HobbyBoss IDF APC Puma 1:35

[Mike]

IDF APC Puma
1:35 HobbyBoss

The Puma is based on the Israeli version of the British Centurion tank, but vastly altered so as to be almost unrecognisable. Instead of a turret it has a flat armoured "blockhouse", additional armour packages and three crew stations with FN machine-guns, one of which can be operated remotely, and a larger crew hatch behind them. They can be used as personnel carriers with a crew of up to eight, but are most commonly seen as Armoured Engineering vehicles, sometimes fitted with mine clearance rollers, explosive mine clearance rocket systems or dozer blades. Their heavy weight and relatively high speed make them ideal for clearing roadblocks, and their armour makes for a survivable platform that has seen extensive use since introduction in the early 90s.

Recently, developments have been ongoing to use the vehicles as mine and IED clearance, which will require the fitting of additional equipment.


The Kit
This is a new tooling from HobbyBoss and fits in with their Achzarit and Merkava kits. It arrives in a standard sized box with a painting of the subject on top, and inside you will find eleven sprues and two hull parts in olive drab styrene, four in brown, a clear sprue, twenty-four roadwheel tyres in flexible black styrene, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, decal sheet, instruction sheet and a separate painting and marking guide.

Construction begins with the two types of road wheels, twelve of each in pairs, which is at variance with the instructions telling you to make twelve of each type. The separate flexible tyres can be slipped over the already painted hubs to ease painting, but do ensure you position them with the flange to the outside before gluing them in place. All the road wheels have a central cap added, as do the two idler wheels, while the drive sprockets do not. They are set aside while the suspension arms, dampers and bump-stops are added to the narrow lower hull, and are added in pairs of pairs to their axles along with a number of return rollers of various sizes. The front and rear bulkheads have inserts with additional detail, including towing loops and spare track-links, plus a large towing hitch under the rear end. The tracks of the individual link type, and are supplied on the brown sprues with 106 links required for each track run. The usual method of gluing them with liquid glue and then wrapping them around the sprockets should do the trick, packing them with anything handy to achieve the correct degree of sag.

The fenders are festooned with additional equipment and stowage, and have separate end-caps to the front with cross-braces to strengthen them laterally. These fit into slots in the side of the lower hull, after which the upper hull gains focus. The remote turret is built up first with a clear TV camera port, with the other two crew-served machine-guns next, followed by sundry equipment and antenna bases for the flat blockhouse area. The crew hatches have separate detailed hinge mechanisms, and these fit in place in either open or closed positions along with the weapons on their mounts. This is then fitted in position on the upper hull panel, which also has the driver's hatch with vision blocks situated just forward of the blockhouse in a recessed area. A large stowage basket is constructed from sets of tubular rails, and is glued to the centre of the engine deck on the only space without cooling grilles. With the addition of a pair of additional towing hooks on the glacis, the upper hull and lower are now joined, and the side-skirts can be added on their T-shaped brackets that mount on lugs moulded into the sides of the upper hull. A ladder is attached to the starboard side as a final act, although it appears to have no visible means of support.


Markings
All Pumas are painted a base coat of Sinai Grey, and differ only by their unit markings and personalisations. There are a total of eleven decal options, as evidenced by the relatively large decal sheet, but as I don't profess to understand Hebrew, it would be difficult for me to comment further.

The decals are printed in-house and are have good register, colour density and sharpness, except for a numeral 2 near the right of the sheet that has some very feint stepping on the (near) verticals. The sheet consists of the unit markings applied to the side-skirts, plus three completed number plates and two more that you can complete yourself with the additional digits provided. Oddly, a set of black half-circle decals are included for the crew-steps on the rear of the fenders, but as these are actually cut-out from the fender parts, their inclusion doesn't make much sense on the face of it.

Conclusion
A nicely detailed kit that just cries out for a crew and lots of stowage in that big basket. They are often seen with anti-slip coatings applied to the horizontal areas where the crew are likely to step, so it may be worthwhile applying some Cast-A-Coat or finely ground pumice to these areas, being careful to check your references first for the correct locations.

Highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[Antoine]

I was waiting for this review.

Thanks Mike.