INTRODUCTION

Around the same time as Hobbyboss’ Yongshi kit was released, Voyager launched this PE detail set for the model. Voyager it seems, have become so adept at releases that now you basically don’t have to wait very long at all for a detail set to come out for a newly released model.

THE SET

Given that a decent PE set is included in the Hobbyboss kit what does Voyager have to add?
Well we get one silver colored sprue - A, and a golden one - B. There is also a small piece of acetate for the dashboard detail.

Sprue A - This is perhaps the thinnest sheet of PE I have ever handled - easily as flexible as a piece of paper. It is unbelievably thin. Initially I thought it would fall apart if I handled it, but surprisingly it doesn’t and seems quite resilient. Along with the seat-belts on Sprue B (see below) this sprue contains the most useful items - the badges for the vehicle. These are decals in the kit but Voyager provides thin etched versions that are stunningly good. I would buy the set for these parts alone.

We also get some thin mesh on this sprue for the inner door pockets, the rear view mirrors and some engine grille inserts.

Another gem on this sprue are the masks for the markings on the vehicle - we get a mask outlining the PLA star and several numerical masks for the ID numbers. These are very refined and a nice inclusion in this set. The good thing is that the masks (especially the PLA star) can be used on other Chinese vehicle kits too.

Sprue B - This is the bigger of the two sprues and is Voyager’s familiar gold color. Seat belts are the most obvious part of this sprue. The one glaring omission from the kit was the seat belts. If you plan to build the Yongshi without the rigid rear roof in place then the interior is highly visible and you can clearly see there are no seat belts.

Voyager provides four seat belts that are very nicely textured as well as new seat belt retainers (the bit you click the belt into) - the front seats have these as kit parts but, more importantly, the rear seats do not have these in the kit so the Voyager pieces come in very handy.

However, there are four seat-belts in the Voyager set but there are actually five in the real vehicle - one in the middle of the rear set. Since this is glaringly apparent in widely available reference photos I am disappointed it is not included in the set.

The jerry can/fuel canister attachment point at the rear of the vehicle is a much better part than that supplied in the kit. A resin fuel canister would have been a nice addition here. There is also some straps and tie downs for compartments in the rear bed, extra detail on the wing mirror frames and wipers.

Sprue B also provides numbers and characters for the number plate as well as an already finished plate with the letters in place- a particularly nice piece of the set. Two of each of the following Chinese characters included: 川 for Chengdu, 云 for Yunnan, 鲁 for Shandong, 京 for Beijing and 沪 for Shanghai. There are also two sets of the letters A, B and C plus two sets of numbers 0 to 9.

Much of the rest of Sprue B simply replaces parts already included on the PE in the kit, the engine grilles, headlight frames, light covers and the disc brakes. The Voyager parts are much thinner and a little more refined than those in the kit but the kit versions stands up against the Voyager items very well and you don’t have to pay extra for them!

The last item is the small acetate sheet that has dashboard dials on it. With a white background painted onto the dash these would probably look very nice. However, the kit already supplies a decal for the dashboard dials.

No masks! I feel this small set is made incomplete by the lack of adhesive masks for the windows in this vehicle. Depending on how you choose to finish the model you might end up with all the windows to mask off- a small adhesive set would really have helped with this and I was disappointed this was not included.

INSTRUCTIONS

These consist of three pages and are very straightforward showing where to bend and fit the parts as well as how to use the masks.

CONCLUSION

There are some genuinely nice pieces in this set, particularly the make and model badges, seat belts and number plates. The quality of the PE parts is also slightly better than what is supplied with the kit. However, a lot of the parts included on the kit PE are simply duplicated in this set and that seems rather pointless. If you took those parts away you’d be left with a very small set indeed and this is probably the reason why these pieces are included. The lack of a resin fuel canister, fifth seat belt and adhesive masks for the vehicle windows are particular low points.

If you are a fan of this vehicle then I recommend this set due to the refinement and detail the parts offer. The set is also not that expensive and pieces like the make and model badges are simply brilliant.