Hello everyone,

I believe I am the first around here to start a blog on this beautiful new kit, if not please tell me and I'll go away..

I will start with a full review and sprue shot session, but for now, here's a little taster of what you get in the massive box of over 1300 parts!!





Watch this space for more detail and the start of the build.. My SS-23 is gonna have to wait now this baby is in town!!

Nige

"Go away"?!! Are you kidding?

Hisham

Can't wait for your progress photos! Go for it!

Moar....

I'm very curious about this kit. Do you happy with the level of details?

This is what I've been waiting for

You have a Trumpeter Scud AND the SS-23? What a lucky stiff!

You're not going ANYWHERE buddy!




Jeff

OK, so here we go.. I'll do this review/sprue shots session in a couple of hits because there's just so much plastic to cover!! So, keep checking back as I'll update this actual post for the review rather than add new ones.

So, we begin with Sprue A, covering the main frame rails which are of the typical Maz design with tall angled rails running the full length of the vehicle.
the sprue measures 380 x 120mm and has 13 parts on it.



The detail on the rails is very crisp. This is the inside faces of the rails...



Sprue B measures out at 280 x 150mm. There are 4 of these Sprues in the kit and each contains 69 parts.



Note the row of moulded bolt heads on the top right hand corner of the sprue. This is a nice touch, thank you Trumpeter.

The wheel nut detail is very crisp. It should look great under a wash and drybrush...



Moving on to Sprue C, which has 29 parts and measures 230 x 140mm. There are two of these sprues in the kit.



Note there are more of the moulded bolt heads for you here... also note the tiny wiper blade.. very nice!!

Here's some nice door detail, both internal and external. Nice to see there are no ejector pin marks on these parts..



There are two Sprue D's in the kit, each containing 39 parts and measuring 220 x 140mm overall. The surface detail on the fuel tanks is exquisitely done on all faces.



Sprue E covers a lot of the transmission parts and some bodywork. It is made up of 59 parts and measures 340 x 260mm. Once again, the moulding is sharp and crisp with no signs of flash and minimal seam lines. There are a couple of shallow pin marks on the cab interior wall to deal with, but nothing a drop of Mr Surfacer can't handle.



Note the crisp moulding on the transmission cases here.



Next up we have Sprue F, which measures 390 x 280mm and has 51 parts on it. The rear most body panels are here, along with the massive transverse gas cylinders and rear missile launch pivot structure.



As we can see in this picture, the upper surfaces of those rear panels are very nicely done..



The next, smaller sprue, G measures only 260 x 180mm and has 28 parts on it. This sprue covers mainly cab parts..



The detail on the interior faces of the cab sides is gorgeous, with no visible pin marks to deal with again!!



Sprue H measures 355 x 190mm overall and has 33 parts on it. The slide moulding tech on those two tool boxes is simply stunning. There are renditions of the stamped steel stiffener shapes on all sides. They are quite incredible.



The "Triangular" boxes with covers along one side of the sprue are the missile raising controls and gauges I believe? These are beautifully made with gauges and pipework included. There are additional handles, knobs and decals to enhance these parts even further.



The rear most body sides are also on this sprue. Perhaps the detail here is a little soft compared to the rest of the kit??



There are 48 parts on Sprue J which measures 390 x 290mm. The parts are mainly "sheet metal" panels around the trucks body. The moulding is sharp and crisp with no flash or pin marks to annoy us, though there are some very shallow pin marks on the undersides of the two large panels in the bottom left of this picture..



Sprue K measures 350 x 260mm, with 32 parts on it, mainly based around what I assume are the radio and firing stations?? Surface detail here is magnificent with grilles, riveted panel work and even ribbed rubber matting on the floors beautifully rendered.



The faces of the electronic equipment boxes are crisp and clean.





The flooring is also there..



It would be a real shame to close these doors up. This kit is begging to be displayed in a all panels open, missile in firing position diorama. Just look at this door interior detail... how nice is that!!



I have the Eduard interior and exterior sets for the dragon kit, at the end of this review we'll have a look and see if they would benefit this kit, or indeed if the PE parts will fit?

