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Sd.Kfz.234/2 with ‘Luchs’ Turret (35416) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd Armoured cars and their derivatives were a dominant part of German military thinking after WWI, as they were prevented from having tanks or other types of heavy weaponry by the Versailles Treaty, at least until they unilaterally set its terms aside once Mr Hitler was firmly ensconced as the country’s mad dictator. Although it closely resembles the earlier Sd.Kfz.231, the 234 was based upon a more modern ARK chassis, while the 231 was built on the GS chassis. The 232 Schwerer Panzerspähwagen was available in 6- or 8-wheeled formats, with the number of wheels appended to the designation, and it was the 8-Rad that the basis for the 234, following on later in 1940 and learning from issues encountered with earlier designs. The new turret was designed by Daimler Benz, while the engine was a Tatra air-cooled diesel unit, powering all eight wheels that were also all steerable. To add to the ease with which the vehicle could be driven, there was an additional driver’s station at the rear of the crew cab, complete with a steering wheel that gave it the capability of reversing out of trouble with similar sped and dexterity as driving forward – a facility that came in very useful in the event of an ambush or stumbling into an enemy position. The 234/2 was the initial variant and the most prevalent, as well as being the best known, probably because of the (comparatively) large 50mm gun in the turret. Oddly, it was replaced less than a year later with an open-turreted /1 variant that mounted a smaller 20mm cannon, and concurrently another variant with a short-barrelled 75mm K51 gun under the /3 designation. This variant was also short-lived, increasing the fire-power substantially with an installation of the powerful Pak 40, although the extra weight caused extreme stress to the 234’s chassis and running gear. All the variants after the /2 were open-topped, leaving the crew exposed to the elements, incoming plunging fire and explosive charges or grenades lobbed in by the enemy. To keep the enemy out of range however, a single MG42 was coaxially mounted with the main gun - a very capable machine gun against troops and lightly armoured targets. The armour built into the vehicle could deflect light-arms and smaller cannon rounds, with 30mm of sloped armour on the turret, and up to 100mm thickness on the mantlet, but at the rear the protection was only 10mm, as was the roof of the /2. Over 100 /2 vehicles were made before it was superseded, and despite being the most well-known, there were around 200 of the later /1 produced, with roughly 90 of each of the other two made before the war ended. The Kit This is a new boxing of a very recent tooling from MiniArt, a new Interior Kit boxing that represents the variant of the 234 that utilised the lower-profile turret from the earlier Panzer II Luchs, which the original larger turret was intended to replace on the new VK16.02 Leopard platform that was cancelled before it reached prototype. We’ve had other kits of the type in this scale previously, but not for some considerable time, and it’s fair to say that armour modellers with an interest in this genre are very pleased. The kit arrives in a standard-sized top-opening box with a painting of a Luchs-turreted 234/2 travelling across a smoky battlefield with other German armour in the background. Inside the box are twenty-three sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on the outer pages on glossy paper, with profiles of the decal options on the rear cover. The detail is excellent, extending to the full interior for this boxing, following on from the initial exterior-only version we reviewed recently. The full gamut of hatches can be posed open or closed to expose the details, PE parts, and the surface is fully realised with weld seams and exterior structure well defined. Construction begins with the lower hull, starting with the narrow bottom section where the drive-shafts and suspensions are located, which is made from three faces, two internal bulkheads, and two steering actuators, one at each end. The hull floor has tread-plate moulded-in and a cut-out ready for the interior, sandwiching it between the two outward sloping sides, drilling out holes in the parts before assembling them, adding a rear bulkhead behind the engine compartment. The two assemblies are mated, fitting the first parts for the suspension to the sides, and a U-shaped stiffener in the centre of the lower portion. The interior starts with the two drivers’ positions, fitting the floor section after drilling out holes for the pedals, three for the rear driver and four for the main driver at the front, adding linkages down both sides of the engine compartment, and fairings on the left side of the hull, plus a battery compartment and fairing on the right that is built from five parts, fitting a shallow frame in front. The drivers have their steering columns and wheels attached in recesses, the main driver’s being a more comprehensive installation. A two-part seat is fixed to the rails moulded into the floor, with a linkage and gas mask canister to his left, and a five-part shell stowage box fitted to the wall behind his left shoulder. The battery rack is wired into a distribution box on the right wall, using wire from your own stock, then inserting the two levers to the driver’s right, noting that the scrap diagram shows that the wires to the battery are braided and thick to cope with the level of current. The rear driver’s station has the same pair of levers fitted, mounting a seven-part two-box radio rack, another small equipment box to his right, and an ammo stowage box behind the front driver’s right shoulder. The rear driver also gets a two-part seat, and an additional lever that’s probably related to taking control from the main driver. A skeletal bulkhead is inserted into a groove on the inside of the hull, fixing a seven-part bulkhead for the engine compartment behind it, which has a circular seat projecting out into the fighting compartment under the turret ring. A folded MP40 on a bracket is fitted