Military Model Scene

After a period when their 1/72 releases were a little slow, Trumpeter have been adding a number of new small scale kits to their range in recent months.  One of them is this Russian JS-7 design.  It has been available in resin kits before but now Trumpeter have done it very neatly in injection moulded plastic.

It seems that they have been taking note in the success in recent years of the various simpler 'wargames' style models which are well detailed, but can be built quite quickly.  In this case the lower hull has some excellent detail moulded into it, including the suspension arms for the road-wheels.  Only the inner road-wheels are individual parts while the outer road wheels and sprocket are moulded in one piece with the track, and this single unit fits very well on the inner wheels and hull assembly.

The build overall is really simple and straightforward.  All the parts are on one sprue, plus separate parts from the track units, upper and lower hull.  Fit of parts proved to be excellent, and the instructions good and clear, though they did indicate parts 9 and 1o (the inner drive sprockets) which when I dry fitted them proved to be needed on the opposite sides than indicated.  The build is quick and straightforward to do and it is quickly ready for painting.  If there is one change I would have wished for, then it is that the hatches were not all moulded shut.  Next steps will be to add paint, transfers and weathering....

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I bought mine from Wonderland Models in Scotland.

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Robin