Price around £17.99 GBP (March 2015)
Review by Geoff Coughlin
Thanks to Revell for supplying our review sample. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model stores. For details visit www.revell.de/en
Initial assessment
The British Land Rover 4X4 off road vehicle is a bit of a legend in its own lifetime – rarely has one vehicle been developed and produced for such a long time and still it goes from strength to strength. The Internet is littered with reference about the type and so I ask you to have a good did around there if you want to know more about this vehicle.
The Revell kit
This kit seems to date back to around 1997 but here it is again with new decals offering a more contemporary look to the vehicle. You can see from the manufacturer’s completed model above that it certainly looks like a militarised Land Rover and it certainly looks right to me.
Moulding quality is to a high standard with fine levels of detail across the board. The attached images should speak for themselves and you can decide what you think, especially as armour is probably your area. So I offer a basic insight into this Revell kit that’s widely available and this will be good news to all of you that are interested in armour modelling in this scale.
The package
Sprues moulded in grey plastic form the basis of the model, plastic tyres as with the rest of the kit, a set of instructions, and small decal sheet make up the package.
Sprue trees
This is a good-sized model, as is the real subject. You can see that the chassis and canvas top is very clean and crisp, as is just about everything else. The detail is cleanly and accurately moulded onto the surface and will look excellent when spray painted and given a subtle wash and maybe filters and other weathering of your choice. 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 the Internet.
Clear parts
The small lenses and other clear parts are clear and free from defects.
Other highlights include
The detail on the wheels hubs, range of small detail equipment accessories like shovel and fittings and simply the subject are all positive features of the kit. You’ll see from the images attached of the completed manufacturer’s kit that it will look impressive when completed.
No separate stowage is included but that would be unusual for a mainstream manufacturer, so you have plenty of opportunity to add whatever you like from the likes of Black Dog and many other aftermarket manufacturers.
There’s no flash or excess plastic on any of the parts, so this will help build time greatly.
Decals
British and German subjects are included. There’s a small sheet with the respective number plates and unit badges for the options contained in the kit. The quality looks good overall, although there is carrier film visible around most of the items, but applying them to a glossy finish should ensure that doesn’t show. Lots of various numbers are included for you to make up registration plates of your choice.
Instructions…
These follow the usual Revell format with Revel colour references, parts and sprue layout diagrams followed by a 20-Stage build and finishing sequence. The sequence looks to be logical to me but of course you will want to leave off any small, delicate parts until near the end of the build to avoid damage.
To sum up
This is a good package and I reckon that you’ll be made up if 1:35 armour modelling is your area of interest – there’s just something about the Land Rover – you almost feel you should have one in your collection! Most of the mainstream manufacturers are releasing plenty of current AFV models and this can only be good news for us modellers, especially those interested in modern armour. Levels of detail are fine for the scale and fit looks to be clean and pretty trouble-free.
SMN Quick summary SMN Star Rating out of 5
| FEATURE | STAR RATING (out of five) |
|---|---|
| Quality of moulding | **** |
| Accuracy | **** |
| Level of detail | *** |
| Instructions | *** |
| Decals | **** |
| Subject choice | **** |
| Overall | **** |