above the right-hand side door within easy reach of the rear driver. The engine is a substantial block, weighing in at 14,825cc, and is a V12 diesel manufactured by Czech manufacturer Tatra, and it is supplied in its entirety in this boxing. The piston banks are each made from four parts, held together by the end-caps, adding extra parts around the underside, and at both ends, utilising a lot of parts that includes the ancillaries, twin cooling fans, fan belt, dynamo, and if you feel brave enough, you can wire up the engine using the extra steps that are labelled for “advanced modellers” that run side-by-side with the main steps. The completed engine is an impressive size, and covered with detail, especially if you continue with the wiring that helps to integrate it with the chassis. A pair of four-part tanks are inserted to the sides of the engine, with two extra parts for the doors either in the open or closed position, as you see fit. The upper hull interior has several appliqué panels, gas mask canister, the driver’s instrument panel, another radio box and other inner structural parts, plus the vision ports applied, adding hinge-points for the driver’s hatch and building three vision ports for later installation, and a stowage box. The upper hull has the engine deck filled with cooling vents that can be posed open or closed by using different parts, with two solid doors at the sides that can also be posed open, locating it in the cut-out in the back of the deck, then adding the rear bulkhead with hatch that has four “milk bottles” on the inner face if posing it open, mating the upper and lower hull assemblies, fitting the vision ports and a hatch with separate hinges and handles in the square cut-out in the glacis plate, again in either open or closed position, as you might have guessed. Suspension and steering parts are assembled on the underside of the hull, making up four axles and leaf-springs on each side, replacing left with right-handed hubs on the relevant side. Six triple-handled Jerry cans with PE central weld-flares and filler cap are made and wrapped in PE straps that secure them to the vehicle later, making up both sides of the sponsons and installing the rear carcasses of the flush stowage boxes, adding the external parts such as the jack, two mufflers and another stowage box, finishing the sponsons and their ends with additional parts. The doors can be fitted open or closed by using different parts, with a selection of stowage boxes made up and used. The spare wheel is the first to be made, making it from either three tread laminations and two exterior faces to create a detailed tread pattern, or using a simpler two-part wheel structure if you prefer, fitting it to the bracket on the rear of the vehicle, in between the mufflers on either side of the sloped rear of the sponsons. More stowage boxes and Jerry cans are mounted on the engine deck and front fenders, plus pioneer tools and a fire extinguisher on the left sponson. More detail parts are dotted around the hull, including width-marker lollipops, headlight, an antenna with PE star-shaped tip, then crushing it all while you fit the tyres (I hope I’m joking here), which are made from two halves and a tapering hub that will be seen once the wheels are installed on the four axles. The turret floor, such as it is, is first to be detailed, adding a radio installation with twin seats to the sides, plus an L-shaped assembly with adjustment gear, fitted in the rear and front of the ring respectively, and joined to the rear with a set of headphones with a PE band joining the “cans” together. Adding some fine wire to link the phones to the radio will add a little extra realism here too. The 20mm recuperator is fixed on a support under the breech, which has a magazine slotted into the left side, sliding the assembly into the narrow mantlet, adding end caps and sighting gear, plus a coaxial machine gun, before mounting it in a frame, which allows the outer mantlet to be fixed to the exterior on a pair of conical supports at the ends. The rear of the turret has a large hatch in the centre, and is detailed inside along with the triangular sides, one of which has a viewport that can be built in the open or closed position by using alternate parts, putting the mantlet, sides and rear together on the turret base that allows the roof to be installed after some detail parts are added inside. The rear hatch can be posed open or closed, adding a handle and PE for both choices, with a handle above the hatch, a cover over the vision port, and a rotating periscope on the roof. The top hatch also has a rotating insert with periscope in the centre, which fits inside the outer rim with hinges added at the rear. Unsurprisingly, this too can be posed open or closed, fixing it open with a short stay next to the hinges. You have a choice of making the gun barrel from a single part, or by cutting off the conical flash hider and rolling the PE replacement to shape, you can have an in-scale tip for extra realism. The coax MG34 muzzle is fitted into a hole to the left of the main gun, adding an aerial to the back of the roof to finish it off. To finish the build, the turret is dropped into the ring, which doesn’t have a bayonet lock, so you’ll need to be careful when inverting the model in the future. Markings There are two decal options in this boxing, both with a base-coat of dark yellow, one with a hypothetical winter distemper camouflage. From the box you can build one of the following: Presumably Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 17, 17. Panzer-Division, Czechoslovakia, Spring 1945 Hypothetical winter Camouflage Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 17, 17. Panzer-Division Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The Luchs turret adds a little rarity value to the /2, and while it doesn’t have the 50mm barrel of the standard variant, the lower profile gives it a sleeker look, if that’s at all possible. Detail is excellent, and this interior kit will keep you at your workbench for many a happy hour. Highly recommended. At time of writing, this kit is on a substantial discount with Creative Review sample courtesy of