Next up we have Sprue L, the sprue count in this kit is big... I hope you're not getting bored reading this?

Anyway, this one has 25 parts on it and measures 340 x 260mm. The parts are focused around the launcher/lifter mechanism and co drivers cab and radiator grille..



There are some very shallow ejector pin marks on the insides of the cab wall and on the insides of the roof, but they are very shallow indeed.

The grille..



Now we move on to the big bad missile sprue, M. It is made up of 38 parts and measures 390 x 280mm. The main missile body as shown here is 312mm long. note that missile fins are not on this sprue, they can be seen back on sprue D.



we can clearly see from this next shot of the missiles back end that the detail in the kit is far superior to the previous offering.



Sprue N is the clear parts sprue with 20 parts on it measuring 140 x 114mm. The parts are very transparent and give no distortion, though on my example there is a crack in one of the windows. I may actually leave this for that extra "used look"??





I should also add here that Trumpeter have provided a full window masking set in the kit, making life much easier for those who like build their kit fully then paint it.



Note, there are only masks for the outsides of the glazing.

The final plastic sprue in the kit is P, which covers all the engine components, yes, this beautiful model has full engine detail!! If you are thinking this kit is anything like their Maz 537 range, you're mistaken. this one is definitely from Trumpeters A team!!

This sprue measures 370 x 230mm and has a total of 62 parts on it.



The cooling fans have been faithfully reproduced, which must have been very difficult to design the tooling for. There's some clean up required, but hey...



Injector pipework is included..



They have even given us accurately moulded shafts and UJ's for the fan drives.



Next up, we'll look at the Tyres, PE and Decals....

Here are the tyres, all eight of them, very well done in a soft vinyl. There are those of you who will hate these tyres and those who will love them, I'm not decided as yet??



The sidewall detail looks nice and restrained, but is it accurate??



The tread pattern looks good to me, as does the overall shape of the tyre, but where is the sag, so prevalent on the real thing??

I have a set of resin wheels from Tankworkshop.com for the Dragon Scud. they also have no sag, and, in my opinion are too "square" when viewed front end on?



There's no doubt about it, the DEF model wheels will be the ultimate accessory for this model, but I believe trumpeter have made a great job of these vinyl ones..

There are no fewer than three sheets of PE in the box, covering all sorts of small and not so small parts of the model.



The smallest fret, A measures 70 x 40mm and has 29 parts on it. They include light guards, steps for the front cabs and end detail for pivots on the missile launcher. There is a folding jig included for the front light guards.

Fret B measures 77 x 47mm with 21 parts. Here we have the main cooling grille fitted to the left hand side of the bodywork behind the drivers cab, some grilles for the front engine air intakes and the guard over the searchlight fitted on top of the drivers cab. Once again, we are given a folding jig for this part.

The largest fret, C covers the larger parts such as the rings around the base of the launch pad, electrical cable trunking and some missile dress up parts. There are 55 parts on this one, measuring 88 x 93mm.

There are two decal sheets supplied with the kit. They each measure 123 x 100 and 95 x 76mm.Both sheets decals are on the thick side and fairly glossy. Much dash board/radio gear dials are included as are what appear to be stencils?



Trumpeter have given you no fewer than 7 options with these decals, which include:-
A Afghanistan Army, Kabul 2005.
B Armenian Army
C Libyan Army, Libyan Civil War 2011
D Russian Army
E Iraqui Army, Gulf War 1991
F Iraqui Army, Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988
G Islamic Republic of Iran Army









So, that pretty much concludes my quick review of this kit, which I must say, I am very happy with. I have started building it, and the fit so far has been great. the plastic is up to Trumpeters normal superb standard and their efforts in designing this great kit have paid dividends, It's nice to see that Trumpeter have listened to the modelling community regarding detail, accuracy and those awful pin marks found in older kits.

I have to give this kit a full blown 10/10!!


Also, don't forget to check out the build of this beauty from post #19 onwards in this very thread...

Thanks to my wallet for the purchase of the kit, which I bought on EBay as soon as I saw it released.

I read on another blog that the sprues say 'SCUD C' is that correct and if so, which is it? Certainly looks like very nice detail.

