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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Zvezda VIKINGS 1/72 IX-XI AD north warriors Set 8046 norse miniatures figures Harald Hardrada

Today we review some epic miniatures, the Vikings.

A very good and correct artwork, showing the real poses made in the same set. The box art is good, but the figures inside are even better.

On the back we can see the painted soldiers (excellently, not like Mars, which is to show how not to paint them) and a brief description.  

Once open, this is what we see;

SCULPTING - 9.0 out of 10

Usual Zvezda set; detail a bit diffuse everywhere, without very sharp detail, but perfectly (and when I say perfectly, is perfectly) made proportions, lifelike poses (not the plain pseudo-egyptian poses we get in HaT and similar),  and absolutely no flash at all. 

All the shields are given separate, which gives a very nice detail to figures.


HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 10.0

We have a perfect historical accuracy here. Maybe we should have more axemen, the chief could wear a more special and ornamented helmet and shield (horned helmets are now regarded as unhistorical by modern historians, but for those we have seen hundreds of films and other representations, to see a full set of Vikings without any horns seems strange).

Another thing is that these Vikings seem Swedish Vikings of the east, the ones that confronted the Slavs, mainly for the archer with that hat and a bit for the standard bearer, but is nice to see an approach not so directed to fight in 1066 at Stamford Bridge like other sets.

ARMY REPRESENTATION - 7.0

Two or three could be used for any Dark Age barbarian/germanic faction (the skirmisher could be used as a Goth of the 3rd century to a light Medieval troop), many also could be used for Medieval kingdoms of the north like the Denmark, Norway or Sweden, or early Russian kingdoms. 

Finally, some could be used as early Angles, Saxons, Frisians or Jutes. 



FUNNESS - 8.3

"I feel that many reviews are oblivious to this point - there are fantastic figures, which you can´t say anything against, but they are just too "correct", maybe too static, and so just boring. So I feel that this is an important point when deciding if you buy this set"

Vikings are always a fun theme. Maybe this are very historical, wargaming-adapted and correct Vikings, which makes them not so fun, but nevertheless we have besides the unique leader and standard bearer, a nice Berserker biting his shield, and the very interesting figure kicking a enemy, literally a figure I've never seen before, but you can be sure that Vikings bited, kicked and punched, any sort of way to defeat their enemies. 

You could say that this set is more really like a Viking Army, like those of the late Viking age, and not so much an adventurer gang of wild Vikings like those of the early Dark Ages.


WARGAMING VALUE - 10.0

Zvezda is a wargaming-concerned company, and this set gives everything a wargamer might need. There is many Vikings made, but none so useful to wargamers as this one. The leader, the standard-bearer/musician, the skirmisher and archers, etc.

PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 8.0

"The price value ratio of this soldiers will vary between every shop you go, and the best I can do is judge by their average price on eBay"

Not everything could be perfect in this set. The cheapest is about 8-9 GBP, and it can be more on retail shops. The question is that you are only given 41 figures, which seems a bit few, to make way for the shields that are made separate.


PAINTING AND GLUING - 5.0

Zvezda plastic is not too good to paint and glue, it will not be required glue if you don't to modify them, but painting them can be a bit tricky.


OVERALL VALORATION - 8.5

When they were released, there were existing already 4 sets of Vikings (Emhar, Orion, and Strelets have made two), of which I already owned two,  I don't like having more than one set of every faction, nevertheless , I did buy this set making it my third pack of Vikings. 

Is this the best set of Vikings? many would say yes, but my heart is still with my first set, the Strelets Vikings against Franks, but this is a very personal opinion. 

If you are a wargamer, this is your set. If you want epic and diorama usefulness, maybe the Strelets Vikings against Franks is better. 

I strongly recommend getting this set, even if you already have some of the previous sets. They are very nicely made, and although can be a bit expensive they represent very well a Viking army.

In my opinion, the Orion and Emhar sets seem to be very early Vikings, nearly more Angles than vikings in the Emhar one, and the sculpting of all the 4 previous sets are inferior in quality.


PAINTED EXAMPLES

Thanks to Miniaturas Aconcagua, I can show you this great way of painting them!

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next battle!