Didn't really enjoy this one - some significant fit issues, and the brittle plastic caused my hair to go grey with the number of times I snapped parts! The old SA330 needs a lot of scratch-built additions in terms of aerials, sensors etc to create an HC.2 version - an interesting introduction to plasticard, and one that was actually quite fun. I love this livery and haven't seen a model of it to date. Having fancied a 1/72 Puma for ages, I'm glad I've done it... but won't be going back there until someone brings a new kit out!!! Too many mods to mention but the significant changes were: shortening the u/c legs aftermarket rotor blades from Whirlybird, and some Eduard etch cutting away the kit main rotor shaft as it's bizarrely thick and not at all like the real thing - a replacement was made from plastic tube masses of aerials, sensors etc and I replaced those huge, thick door rails with some scratchbuilt slim ones. Airbrushed black primer, then masked the stripes and sprayed Hataka medium sea grey. Aftermarket decals were by Model Art. The diorama cards are Noy's Miniatures, and the crew member perched in the door is one of the amazing Reedoak figures, which my rubbish iphone pic really does not do justice to! (To be able to mould a tread pattern in the sole of a boot at 1/72 scale is mindblowing...), Thanks for looking!

I've fancied a 1/72 Puma HC.1/2 for ages - my brother had the Airfix one as a kid - but that was about the last time anyone produced a Puma kit in 1/72! Picked this Heller one up off eBay a little while back, but only then started researching in earnest. Sounds like lots of accuracy and fit issues lie ahead of me. I don't mind a bit of tweaking; I'm not a competition-standard builder, and I know my scratch-building limits, so as long as I can tweak it enough to look quite a lot like an HC.2, that'll do for me. Initial look in the box doesn't seem too off-putting...cockpit detail a bit simplistic, but the fuselage halves look ok with loads of raised rivets, which as it turns out, seems quite realistic! Initial build stages and everything fits together pretty well so far - nice to have locator pins/slots, unlike the last build (Sword Harrier T.10)! I read somewhere that the Airfix/Heller moulding has the undercarriage leg oleos at full extension... this is correct for a flying helicopter, but will look wrong on the ground when they should be compressed. Sure enough they're extended on the model. A quick calculation and I reckon about 15cm oleo extension on the real one isn't too far off, which equates to about 2mm in 1/72. So 2mm was duly removed from the front leg and a bit of Eduard etch (linkage) added. Turns out the plastic is pretty brittle after all this time - just about managed to do the nosewheel here but am a bit nervous about the main gear legs in the future. Before and after:

