Introduction

I have to say that when I first saw that this kit was being produced by Revell of Germany I thought to myself, ”I can see a real good diorama coming on here”.

The Boxer started out life as a European design project to bring to the fore the next generation armoured utility vehicle. The project was a joint venture between Germany Britain and France, with France leaving the project in 1999. Soon after that the Dutch joined the project. Sometime after the start of the gulf war UK Ministry of Defence pulled out to pursue the Future Rapid Response System.

Contents

• Box art is good with a good selection of detail pictures on the side
  
• Inside the box we have
  
• One set of instructions with wire attached
  
• One large bag with three sprues inside in a dark green mould
  
• One medium bag with two sprues in dark green mould and one small bag inside with clear sprue
  
• A further small bag with rubber tyres and parts

First impressions

Revell’s GTK Boxer has some nice surface detail but also some stress marks in the mould and some of the ejector pin marks are quite deep, but in fairness most of these will be covered with seats or inside the vehicle. With a bit of effort during the build most of the sink marks and blemishes can be remedied without too much fuss. For the money and amount of parts you get with this kit, this a real plus point.

Exterior

The exterior of the vehicle is covered in some nice detail with raised areas showing nice seams and some recessed panel lines. I like the overall look of the Boxer which certainly looks very capable and able to take a considerable amount of punishment. I was particularly impressed with the drive shaft and suspension, including the whole wishbone, which although static, has a good level of detail. Moving onto the tires these are rubber and I have to say once again I was impressed with the tread which is very clear and a great pattern, and only two of the eight tyres had a small bit of flash on the seam. The wheels are again nicely detailed with only a small bit of flash on the rims but nothing too bad and it is quite an easy fix. The top of the upper body is in two parts with a very small amount of flash and a few ejector marks on the underside which hopefully will be hidden during the build. The raised drivers position and hatch with nice clear lenses and small wiper detail all added to the overall appearance. Again there is a little flash on the clear parts but nothing to bad.

Interior

The interior is quite sparse, the small amount that is there is good but I do feel that it is a big void which could be made so much better with stretchers and medical equipment. However with some imagination and bit of scratch building there is plenty of space for a nice interior, or perhaps an aftermarket interior would be really good. You would have to make some cuts to the rear door so as to be able to see it of course, but I digress. Back to the interior, there is a drivers position with raised seat, steering wheel, small dashboard and pedals enclosed with hatch in the rear of the ambulance.

Instructions

Revell’s instructions are to be honest very clear and precise with each step by step guide being very well illustrated and detailed. Looking further down the build there is a lot of work with parts making up the drive shafts with wishbone, suspension and various stabilizers so involved that it starts at part five and goes onto seventeen. As I said earlier this makes up a quite realistic part of the vehicle to build and gives it a nice touch. There are a total of 49 build steps to the kit which should keep you busy for awhile.

Paint

Revell have provided two paint schemes for this kit; the first is the SanLehrRegiment, 2013 with three colour camo scheme in Bronze- green (65), Leather brown (64) and Tar black matt (6), these being Revells own colour range and decals for the ambulance version. The second is an ISAF vehicle, Afghanistan, 2013 again with three colour camo scheme in 85% Flesh matt (35) 15% Leather brown matt (64) mix, 70% Beige silky-matt (314) 30% Beige matt (89) mix,and 70% Olive green silky-matt (361) 30% Beige matt (89) mix, with separate decals for this version .

Decals

Clear and nice with good visual presence but are slightly on the thick side.

Conclusion

Revell of Germany are producing some nice large kits with some variants tackled that are not done by other manufacturers. This is a big kit with lots of parts some of which look pretty impressive and would not be out of place on some of the other more expensive brand kits. The level of detail is good although some of the small parts will require some careful removal from the sprue but this is no different than most kits out there now. The instructions I found are not difficult or confusing and without the busy look I had in one of the models I made not that long ago. There are perhaps one or two parts that during the build could get a beginner or younger modeller slightly flustered but on the whole it is a pretty straight forward build. The Boxer is a large kit with many nice touches to it and plenty of detail like the rubber mud flaps, moveable drivers hatch with good detail on the clear glass screen and the driveline and suspension system which I have mentioned before. My only disappointment was the lack of any interior within the ambulance rear compartment which would have made this kit, however with some patience and knowledge it is possible to do some scratch building of stretchers and medical equipment. I did find on the internet some quite detailed pictures of the interior of the ambulance version which would help with the build if you decided to go down that modelling path. That said as a kit out of the box the detail and amount of parts this kit truly is value for money.