When the 101st Airborne was surrounded at Bastogne, it did not face the German armor alone. The 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion — the unit marked on this Hell-Cat — slipped into the perimeter with its M18s and became the paratroopers' anti-tank punch. On Christmas morning 1944 a German armored thrust broke into the western defenses near Champs and Hemroulle; 705th Hellcats and airborne bazooka teams caught the panzers among the infantry and destroyed a string of them, helping seal off the penetration. The M18's speed let it shift fast from one threatened sector to another around the ring — exactly the mobile tank-hunting its designers had envisioned.

The model carries the open-topped turret and 76mm gun, a .50 cal, a crew figure, antenna and optional stowage, in the white-star and 705th TD markings of the Ardennes — hull number 40145397. It is built to bridge armor and airborne in a Bastogne diorama: set it defending "Welcome to Bastogne" and the Screaming Eagles, running with its sister M18 Hell-Cat and the heavier M10 Tank Destroyer.

W. Britain model 25224. 1/30 scale, matte finish. Five-piece limited edition — one M18 Hellcat tank destroyer with a crew figure, .50 cal machine gun, antenna, and one optional stowage piece, with a numbered certificate of authenticity in an edition of 175. Boxed.