Grans Models is to release very soon a 1/72nd Airco (de Havilland) DH.4 Puma kit - ref. PGM72001 Based on the Pegasus plastic injected kit + resin parts Sources: https://www.facebook.com/groups/169809153136743/permalink/3343551529095807/ https://www.facebook.com/christos.koutalianos.9/posts/3541111409287253 V.P.

Some time ago in a fit of charitability, I bought an old Heller 1/50 (clearly not 1/48, how very Gallic) Puma helicopter from Newark Air Museum on an Open Cockpit day. I don't know why as helicopters are not that interesting to me - I think it was £8. So this GB is an ideal way to hopefully get rid of it! Having seen superlative builds of RAF Puma HC1s with all the detailing around the cockpit, rear interior and various external antennae fits, not to mention rotor heads in Britmodeller builds - I won't be going there! This will be OOB: I will try to recreate the box cover model. Although if things get sticky the alternative is a mono colour French version, which has an attraction. I presume it will need weighting at the front, although the clear nose looks as though it was carved from armour plate and might help. Actually, having looked at the nose and the framing to be painted I may well be losing the will already.

I said I might build this, and I am. Here are my scan of the original Matchbox cover. I think I built this Christmas 1981: This is the Revell boxing that I'm building: I imagine the build phase might get done rather quickly once I start it, which should be today or tomorrow.

SPz Puma German Infantry Fighting Vehicle 1/35 HOBBYBOSS via Creative Models The German realised back in the 1970s that the Infantry needed a Fighting Vehicle as opposed to just a troop carrier and the Marder was developed for this purpose. It was then realised the Marder was getting long in the tooth so development began for a new vehicle. The Schutenpanzer of new IFV came through a process of looking for the replacement. The new vehicle feature modular composite armour, a 30mm auto canon and a Spike LR missile launcher with 2 missiles. The optics and sensor are fully upto date with thermal vision and low light capabilities as standard for the gunner and driver, these even feed into the passenger cabin to provide situational awareness for the troops being carried. The in a new feature the rear door can partially open to allow a couple of troops to scoot out without exposing the rear compartment. The German Army has ordered 350 units which should be delivered by 2020, and combat effective from 2024. Other countries are looking at the Puma though to date none have been ordered. The Kit This kit from HobbyBoss is a new tool. There are the main hull castings, 6 main sprues, a clear sprue, 7 sprues of track parts and two smaller casting for the turret and its gun. Construction starts with the suspension components being added to the main lower hull. The drive sprockets, idler wheels, main wheels and return rollers are all then added. The tracks are then made up and added, these are individual links to each two track pads need to be added for each link. There are 71 links per side. Once the tracks are on the rear door is fitted to the rear bulkhead and this is attached to the main body. Work then switched to the top hull. The roof hatches for the troop compartment are added along with vision blocks and other fittings. The top hull can then be joined to the lower one. The large armoured skirts can then be fitted to each side, and the exhaust louvres fitted. Additional hull parts are fitted at the front, and mud guards at the rear along with the convoy light and tow hooks. For the main hill various additional parts are fitted as well as what seems to be slat armour protection for the vehicle and counter measure systems. Moving onto the turret, the gun is first built up with the barrel being added into arm casing, and then this being attached to the main body of the turret. Sensors are added along with smoke dischargers. The completed turret can then be added to the vehicle. Decals A small decal sheet gives marking for three German Army vehicles. Conclusion This is a great looking kit from HobbyBoss of the latest German APC/IFV and their attention to detail is to be commended. Overall Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hello, I would like to present my 1/72 SA.330 Puma in Bristow’s livery. Based around Sumburgh, Shetland & Dyce, Aberdeen circa 1979. Airfix kit with Whirlybirds resin conversion for the radar and sponsons. Decals were a mix from my spares. Certainly not my best effort but I am pleased with it. Thanks for looking Aaron

