Reference number: 03114
Review by: Geoff Coughlin (March 2012)
Thanks to Revell for supplying our review sample. 
Reference… and a little bit of inspiration
Background
It’s perhaps hard to believe, but since 1979 over 1,000 TPz 1 Fuchs (Fox) armoured personnel carriers have been delivered to the German Army.
Developed by Daimler-Benz and built by Thyssen-Henschel, this lightly armoured 6 X 6 vehicle has a maximum speed of 100 km/h and has a good performance over all terrains, as well as being quiet.
Its rear-mounted propellers and 360 degree turning range enable the vehicle to take water obstacle in its stride at up to 10 km/h. For fording water, a trim vane is hydraulically deployed at the front.
Several different versions of the Fuchs were made; one example being for 10 fully equipped soldiers and carrying coiled barbed wire in the characteristic round containers on the roof.
Initial Assessment
You’ll find many reviews of these fine Revell 1:72 kits in your SMN, all of which are worth a look if armour is your thing.
Moulding quality of this kit is to a high standard, with very fine levels of detail across the board. The images in the Galleries within this review should speak for themselves and you can decide what you think for yourself, especially if armour is your preferred area.
The Package
Four sprues moulded in dark green plastic form the basis of the model, as well as a clear sprue for these small parts. A set of instructions and small decal sheet make up the package.
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the images.
Sprue Trees
You can see above that the hull top is very clean and crisp, as is just about everything else.
The detail is cleanly and accurately moulded onto the textured surface and will look excellent when spray painted, given a subtle wash and maybe filters (see your Techniques Bank for how to apply these weathering techniques) in keeping with the small scale.
The moulded detail throughout is good and, although I can’t give an opinion on accuracy, what you get certainly looks consistent with some of the images I have seen on YouTube and elsewhere.
The fact that the tools supplied are moulded separately from the chassis will please everyone and is a development from some other releases in this scale.
Other highlights include…
The detail on the hull top, wheels and suspension gear are serious highlights.
There are some ejector pin mould-release circles left during the making of the kit, but these are well placed in ‘out of the way’ or hidden locations.
The small details look fine for the scale and I can just see that they will look good after a wash and dry-brush (again, see your Techniques Bank for how to dry-brush).
There’s a small clear windscreen that is very clear and has a small mould gate where it connects to the sprue and should be easy to remove.
There’s no flash or excess plastic on any of the parts, so this will help build time greatly.
Decals
There’s a small sheet with the respective number plates and unit badges for the options contained in the kit. I notice that the quality looks good overall.
Versions are:
- Pionier-Gruppen-Fahrzeug Panzerpionierlehrkompanie 90, Munster 2010
- Ambulance San Grp GECONISAF, Afghanistan, 2006
Instructions
These follow the usual Revell format with Revell colour references, parts and sprue layout diagrams followed by a 38-Stage build (no less) and finishing sequence.
The sequence looks to be logical to me, but of course you will want to leave off all the small, delicate parts like the aerial until near the end of the build to avoid damage.
To sum up…
Well, I really like this little kit. It is well detailed and when you open the box the parts say ‘build me!’
We already have one of the armour guys on the SMN Review Team building 3 small scale armour projects, so watch out in Build Now for these.
| FEATURE | STAR RATING (out of five) |
|---|---|
| Quality of moulding | **** |
| Accuracy | **** |
| Instructions | *** |
| Decals | *** |
| Subject choice | **** |
| Overall | **** |
Geoff C.