Introduction

Facing Car ZIL130 (Later Version) by Armor35 is a resin conversion set for the 1/35 ICM ZIL-131. This is item ARM35330.

Other 1/35 resin sets by Armor35 include sets for Bronco and ICM ZILs and KAMAZs:

ARM35332 Windshield ZIL-130,for model ZIL-131 "ICM"

ARM35335 Facing car ZIL130 (early version). Conversion kit ( for model ZiL131 "ICM")

ARM35336 Facing car ZIL130 (early version). Conversion kit ( for model ZiL131 "Bronco")

ARM35337 Rear lights kit for KAMAZ-5320, ZIL-130,ZIL-133 (Variant 1)

ARM35338 Rear lights kit for KAMAZ-5320, ZIL-130,ZIL-133 (Variant 2)

You can see some of these sets through Click here for additional images for this review, below.

Let's get up in the grille of this set.

The Kit

Armor35 created this conversion set with 18 parts of three colors:

Gray resin

Left quarter panel fender
Right quarter panel fender
Hood
Grille
Headlamp and retainer X 2

Tinted Clear

Signal lamps X 4

Clear

Headlights and signal lamps X 6

The body parts are resin. I am not certain if the clear and tinted clear material is resin or plastic.

Casting is crisp and fairly clean. I found no air pocks, sink holes, or mold seam lines. There is little excess resin flash to remove. Each part is attached to a pour block. Two pieces are very thin - the retaining trim collars around the headlights.

If one wishes to model a Bronco model, Armor35 cast a demarcation line to show where to cut off a part of the fender.

Detail

The signal and parking lights are two-piece assemblies, the upper half and lower half. Each headlamp is a four-piece assembly, lamp case, bulb, lens, and trim.

Instructions

A simple black-and-white line art sheet guides assembly through three steps. It is clearly presented.

There is no painting information other than the box art, which is shown for a civilian vehicle.

Assembly

The bulbs and two-color signal lights are tiny and require finesse and care to handle. As small as the two-color signal lights are, they mate together precisely. Just make certain you trim off any burrs from the sprue attachments.

Another sub-assembly that goes together crisply are the 4-piece headlights: lamp can; bulb; lens; retaining collar.

The key to assembling the body parts is the grille. It has raised guides for the quarter panels. They are necessary because the curvature of the quarter panel fenders do not match the contour of the grille. Fortunately, the resin is malleable and careful application of CA (cyanoacrylate, or "superglue") will hold the parts as designed. After the fenders were are attached to the grille, the hood fits along those contours precisely.

Finally, I attached the fender lights and the model was complete. All told it took an hour from snipping away the first part from the sprue, to completion.

I was messy and got a spot of CA on the hood and used CA remover to remove it. The CA remover softened the resin although it seems to have hardened.

Conclusion

Modelers of Soviet softskins should be excited about this conversion set. This is just one of several conversion sets Armor35 has created for ZILs.

Casting is high quality. Detail is high in the form of multiple colors and multi-piece assemblies.

My only complaint is that the contours of the fenders need pressure to mate properly with the grille. Otherwise, this is a fine model and I recommend it.

Please mention to vendors and retailers that you saw this set here - on ARMORAMA.