Scaleworx is working on a 1/48th Aerospatiale SA-330 Puma resin kit based on the vintage 1/50th Heller kit. Good luck... Sources: https://www.facebook.com/groups/8586041972/permalink/10155791687696973/ https://www.facebook.com/scaleworx/photos/a.769215259944484.1073741885.212054182327264/769236169942393/ https://www.facebook.com/scaleworx/photos/a.769215259944484.1073741885.212054182327264/769284856604191/ V.P.

Hopefully I will have time for a second entry in this group build - and it's a kit I picked up for all of £2.50 in the RAF Museum at Cosford's shop last year. For that money I wasn't even expecting it to be complete, but it was, so with my notional savings I splashed out on the Rotor Craft composite rotors for it, and I'll be adding those for this build. I also have some spare Merlin HC3 photoetch, which will probably contribute at least the cockpit seatbelts, and some left-over Sea King HC4 bits (if I decide to do an HC2 the armoured seats might be right? need to check that). I will be building either a late HC1 or an HC2 - I really want to do it in the Dark Green/Lichen Green colour scheme, and it looks like all the in-service HC2s are in overall dark green which isn't as interesting. So, for now, the box and bits: Next steps: clean up the resin rotor blades and start assembly - with the interior, and main rotor gearbox/rotor head, including seeing which rods need replacing with brass or nickel wire, and where any additional pipes are obvious... Tim

Hi guys, here are the final pictures for the Rambo 2 diorama. In the movie, Rambo's Huey gets shot up by the Hind and a fire with lots of smoke erupts in the back left side of the heli. I wanted to recreate the smoke, so by using a product for RC boats I was able to achieve the correct look. Obviously I started out only wanting to build the Hind/Puma conversion model, then I realised I had the correct Huey that was in the movie and things just snowballed into this mega giant diorama that is no way going to fit on anybody's shelf LOL! The plan is that I can take the helis off the diorama and take the helis with the base maybe to a show in the future. I look forward to any comments and/or criticism, finally as Rambo said in the movie to Murdock "Mission Accomplished!". If you want to see my work in progress of this build, click the box below.

Just finished this one of a Puma HC2 at low level. Spent my spare time during December and January on this one for someone. Not as big as the normal sized paintings. This one's A2 oil on canvas. Cheers Bob.

Hi guys, here are the final pictures for the Rambo 2 diorama. In the movie, Rambo's Huey gets shot up by the Hind and a fire with lots of smoke erupts in the back left side of the heli. I wanted to recreate the smoke, so by using a product for RC boats I was able to achieve the correct look. Obviously I started out only wanting to build the Hind/Puma conversion model, then I realised I had the correct Huey that was in the movie and things just snowballed into this mega giant diorama that is no way going to fit on anybody's shelf LOL! The plan is that I can take the helis off the diorama and take the helis with the base maybe to a show in the future. I look forward to any comments and/or criticism, finally as Rambo said in the movie to Murdock "Mission Accomplished!". If you want to see my work in progress of this build, click the box below.

