The American AFV that USA never used
Feb 08, 2008
 

I must confess that I'm not the biggest fan of allied armor.

When I have to decide to buy a new kit, my choices lie with the Axis AFV's.

However there are some examples that are so significant from the historical point of view, that it's impossible to pass by them.

When Bronco released the Staghound, it was followed closely by Italeri with his rendition of the very same AFV. In one of my typical excursions to the LHS I found the Italeri kit on the shelves (Bronco is near to impossible to find there) and after reading a couple of reviews I decided that this was the one to buy (mainly because there was nothing more interesting or that I don't have yet)

I really liked the box art and that reference booklet included with the kit. That's what I call a bright idea. Instead of leaving the builder to it's own devices finding pictures around, Italeri includes an excellent set of pictures on the booklet, that will be very helpful in assembling the kit. A+ on this one

When I opened the box I found what we can consider a very good kit in terms of detail. The turret in particular is a very fine rendition of the cast turret on the original. The subtle irregularity of the surface is particularly well done. But there's always that little detail that needs some "changes".

The parts have good detail, maybe too subtle in some cases, but perfectly adequate for most people. The dark green plastic is of an adequate consistency, not too brittle not to soft. I had some trouble making the new Tamiya Light activated putty adhere to the surface, but soon I found I could do it. Just remove the oily residue with fine sand paper and you're done.

In this kit the weakest point is the gun barrel. It just didn't seem correct. I didn't need to go too far. The excellent booklet included with the kit contains a lot of reference pictures and plans from the original tank manual. On the first page there it was the proof that the barrel was incorrect. It's a shame because it's a fine example of a metal barrel included on the kit that could have been excellent.

The other weak point is the instruction sheet. Photos instead of drawings. Inconsistencies in some of them. But that faithful reference booklet could solve any doubts about parts placement. Not all is lost.

The kit also includes a small PE fret (more than adequate for the needs. So much that this time I'm not going to spend any more in after market PE for this kit

Building starts
19-01-2008

It's clear that Italeri is not Tasca or Dragon when it comes to moulds. There is some flash, nothing big, but enough to attract you attention in every part you assemble.

Some fitting problems exist on the hull, but again, nothing that can't be cured with a little filler. And with this kit I used the Tamiya Light activated body putty.

I think it's excellent. The way it hardens when exposed to light is one of the benefits of the space age polymers and it's really cool. Apply it, expose it to a fluorescent light for 2 minutes and start filing. It's bright yellow color and the smell does not make it the most attractive filler, but the convenience is too good to be true.

The wheels assemble really well and there's no way you can miss the pattern alignment. Two pins on each half take care of that.

The assembly steps are very simple and the kit assembles really fast. From the sprues to the final product ready for painting maybe just a matter of hours. Not in my case because I do a little bit every day, but just a little bit.

There are several versions you can do and I chose the 7th Armoured Division of the British Army in France 1944.

The pictures you can see here show the rear suspension. The result is very good in spite of the reduced number of parts. The representation of the leaf springs and transmission shafts are totally acceptable.

I would prefer the possibility of assembling the kit with wheels turned. I even considered doing it with some cutting and gluing, but it was to disruptive to do, so I decided to build it with the front wheels straight.

The hull goes together very fast and if you apply some pressure while the glue dries, there's no need to use much filler. And that's good because you would need to remove it and some of the welds would have to be redone.

The only case where I added some detail was on the turret. The cast turret seam was too subtle. After looking at the reference pictures where this seam was very apparent I tried to reproduce it with the help of some evergreen plastic strip and liquid glue.

The front headlights were hollowed out with a Dremel because I'm going to use Resicast lenses for them. If anyone else wants to use the same method, both the headlight lenses and the turret searchlight use 3mm lenses.

It didn't seem acceptable anymore to just paint them silver.

I'll have to apply a coat of primer to see how believable the effect is, but it looks quite good already.

One other thing you can see in the pictures is the Stowage set for the Staghound from Blast Models.

The set includes 8 parts with exquisite detail for placing on the fenders and turret. The rear box (provided in PE with the kit) is also in the Blast Models set with ammo boxes inside and I decided to replace the original for this one.

One of the parts can be used to replace one of the fuel tanks, because it's a pile of "stuff" to put on top of the stowage box. I'll leave that out as I decided to do the kit with the two fuel tanks installed.

As always Blast Models flawless service sent my order in 5 days. In that package was the new Tiger II Porsche turret Zimmerit version from Dragon that'll be the subject of another little review if time allows.

It won't take long to painting because I'm just waiting for an Armorscale barrel, so be tuned.

Assembly complete
31-01-2008

The assembly is finished. I'm just waiting for the replacement barrel to start painting the model.

The coat of Tamiya primer gives me an idea on how good the surface and detailing is. No doubt this kit is quite good in terms of detail.

One can add a little more with the help of after market PE sets or in my case with the stowage set from Blast Models, but if the kit is built strictly from the box it will be an excellent model no matter what.

This one is going to be my first Olive Drab model. Normally with one tone vehicles we have to avoid monotony and to create a believable effect. Pre shading is normally used to highlight the differences between panels and I'm going to try that.

I'll be posting pictures of the painting process as soon as the barrel arrives in the mail

Pros

• Excellent reference photos booklet

• Good quality plastic. Easy to work on.

• Nice cast turret surface. Very realistic

• Fine detail all-round. Delicate parts are well molded

• Photo etched parts included on the kit

Cons

• Instructions are the photo type and not the exploded view type. Some details are not at all clear in the instructions.

• Flash in almost every part, although not critical. Attention to removing flash has to be taken with each and every part

• Inaccurate barrels. The plastic and the metal gun barrels are inaccurate in shape. This is very noticeable as soon as you look at them

What will be used in this kit

Armorscale barrel for M8 Greyhound
Armorscale MG .30 barrel
Blast Models Staghound Stowage set