It was me who wrote that the sprues say Scud C on them. As far as I can tell, the only difference is the mass and range of the missile itself, although I expect an expert will correct me??

I would like to know why they made a scud C model and boxed it as a scud B?? It's probably marketing??

Nige

Gee willikers, have we run out things to criticize? Are we now going after how they mark sprues for their internal use in assembling kits?

We don't have any definitive info that the kit is a C, do we? We don't even know whether the TEL is different between the two versions. Does it really matter what the sprues say if it turns out that the kit they are selling as a B is, in fact, a B?

The sprues in their IT-1 kit say "T-62" while the version-specific BMP-1P sprues in their kit are just marked BMP-1. I don't recall anyone looking at those and assuming the kit was a different version. Instead, they looked at the parts that went on the model, not the scrap that went into the trash . . .

KL

Hi Mate,

Thanks for sharing. How are the main frame rails? My main fear is that they might be warped due to the big size (like the MAZ I have here)...

Some photos in casw you'd need them:

http://mhrfweb.makett.org/MHRF/index.php?option=com_phocagallery&view=category&id=134%3A9p117m1-r-300-ss-1c-scud-b-maz-543-alvazon&Itemid=11&lang=hu

Cheers,

Adam

Hi Adam,

Thanks for the pictures, I will post more sprue shots later today.

The frame rails on my kit are straight as a die!! Which kit do you have?

Nige

Most likely it is a SCUD-B that was mislabelled. Unless I am greatly mistaken, the differences between the -B and -C lie in the missile itself, not the launch vehicle, and they also the changes are INSIDE the missile housing.

Thanks, that is good news...

I have a MAZ-534 "Last" and it is quite curved...

Cheers,

Adam

I think you mean 537 Last production Adam? I have that kit and my rails are perfect??

Nige

Thanks for posting this information. This was my findings also. I cannot find anything to say there was a difference in the B/C Tel.

Nige

Hi, sure I meant the 537...well looks like I am unlucky we are looking forward to your build.

Cheers

So, we have started the build... this kit appears to be fully detailed with every part of the original vehicle reproduced. I started an update build on the dragon kit a couple of years ago, and from memory, this kit seems pretty accurate.. like I said.. from memory.

The Frame rails simply clip together, and stay together the fit is that good!! Here they are, top and bottom.. look at all that lovely detail!!





Step One of the instructions has you build up one side of the frame, as does step 2 and 3 before adding the left rail. I have clipped the frame together as shown above and glued the relevant parts as required in step one to the right rail. The whole thing was then weighted down on a flat surface to ensure the frame comes out square and flat.

Here we can see the right rail with step one's parts fitted and the diffs in the foreground. I remade the drive shafts from 2mm rod as the trumpeter shafts were very oval after the seam clean up.. probably my fault??



The Diffs close up, note even the lifting eye is included in the kit.



Here's step one of the instructions.



Check back soon for a step 2 update...

Nige

Hey guys, I'm back. I feel like I'm talking to myself here? Is there really no interest in this great new release?

Anyway, here's stage two of the build.. very nice detail and good accuracy..



Close up, note the little lifting eyes supplied on the transfer box.. and the moulded on weld seams on the air tanks. Very nice!!



And finally, stage 2 instruction manual..

This is looking very encouraging indeed! Thanks for the updates on what promises to be a spectacular looking model.

Gary

I have for years been a huge critic of the poor offering of another company on this vehicle, specifically in the area of it's rendition of the drive mechanism.

Based on that I'm very interested in your comment that almost every component of the actual vehicle is modeled on the Trumpeter offering. Your remark about even the lifting rings being there on the differentials is an excellent example of the modeling quality of this new TEL.

I hope Trumpeter are watching this build, because they deserve a great big THANKS from me for producing this wonderful kit.

Having browsed through the instructions and compared the parts to the Prime Portal walkaround, it really does look like all we need to add is hydraulic piping and electrical cabling... though you may have noticed I have added weld beads and the missing triangular stiffeners to the front of the main swivel blocks.

I hope you are keeping up to date with the review at the start of this thread, which is now completed?

Nige