Hi guys, well I fancied building the Russian helicopter gunship that was flown in the Rambo 2 movie, it was supposed to look like the Hind, the Puma was modified for the task. I picked up this 1/32 Revell kit as the basis for the build, lucky for me I got it off eBay for only £15 including delivery. It's a pretty rough kit, very basic and crude in some areas but not too bad in others, but it's more than adequate for this project. I will have to scratch build the wings and pylons but thankfully the weapons are available from Trumpeter. Hi guys, just a quick update on the Puma conversion project. I wanted to tackle the wings and weapon pylons first to get an idea of the scale of the wings. I placed the nose canopy over the laptop screen where it looked correct in size, then I measured the wing length from that, it seemed to work out ok. I used a pizza foam tray to cut the wing shapes out and covered them with 0.25mm styrene sheet. I was real lucky in that my unbuilt Trumpeter Hind 1/35 scale kit had options for different weapons and decals, so I was able to use the weapons from the Hind kit, although the Hind is 1/35 the weapons looked just fine on the 1/32 Puma. Finally for this week, here are a few pics showing a quick lick of primer and the weapons tacked on to the wings of the Puma.

Hi guys, this is my first ever kitbash and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'll now be building a 1/35 Dragon UH-1N Gunship that Rambo flew in the movie, as this build is going to be part of a diorama which I mentioned in the work in progress. I've also added some screen captures of the actual Puma that was in the movie for comparison, which was converted to look like a Russian Hind helicopter.

Hi folks As my airfix Gazelle is nearing an end I thought I'd post the next aircraft for my Dad's retirement project. It will be, if you haven't guessed, an S.A.330-J puma presented in Sultanate of Oman Royal Flight livery. Not entirely sure when my Dad first started work in Oman. I know my Granddad was out there prior to my Dad (think my Grandad worked on strikemasters). I was born in Oman, 1984; so probably sometime just before then. After I was born we traveled back and forth from the UK to Oman but finally settled in the UK permanently around 1991 or 1992 (I do remember some adventures of living there but I was rather young to really appreciate it I do remember every time the gulf air plane landed in Muscat and the doors opening. - the intense heat and smell of Jet fuel mmmmm. Loved it! Smelt like victory) I'll be using the airfix 330 puma 1/72 kit for this with some additional after market parts. Rotorcraft composite rotor blades Whirlybirds conversion sets which include larger sponsons and floatation gear. Also some etch parts too. Whirlybirds S-61 seats Eduard etch for superpuma. My Dad took an interest in photography around this time which is rather handy for references! Below are a couple of photos that I have of the aircraft 'A40-AG' (my scanners playing up so these are photos of photos; they came out okay though): what I picked up from my Dad was that there were VIP aircraft and escort aircraft A40-AG was one of the VIP transports. I don't have any internal photos but my Dad seems to remember there being four seats in the front and a few more in the rear, one for a stewardess and a little sink. In one of the photos you can just make out one of the seats but not much else. I'll be using some artistic license for the interior but basing a lot of it on the Royal flight VC-10. http://www.airliners.net/photo/0750394/L/ http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6625314 Here's A40-AG parked next to the Sultans old VC-10. Booootiful And here's a photo showing the VIP and escort aircraft in flight This will be very slow build (slower than my gazelle) as we are expecting our first in February :excited: Thanks for stopping by and any advice from puma pilots and phixers would be greatly appreciated Cheers Aaron

Scratchaeronautics has just released a 1/72nd Aerospatiale AS-332 Super Puma CSAR conversion set for Italeri kit. Source: https://www.facebook.com/jbeginesmanzorro/media_set?set=a.10153979308566382.1073741858.819351381&type=3 V.P.

Hi everyone, I finally finished my kit, and I would like to share it with you. I have been taking pictures with a Reflex camera that has given me my brother, so I myself have been a little surprised at what can a good lens . Anyway, I think the images, being already on the website forum, should suffer some kind of compression algorithm (logical), for when I zoom on my pc, the level of detail is incredible before pixelate.Still I think you look great (recommend the max resolution of your monitor). Hope you like it, comments will be coming, Greetings to all Added link to assembly post http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234994371-puma-sdkfz-2342-135-italeri/ Cheers

Hi folks, i started to build this kit/model. and I would like to share with all, it's a oldie from italeri. the assembly, be funny or a punishment? ... I'll see what kind of surprise becomes ....shelf or bin ??? Cheers, Pals Thx for watch and comment, cheers

