Kit no: 3521
Reviewer’s Name: Mathew Barron
Initial assessment…
Well here I go, my first venture into armour building…. And here it is, Dragon’s Shilka in 1:35th scale. Upon opening the box the first thing that struck me was “Oh C**p, what’s all those track links doing in there!!!” To clarify, all the track links are individual; not what I wanted to see, but time will tell if I have the patience for them. ( Come on Mat – lots of armour modellers just ‘love’ individual track links! Ed.) After I overcame my initial shock, I started to look at the rest of the kit. All I can say is I’m impressed, well cast parts throughout and minimal flash. It looks like the hull top is lightly warped (and I do mean ‘slightly’), but this is the only real ‘issue’ I can come up with. Not being an armour ‘expert’ I can’t really testify to the accuracy of this kit, however I do feel confident that it looks like a Shilka. The detail on this kit will cover most modellers needs, for those are ‘that-way’ inclined Eduard do a detail set that can only improve on this kit.
Decals…
The decals are produced by Cartograf, and look like they will settle down really nicely and hold their colour.
Instructions…
The instructions are up to the usual Dragon standard, really clear calling out colours as required for some of the smaller parts whilst leaving the main colours to the end (depending on which markings you decide to do) Which leads me clumsily to my next point, the options for colour schemes; you can chose from a Egyptian machine (in a nice colour scheme from the October war), or a Polish, Hungarian, Czech, East German or Afghani (each in a one colour scheme).
Conclusion…
A four year old kit that has stood the test of time, well detailed enough without any after-market items and great options with regards to colour schemes. All in all I’d recommend this kit for beginners (like myself) or more experienced armour modellers.
Recommended
Mat B.