Well the much anticipated Airfix Stalwart has landed on my bench so after a good look I thought I'd do a review. First this is a big boxing with some very nice artwork on the front which looks very striking especially with the bright red edging. On opening the box you will find six olive green sprues and one clear sprue as well as a very nice instruction sheet and a set of decals.
The instructions are nice and clear with colour callouts along the way. You have three decal options with good colour guides for two vehicles in Germany and one in the UK.
Sprue A has most of the lower hull tub and the cab parts. All display nice detail. The parts that make up the cab show some ejector pin marks but these will be easy to rectify with some filler and a bit of sanding. The front winch is not too bad but there is no cable included so you will have to add your own.
Sprue B has most of the cargo deck parts and again these look very nice as do the exhausts. The cargo sides do have some sink marks on the inner faces but this will not be noticable with the canvas top added or with a load added. Also remembering that the sides where just sheet metal some dents and undulations would have been evident on the real thing. Again perhaps a swipe of filler will sort it out if it is an issue for you.
Sprue C now with the wheels and lots of interior cab parts. The seats have some details added to the cushions and the rear of the seat backs have the metal anti slip plates as these folded down on the real thing to assist entry and exit via the roof hatches. It would have been nice if these had come with the option to fold them instead of in the upright position as supplied in the kit.
The tyres look nice with "Goodyear" branding on the side walls. I'm sure that in time resin weighted replacements will be available for those who want to add a more weighted look.Parts 25 & 26, the rear view mirrors are on the chunky side and lack detail. I would make my own more in scale replacements here.
Sprue D has most of the suspension parts and the wheel hubs. All very nicely molded and detailed. The wheel drive shafts also have that dog leg configuration which if you recall from my old Dragon Saladin was missing. So I expect that the finished model will sit at the correct height.
Now to sprues E & G. E fist has tools, radios and fire extinguishers. The radios are nice and you get a larkspur and clansman radio depending on the version you are making. The tools however are on the chunky side again and I would say need to be replaced with better in scale versions. The extinguishers are very poor. If you have any Accurate Armour resin replacements these would be the way to go here.
Sprue G has the canvas top and sides. Nicely molded this will save you adding a load if that's not your thing.
And finally sprue F the clear parts. This for me is a big disappointment as although the glazing is crystal clear Airfix have gone back to the 1970's and molded the windscreen wipers in place on the three front glazed sections. Just why? Surely it would not have been too hard to supply them as separate parts. It just spoils the final look of the model as I feel the molded wipers are over scale.
With any luck someone will come up with some replacements or I will remove them and then polish up the glazing and make up better wipers. Another very odd addition is made up of clear parts 1,5 & 6 which make up the mesh guard that sits over the exhaust pipes. Why the parts are clear I do not know. Also they look nothing like mesh at all. Again some spare mesh and a bit of work will make up a far better guard.
So overall a very nice new release of a very interesting vehicle and one I've long wanted to model. As with their Ferret there are areas for improvement and fine tuning if you so choose but there is nothing major to be concerned about. I am by no means an expert on the subject but rather looked at the kit with an eye to finding any problems or areas that could do with improvement.
I'm sure we will soon see some upgrades for the kit but straight from the box or with a few improvements made with spares, filler and a bit of modelling the end result will look very nice. So well done Airfix and can we have a Saracen next?
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