Review; Monty's Caravan + Dingo Revell Matchbox 1/76 model kit vehicle afv

Welcome to one of the most singular model kits ever made, the private vehicle of General Montgomery himself.

The Box 

The original box, which is lively, but that green looks a bit strange in what seems apparently a desert road. Maybe it is Italy, but all the same that green colour looks American to me.

The Revell new box is dull, you hardly realize what it is until you read the title, although the black gives a nice sensation of quality.

The Kit 

In the Revell reissue, the flash is quite noticeable, and nearly all parts will require some sanding to look good and fit ok. Some pieces are a bit tiny to handle, as it is again a 1/76 kit. 
The details are slightly thick everywhere, which wouldn't so bad in 1/72, but in 1/76 is more noticeable. What is best of this set are the extras, you get three generals, a big stand, barrels and top to make a table and traffic barriers. This is what I call a good set, and not all these modern kits where you only get exactly one vehicle and nothing else whatsoever. 

Parts fit generally well, the wheels cannot be made to turn without major modification as in most Matchbox kits. I will add that Revell instructions are quite badly done, and you are left wondering what some parts are and how they should be stuck, without help of internet.

The Verdict

For a start  I have to say that I am a Montgomery fan and I love everything related with him  and his campaigns so it is very hard to be impartial here .WW2 specific vehicles are rare to be seen in the modelling world specially in 1:72 (except those standard vehicles that include the militar codes for that general in particular; like Rommel's halftrack) so this italian captured lorry modified as staff lorry for the personal use of Montgomery is a really interesting subject and a must  to complete your 8th army collection.

We cannot also forget the small but very used in combat Dingo light armed vehicle, one of those vehicles that you can't find easily from any other manufacturer  although Britain won the war!!!(if it was german we will be flooded with kits of this vehicle).

For those that also like to make small dioramas or make improvements in interior kits this will be a nice addition for their collection as the interior of the lorry only includes a small bench table.

Accuracy; 6/10, Acceptable.
Mould quality; 6/10, Acceptable. (Revell release)
Difficulty level; 5/10, Moderately easy.
Price/Quality; 7/10 Good, today Revell's reissue should be easy to find and well priced.

My version

This is a particular vehicle, so if you don't modify the lorry to retransform into the regular Italian army version, there is only sandy for North Africa/Italy or green for the european theatre. As you can see in the pics, I went for the sandy version, depicting Italy (as the base is quite difficult to believe it is in North Africa), and I did some interioring work, creating a small bed and a bathroom. I did this many years ago, before knowing the uses of epoxy putty, so I used Patcolor (a self-drying plasticine sold by Jovi) as a putty to recreate the interior.

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Review; Airfix Scorpion / Scimitar Tank 1/76 Model Kit Modern British light tank

Welcome to another modern tank review, today a classic as the Scorpion from Airfix.

          The Box 

Back in the day I always that it was attacking backwards, with the turret turned back. Rather strange box, with very brownish colours all around. Not really very exciting, as I have seen it thousands times and only recently decided to buy this kit (and possibly because I had built everything else in the model shop!). The super reduced small box doesn't help either.

Even if built to regular standard without nothing fancy, I rather better the second box, looks more interesting and shows a nicer camo. 

  The Kit 

It's not the worst of Airfix AFV kits, but of course you can expect that most of the detail is quite basic. All the same it builds quite nicely, much better than others. As all other Airfix AFV kits, it is 1/76, so it builds into a very small kit, which is annoying for wargamers. There is alternative parts to build the Scimitar tank, with different cannon and some turret details. It is a kit that if you feel fast, you could build 4 in an afternoon. Sadly there is no driver nor crew. One of the worst aspects are the tracks, which are quite thick and low in detail, and the wheels, with very simplified details.


                                        The Verdict

A good kit to spend an afternoon, but nothing challenging, not for a superb display piece, maybe for a battle dioramas and good to build numbers in wargaming.

Accuracy; 6/10, Acceptable.
Mould quality; 7/10, Good. (1990s release)
Difficulty level; 2/10, Easy.
Price/Quality; 7/10 (dirt cheap and easy to find).

My version

There is plenty of mild interesting modern camouflages, but I found that the most interesting was the cubist urban camouflage for the Berlin deployed forces. To give it a different I cutted out the metal foil of a tea packaging to represent the glass in the light focus over the turret.



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As alternatives, you can take a look at this other interesting pictures;

Review; Trumpeter Swedish Strv.103 b Stridsvagn 1/72 Model Kit Modern Auto-propelled artillery tank

Welcome to another modern tank review, this time the STRV 103 from the Swedish Army. One of the most remarkable and different designs from the modern era tanks.

       The Box 

Trumpeter boxes are always very dull. Just the kit made to good standard in the most common version. I would probably have more Trumpeter kits if the box artworks would have been better, the box leaves me completely cold, it doesn't transmit any sensation, and it doesn't the dull grey at the sides of the box.

The Kit 

Trumpeter kits are always very well detailed, and this is no exception. The fine detail and parts are superb, and you can specially see this in the mud rails at the top of the tank, which are beautifully made. 

One of the other great aspects of Trumpeter are the high quality elastic tracks, why you need to glue dozens of track links when rubber can do the job? Trumpeter demonstrates that you can do quality rubber tracks without losing realism. If you want to represent the tank in idle position, you can always sag them by heating the track (with hot water) and then placing plastic bars or any other object to leave them in position.

It's a wonderfully easy model to make, as there is very little flash to speak about, and everything fits nicely. The most tricky part are the small hooks, which tends to break, and you will have a job cutting out of the sprue in one piece. Fortunately, you are given some spare ones so you can even afford to lose and break one or two.

Trumpeter also makes other versions of this tank, so you will have some spare parts. 

Be careful with decals, if you don't Micro Sol products to fix them, or you don't seal them with varnish, they will break and fly off in a couple of months.

My version

I was in a mood for something different, so when I saw this "Ikea" version (it truly exists!) I said to me "why not make something different?" and "I won't be painting any other tank like this", so, even if there was some interesting alternatives, it was to be yellow and blue for  me (maybe someday I'll build the other version with reactive armour and track covers, with a white and bright green camo). You will notice the strange anti-aerial turret, and this a invention I made with a spare turret I was given. I will add shortly pics of the model with it's conventional turret, which I forgot to bring with me in the photo session up in the mountain. Everything was painted in plain colours, but it looked too new and plasticky (which was quite realistic, but looked bad) so I applied various layers of black inkings, and then I painted highlights of light blue and yellow respectively to get a more realistic, sun-lit appearance.

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