Roman Volchenkov takes a look at a recent product from Voyager Model for the Zvezda/Revell L4500R Maultier.



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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Hi Roman, nice review, shame I have already virtually completed my kit, so a bit late for me to start hacking it around, but hence my interest in this review. Relating to your comment on the fuel tank (hidden under the seat in the halftrack) do you suppose then that this exact kit is equally usable on the Zvezda L4500A fully wheeled truck as well?

I should say that when I built the kit, the Revell boxed one incidentally, I didn't find that there was a lot of flash or a lot of clean up required, I thought it was a pretty high quality kit in fact, although inevitably there were a few clunky bits, the foot steps up into the cab and the front wheel arches stand out in my mind. This set looks useful and I might have considered it had it been released in time for me!

Interestingly, does it seem from the packaging photo that it contains some attempt to address the one actual error that I can think of in the kit, which is that apart from apparently one prototype example, this vehicle always had a truncated front bumper / fender the same width as the radiator grille, an open-ended hollow square box section, rather than the full width curved bumper of the truck version? In the packaging photo it looks like the centre section of the fender, under the grille, is brass, but it still has the curved bumper ends attached, which seems a bit odd. Or is that piece of brass just a number plate maybe? It seems that the short open ended bumper could have been renderable with a piece of folded metal.

Matthew

Hi

Thanks for the review. I'll probably get the set, if only to replace the bonnet parts so I can have the option to show the engine off if I want to.

Like Matthew I'm afraid I'm at odds with your comment

quote
"The quality of the parts is not up to today’s standards (Bronco, Dragon, Tasca), requiring a lot of clean-up, and are often oversized."
unquote

Whilst I'd agree its not quite up there with the three you mention, they are top model manufacturers - along with top prices !! The Zvezda and Revell examples are very good kits and reasonable prices.I'd have no hesitation in recommending them to a fellow modeller.

My Zvezda ones, both the truck and the half track exhibit none of the faults that you describe, the parts being moulded very well with only the expected mould lines to remove. In fact if I remember rightly the kits were highly praised when they came out.

Apart from that, thank you for the information, hopefully a set for the straight truck is also available at some point.

Alan

Thanks for the review. I have just received my set of this to go with the kit and it is on my 'To do' list a little later in the year.

I believe Part of Poland also does a set of PE for this kit and it would be interesting to compare the two PE sets. I purchased Part PE sets for some of the ICM/IBG products including Bonnet sets to display the engines in their respective kits. When they arrive (any day soon) from Jaydar I will review them here on Armorama.

Cheers
Cliff

Hi Matthew,

I don't have the set for regular L4500 but as I can see from the images on Voyager website they are slightly different. In L4500 there are different parts for the tarp and you have tool clamps included. In Maultier version you don't have Mercedes logo.

As for the bumper - it is a number plate, nothing else. You can check the images of completed sets here
http://www.voyagermodel.com/productdetails.asp?itemid=PE35462

Alan, thanks for feedback. Regarding the quality and the price. I would prefer to get Bronco model for 50 USD that doesnt need PE upgrades (like their SdKfz6 series) then buying a kit for 35 USD and then spend 15 USD on PE set Maybe I am too strict to Revell, but I feel very unmotivated to build their kit after doing several kits from Bronco and Dragon in a row. F.e. Bronco's 1/48 scale kits required almost zero clean up, and everything is so tiny.

The set for the regular L4500 was released a year ago or so...

Hey, Cliff, that sounds excellent. The PART PE is often very detailed, but I don't believe they send us review samples, so it would be good to have reviews. Thanks in advance.

Yes, on their site you can see it is the number plate only, seems a bit of a shame that they missed that correction then. Also seems a bit disappointing that they don't seem to include the tarpaulin hoops for the halftrack as they did for the truck as this is an omission from the halftrack on Revell (definitely) and Zvezda (I think) versions - I've even been scratching them for mine.
While I'm really nitpicking, and now I've dug out the Nut and Bolts Maultier book, photos show that the foot step plates don't have tread pattern going around on to their sides, and should be (ironically, for an etched set) thinner. The radiator filler cap also looks too flat and wide, and the holders for the tarp hoops look too wide. Not sure that the surround for the windscreen adds much authenticity either, to be honest. The engine covers, cargo bed / gate fittings, and number plates do all look good though!

Yes, I agree, these are the most crucial parts.
Are there any afterwar pictures of Maultier in that book? Not with wooden cab.

Roman, I'm sure I have heard that question before, not sure if from you or not! No, I have never seen any photos that claim to be of one of these vehicles after the war. No doubt you are familiar with the photos of the wooden cab version that appears to be in British hands which may I suppose be taken post May '45. Otherwise there are various photos around of these things destroyed, so possibly that was the fate of all of them. I can imagine them being a pretty big target for marauding aircraft.

There are photos included in the book that I never found on the web, some of which could be useful, though I would hesitate to say that any of them added a great deal new to my understanding. There's a review of the book on this site: Nuts and Bolts Maultier.

OK

Well I'd be pretty fed up to spend that sort of sum of money (50USD) on the SdKfz 6 only to find that it took the third variant kit release to get the cab shape and dimensions correct

You seemed to have missed my point somewhere along the line. Whilst the PE kit is nice and would add extra detail to the kit, it's perfectly acceptable, very good in fact without it. I think your comments sound like an opinion based on older Zevzda kits, and doesn't credit them with upping the quality of their kits in their latest releases.

PE after-market sets is really an option these days for almost all kits, rather than its purpose a few years ago when it was introduced for kits made in that period. Of course the companies producing it want you to believe its "required" but in truth with the level of detail in most kits out of the box these days its more of a option than a real requirement.

Alan

Well, I don't have other then L4500R experience with Revell-Zvezda during last 10 years.

Maybe I am just unlucky...

Regarding the cab in Sd.Kfz.6 - true, but I still managed to get attractive model out of it. How many people know about that accuracy issue?