I wanted to depict the two main aircraft in Northern Ireland in the late 1970s/ early 1980s. The Wessex is HC.2 XR498 'X' of 72 Squadron. This is the Italeri Sea Horse kit for the square windows, with the Heritage aviation conversion kit and Modeldecal decals for a Swift bird. Next up is the 33 Squadron Puma. This is the old Airfix kit OOB with the addition of PJ productions' Vietnam Helicopter Crew. My reference photos showed the Pumas to be fairly filthy so I tried to replicate that here. Thanks for looking

Pics from Graham James

One of the benefits of volunteering at Classic Air Force is the opportunity to photograph visiting aircraft as well as the museum residents. Here is a selection taken during the last few months. None of these were taken 'airside', they were taken from public areas often using my trusty stepladder.

I cycled out to the Derwent Valley today to see the two Lancasters perform a couple of flypasts over the Derwent Reservoir. Followed by a very low flypast from an RAF Puma. Here's a few of my photos. I missed the Hurricane and Spitfire as I wasn't in a position to take photos but it was great to see them. Derwent Lancaster Flypast by Marks CVS, on Flickr Derwent Lancaster Flypast by Marks CVS, on Flickr Derwent Lancaster Flypast by Marks CVS, on Flickr Derwent Lancaster Flypast by Marks CVS, on Flickr Derwent Lancaster Flypast by Marks CVS, on Flickr Puma 2 by Marks CVS, on Flickr Puma 3 by Marks CVS, on Flickr The rest of them can be seen here. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mark_maclean_photography/sets/72157647460477947/

