprues, an instruction leaflet and a small decal sheet.

The kit is a resized model kit, has a lot of detail and small parts, so this is a more delicate, but detailled build. The cast is properly done, low amount of flash and good use of the sprue.

Building this kit begins with the lower chassis and very detailled suspension and running gear. The 6 wheels are two part each, an improvement in comparison with the Puma, where they were only one-sided.

With those details, you can see that this kit has his roots in the model kit and not just gaming kit range.

Next up are the upper parts of the chassis. The interior is designed and the side skirts could be modified into the field conversions.

The luggage on each side is optional, i went with jerry cans and spare wheels. You can go with none or with cans / wheels on both sides. Further details are added, like the antennas and other small parts.

Now the head lights are added, as well as the driver hatches, those can be build open or closed, you could even add a driver.

For the M20 an open topped superstructure is added, along with an MG-ring and the matching gun. Usually this part would be glued, but i left it optional, to switch between M8 and M20.

For the M8 there is a separate turret mount. I shortened the plate, so i can swap between M8 and M20.

The turret is a nice multi-part piece and has great detail. The gun can be moved / elevated.

A few years ago, i build the old M8 resin kit, and it is no surprise, but the plastic kit is way more fun to build and have the nicer details. The M8/M20 is a rather compact kit, as you would expect from an scout / armoured car, as you can see in the last image between the Puma and a Sherman tank.

Around the same time, that Warlord Games / Italeri released their M8/M20 kit, Rubicon Models did so as well. It is the dark / brown grey one to the right in each picture. Both kits have great detail, the Rubicon kit is a bit faster build and offers the same options between M8 and M20.

And now for a few different angles of the M8 and M20.

Conclusion
A way more pleasant build than the old resin kit, that is for sure. The cast is properly done and the details are incredible. I am not sure, if some of the parts are not to fragile for a gaming vehicle, so you might exchange the antennas with broom bristle and maybe an MG from one of the other kits.

The comparison to the Rubicon kit is difficult, as this one feels a bit more like a model kit due to the cooperation with Italeri. Both are great kits and it depends what you're looking for. The Rubicon feels more sturdy, the Warlord a bit more detailled. If you're going to convert one of these into a captured M8 for the german heer, go for the Warlord one, as the modification of the sideskirts is easier with this kit.

As mentioned earlier, this kit is suitable for american and british armies, as well as a captured vehicle for late war german armies. After the second World War the M8 was used in the Korean War by the US Army and by the French in the Sino-Indian war. The M8 was even converted to be used from 1951 by the german federal police, to protect its borders.

Bolt Action is a brand of Warlord Games.