The HobbyBoss effort has been on the market for some time already and it really retired the previous kits in the scale. A detailed cockpit, a pretty serious and well-detailed arsenal that could actually fill the pylons of 4 Hinds, better shapes, more adequate rotor heads, engraved panel lines and decent surface details. Most modelers also notice it’s a good fitter, so for about 10 euros it came as a notable bang for the buck.
The few issues noted on The Net are the overrepresented raised lines on the main rotor, the single-detail canopy (common for both cockpits) and the seam line going down the middle of it. But it still started a new era for the fans of the feared “Crocodile” – the biggest, toughest, most popular attack helicopter in the world.
Much-smaller than it’s Soviet counterpart below, the FLAK-38 is represented by fewer parts. The crew consists of an aimer/gunner and a loader.
Details are well-represented on the gun – even bolt heads on both sides of the armored shield are represented. Please note that transport trailer and ammo boxes are not included.
The flash hider is a bit too bulky, but should be easy to replace with a self-made cooking-foil detail. My main concern is that the sprue gate that is located on the barrel is almost as thick, so care should be taken when separating that detail. It could also use some seam-line cleaning, esp. on the small shield just in front of the breech.
The gun comes on two green sprues. There are two seated soldiers comprising the crew (aiming the gun in azimuth and elevation, respectively) – no loaders are present.
You can assemble the gun with or without crew. If you are using the aimers you will notice the seats are molded to their backs (all handcranks are separate details). There’s a pair of extra seats should you decide to skip the crew.
Details on the gun itself are pretti decent for a snap-fitter. The only visible ejector pin marks are on the single-detail gun carriage, but these can be quickly removed.
The famous German MG 34 infantry machine gun and its role in WW2 combat needs no introduction. Zvezda of Russia allows wargamers and modelers alike to add TWO machinegun teams to their colletion with this set.
There are two identical sprues with a MG, a shooter, a spotter, a base and a flag plate on each. I personally am fond of the quality of the sets, and consider the details adequate for the scale. There’s a noticeable seamline down the middle of each figure, but that should clean with a pass or two of the modelling knife.
Russian kit manufacturer Zvezda has literally exploded with news during the past year. They’ve announced a massive ammount of kits in various scales – from 1/350 ships through a number of 1/72 war gaming (snap fit) sets to 1/48 aircraft and 1/35 figure sets and armor kits.
I am going to have a look at three WW2 72nd scale sets tonight that are intended to be used with Zvezda’s own board gaming system “Art of tactic”:
There has always been something magnetic about this US amphibious vehicle. When the kit was recently presented to me I decided it deserves some attention, as it’s a whole bunch of firsts in a single package. Let’s see…
Kit box top
Spue A has the cupola (actually two – one of each pre- and post modernization), armament and smoke grenade launchers, the front fenders, and the old suspension. Two options are presented for the in-the-water propulsion system – propeller boxes can be shown opened or closed with two pairs of separate details. You can make up the relative sizes of the parts – the grid on the cutting mat is 1 cm square.
I bought this double kit (kits of two vehicles are included) in 2007 from a trade section in a forum. Up-armored Humvees were in fashion back then, featured daily in the news – seen on patrols, guarding “The Green Zone” and all that. So when the opportunity came for me to try a Dragon kit of a wheeled vehicle with all the bells and whistles in the box I jumped in. So what’s under the cover of kit number 7295?
Lower half of vehicle
The first thought when looking at the kit parts was “Whoa, that’s nice!”. The precision of the molding on the new parts for the armored version were something I was seeing for the first time. Basically you get the whole lower portion of the vehicle (sans frame and suspension) in a single, separately bagged grey plastic part – “sprue” B. The additional armor on the chassis appears to represent the prototype vehicle configuration properly. The nuts and boltheads that keep the upgraded armor on the vehicle sides are also present – joy to rivetcounters and brushpainters’ nightmare.