Italian Puma 6x6 Armoured Vehicle 1:35 Trumpeter The Defence Vehicles Division of IVECO developed the Puma family of 4x4 and 6x6 light armoured vehicles to meet the requirements of the Italian Army. After extensive trials with prototype vehicles, the army placed a contract with IVECO in 1999 covering the supply of 540 Puma vehicles. The first vehicles were completed in 2003. Of the 540 vehicles, 320 will be in the 6x6 version with the remaining 220 in the 4x4 configuration. The 6x6 version of the Puma will typically be used in the armoured personnel carrier (APC) role, while the 4 x 4 version will typically be used for reconnaissance. To reduce overall life-cycle costs, the Puma family shares many common components, such as the diesel engine, automatic transmission and suspension. The baseline APC version of the Puma is armed with a 12.7mm M2 machine gun. However, the vehicles can be fitted with a range of turrets and cupolas developed by Oto Melara, including one with a remote-controlled weapon. IVECO has developed a number of specialised versions of the Puma for the Italian Army. These include ambulance, command post, 81mm mortar, air defence with MBDA Mistral missiles and two anti-tank (one with the Raytheon TOW and one with the Euromissile MILAN anti-tank guided missile system). The Puma design is such that it can be adopted for a wide range of other roles and missions. Standard equipment includes powered steering, run-flat tyres, a nuclear, biological and chemical defensive system and afire-detection and -suppression system. The Model Packaged in the now Trumpeter standard of sturdy top opening cardboard box the artwork of which depicts a vehicle at the head of a convoy of similar vehicles. Don't look to closely to the artwork as you'll see something has gone wrong with the front pairs of wheels. Inside there are the hull halves and eleven sprues, all in alight grey styrene, along with one small sheet of etched brass, a small decal sheet, six poly caps and six rubber wheels. All the parts are very well moulded with no sign of flash and only a few moulding pips. The details are crisp and well defined and the dry fitting of the hull pieces showed that the fit is superb, almost click together with no gaps whatsoever. Even though the Puma is quite a small armoured vehicle, in kit form it's a nice size to work with, not too small and fiddly. With only nine pages of instructions it's not been over engineered or has overly complex suspension or transmission boxes which makes it look like a really nice and relaxing weekend type build even though the kit count is quite high. The build starts with the fitting of the clear ports into the upper hull after which the it is slid onto the lower hull and glued into place. As stated above the fit of these parts is quite amazing and shows how much Trumpeter have come along in the last few years. On the underside the there are two four piece transmission boxes and on three piece box. These are fitted into position and connected by their respective drive shafts.the main shock absorbers, complete with stub axles are fitted into position and joined to the transmission boxes by cross-shafts. The front two pairs of stub axles are also fitted with steering racks. The three pairs of wishbones assemblies are then attached to their respective wheel hubs, followed by three cross braces. Additional details such as the front valance, front towing shackles and mounts, fuel filler cap upper and lower hinge for the side door and a footstep on the left hand side are attached. The wheels are made up of an inner and outer hub between which a poly cap is fitted. These are best painted before the tyres are fitted which are push fitted over the hubs. Since the tyres are hollow it might be an idea to fill the lower portion with Milliput or such like to prevent them from sagging in the future. The rear bulkhead is festooned with small parts such as the lights, shackles and their mountings, tow hook with addition eye-bolts and storage racks. There is a very complex winch assembly consisting of eleven styrene and two PE parts. The rear bulkhead assembly is then attached to the vehicle followed by the winch assembly which is fitted to the right hand side of the bulkhead. The engine intake grille and aerial mounting are fitted to the front of the vehicle whilst three storage clamps are fitted to the right hand rear quarter and an armoured panel fitted to the right hand side just above the gap between the two front wheels. An attachment plate for the pioneer tools is fitted to the front glacis and then fitted with the pickaxe and shovel whilst a host of smaller fittings are attached to the rear and sides of the vehicle. Further progress is made with the fitting of the two upper hull rear hatches, side storage baskets, lifting eyes and the five piece smoke discharge assemblies. There is a strange hook assembly on the bow just aft of the engine deck, the use of which evades me. In front of the hook structure the engine radiator grille is fitted, whilst to the front of the vehicle the headlight and sidelight assemblies are attached. The drivers hatch is assembled out of the main hatch, large hinge bar on top, with the two handles and three vision blocks fitted from beneath. This prominent hatch is very often open and it's a shame that there is no interior detail, even if just for the drivers position. In front of this hatch is a large armoured glass windscreen, with additional wiper part and support plate. The turret assembly also has a number of vision blocks, but this time fitted from the top. There are a number of other sights and sensors fitted to the turret surround along with the machine gun mount. The turret hatch is attached to the surround by two hinge parts. The machine gun, which looks like an MG-42 or derivative has a separate ammunition box and cradle for one side, along with a case collection box on the other side. The completed turret assembly is then fitted to the turret ring on the vehicle. Finally the two part wing mirrors and a couple of grab handles are attached completing the model. Decals The small decal sheet provides items for two vehicles, one in standard Italian three colour scheme with markings for ISFOR in Arabic whilst eh other is in overall white scheme for a UN mission. The decals include registration plates, Italian flags, UN identification plates and convoy plates. Conclusion This is a fantastic little kit and going by the fit of the hull sections should be a very nice build with little use of filler. There's quite a lot of detail included and with the exception of the tyres/wheels or you're adding it to a diorama shouldn't need any aftermarket additions. The six wheeler is a better looking vehicle in my eyes and I'm glad Trumpeter chose to release it ahead of the four wheeler. I can highly recommend this kit to anyone interested in modern military vehicles and it would be good starter kit for those fairly new to military modelling. Review sample courtesy of

Hi All, just to let you know that the new Max decals sheet is now available. It has markings for the Vampire (accurate shapes compared to printscale), Kingair 200, Chipmunk, Gazelle, Puma, Provost, Cessna FR172H, Marchetti plus bonus decals for Irish army vehicles in 1/35 scale. The sheet is available directly from me at 12euro including postage if ordered from my webshop at http://www.maxdecals.com/Maxdecalsshop.html. Have a look at the instructions below: Cheers, Joe