When this little box landed on my desk, I didn't know what to expect, as it's a new company with its first release. I suppose I expected something a little like a short-run kit, with plenty of flash & chunky parts that would require quite a bit of work to bring them up to expectations. I was wrong. This little box contains two sprues of finely detailed plastic parts that should build into a rather nice representation of the subject with the aid of a clear set of instructions that includes Tamiya color callouts, but also has a Gunze & Lifecolor conversion table on the back of the glossy booklet.
You'll notice from the picture above that the sprue doesn't fully surround the parts, and there's a very good reason for that. Both sprues have slide-moulded parts - a high tech solution for creating undercuts that you'd hardly expect from a company's debut product. Sprue A has a nicely represented barrel, with a hollow end and very well aligned molds, so a fine seam is all you'll have to clean up. It also has 6 ammo boxes, three of which have slide moulded recesses to portray empty boxes. Unfortunately, that's where we hit the first negative, a few sink marks in the sides of the ammo cartons. Nothing that a smear of filler won't sort out though, so not a big deal
Also of note on Sprue A is the gun shield, which as well as benefitting from fine detailing, has commendably thin edges, that give it a more "scale" appearance.
Moving on to Sprue B, there are half a dozen slide-moulded spent shells supplied, with a further half dozen unused shells to help out with your diorama needs
The wheels comprise of 8 parts each in order to accurately represent the complex tread pattern. The parts are held in alignment by a set of 4 pins moulded into one of the outside parts, although you will need to trim a number of ejector pin towers from the central tyre parts (parts 5 on sprue B ).
Conclusion
Based on my initial observations, this kit should build into a great little model of this long-serving anti-tank gun, which was used to great effect both by the British and foreign armies throughout World War II.
Availability
The kit is available from the Airbrush Company and has a retail price of £15.50 at time of writing. Inside the box is a free bottle of Lifecolor Black acrylic paint to get you on your way to painting the tyres, and entice you to try more of their excellent colors. There are also additional sets of Lifecolor paints that have been made available specifically for this kit, which can be bought as a bundle to save a few pounds. always good!
Review sample courtesy of:
