Hobby Boss Coyote Tactical Support Vehicle - TSV (84522) 1:35

[Mike]

Coyote Tactical Support Vehicle - TSV (84522)

1:35 Hobby Boss via Creative Models Ltd

 

 

When the British forces in Afghanistan were forced to use their lightly armoured WMIK and Snatch Land Rovers in an arena where Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were the norm, they were found to be wanting, disintegrating under the blast of explosives that were sufficient to cripple a main battle tank.  Losses of men and machines led to a search for a new, more mine-resistant and generally increasingly rugged vehicle to replace the older types.

 

The Jackal was developed as a replacement to the Land Rover WMIK by Devon based Supacat, with improved load carriage, armament and range, as well as a powerful engine to give it enough torque to tackle difficult obstacles and a high maximum speed on roads as well as excellent off-road performance.  Conceived as a deep-penetration recce platform and convoy escort, it provides a better weapons platform with an extensive 500-mile range, whilst adding crew protection and maximum speed of almost 50mph on rough ground.  In an effort to improve upon the Snatch Land Rover's poor IED resilience, the Jackal is fitted with armoured panels beneath the crew compartment, and shock-absorbing armoured seats to protect the crew further.  Of course, nothing is totally effective, and some fatalities have occurred on active duty in Afghanistan.  This in turn led to the Jackal 2, which built upon the successes of its progenitor, and learned from its weaknesses.

 

The Coyote is an extended wheelbase variant of the Jackal 2, with an additional powered axle to give it better load carrying ability, whilst providing the same off-road traction, and the two vehicles are used in support of each other, in a complementary manner to carry sufficient supplies and arms for particular assignments.  Due to its ability to carry almost four-ton on its load bed, the Coyote is also capable of acting as a light artillery tractor if the need arises.  It is also capable of defending itself, with a centrally mounted Browning M2 50cal machine gun and a GMPG “Jimpy” in the front, plus whatever personal weapons the crew can bring to bear from their seating locations.

 

 

The Kit

This is an additive retool from Hobby Boss, based upon their Jackal 1 kit, which I’m reliably informed is actually a Jackal 2, while their Jackal 2 kit is actually the Jackal 1.  Go figure.  At least we know, and they have based this on their Jackal 1 kit, so it is using Jackal 2 hardware.  Confused?  Me too, but that’s a good thing.  The kit arrives in one of their large top-opening boxes, and inside are ten sprues and two hull halves in sand-coloured styrene, a clear sprue, seven flexible black tyres, six frets of Photo-Etch (PE), a small decal sheet, the instruction booklet in black and white, plus a separate page of glossy colour profiles for painting and decaling.  Like their earlier kits, this is a well-detailed offering with a high parts count, a new, longer hull, additional sprues for the extra wheels, axles and extra fuel can racks in the cargo area, plus parts for the new .50cal main weapon where the Jackal had a 40mm grenade launcher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with detailing the upper and lower hull parts with styrene and PE parts before joining them together in preparation for further work.  A test-fit of the two parts shows that they fit together very well, so shouldn’t cause any problems, as you can probably see in the above test-fit.  The vehicle’s six suspension units are then made up over a number of steps, adding the inner wheel arches made of a lamination of PE and styrene parts.  Additional flaps and struts are fitted before making up the six road wheels from their two-part hubs and flexible tyres, which slot onto the suspension arms, with a pair of PE and styrene running boards between the front and rear axle pairs, plus additional mudflaps behind the front wheels.  Righting the vehicle, the crew cab is outfitted with a rack of ammunition cans for the co-pilot’s GMPG, and two C-shaped grab-handles/roll-cage components plus the two seats, which are made up from eight parts each, with an armoured panel underneath and to the rear.  The dash is built around the front bulkhead, with instruments and driver controls and a LOT more ammo cans, a grab-handle for the gunner, and steering wheel with stalks for the driver on the right side of the vehicle (in both senses of the word).  There are a couple of instruments on the left side-rail, and HB have included some decals for these and for the main instrument panel, the latter having its front bumper/fender and light clusters in large tubular cages made up and fixed to the front, joined by a piece of PSP (Perforated Steel Planking), vents on the top of the coaming, plus an aerial base and a pair of foot steps and door hinge-points under and in the front of the crew access cut-outs.  An equipment stack is built up and placed between the two humps behind the crew seats, then another large palette is fitted with pioneer tools at the rear, and a quartet of ammo boxes for the hungry .50cal.  Two more seats with moulded-in straps are made up and attached where the rear bed rises to form the load area, and a roll-over bar with armoured inserts is set behind the rear seats to protect and separate the areas.  Behind this a pair of large stowage boxes are installed, the upper one with a sloped rear side, and both are covered by another section of the anti-roll cage that is also a surface to mount an antenna palette later on.  More anti-roll bars are placed to the sides of the ammo stowage are, which is also where the .50cal gunner stands to operate his weapon.

 

The last remaining flexible tyre is slipped over the final hub, then is fixed to an armoured shield on a triangular mount with turnbuckle, which in turn is fitted to a pivoting set of triangular roll-bars, with a similar set that holds a shelf-unit with yet more ammo cans on the opposite side.  The sides of the vehicle are armoured up with additional sheets that are shaped to fit, and have various small parts fixed to their exterior during the procedure, after which it’s time to make up the masses of jerry cans that hold extra fuel for extended range.  Four racks are made up with twenty-four cans in total in racks of six, with a U-shaped bracket between each rack, all of which have small details added, while the racks are fitted with two triangular PE internal supports each to give the structure more strength.  The rear of the vehicle is studded with various shackles and lights, and on each corner a set of smoke grenade launchers are build and installed along with an antenna base, with more grenade launchers added to the front corners during the making of the front bumper, just under the rear-view mirrors that are fixed later.  Also at the front, a T-shaped roll-bar assembly is glued over the crew, with the front section angled down to mate with the front of the vehicle.  Just behind this bar is another C-shaped roll-over bar, and behind that in turn is the ring-mount for the .50cal, which is mounted on four legs in a similar way to a roof-rack on a civilian car, complete with clamps at the bottom of the legs.

 

The .50cal Browning is a well-detailed sub-assembly with a high part-count, including a sight, a complex mounting system, plus an in-use ammo box with a spring-mounted mechanism to hold down the link as it leaves the box to prevent strumming and subsequent feed issues, with a ready-round box on a plinth on the ring, which also has a custom seat for the gunner that allows him to lean back whilst operating his weapon.  The GMPG is equally well-detailed, although with fewer parts due to its size and simpler mount, but it has a twin-box mount for ammo, and a PE handle that does a similar job of holding the ammo in check during firing.  The assembly is dropped into the toothed ring mounted on the centre of the Coyote, and the afore mentioned antenna palette is detailed with the various short antennae and glued to the two rectangular points on the aft roll-cage section.  Time for some desert paint.

 

 

Markings

As is common with Hobby Boss, there are two decal options, but zero information as to where and when they were seen in service.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

 

 

The decals are standard fare for HB, with decent registration, colour density and sharpness, although some of the dial decals are slightly off-centre.  Painting the dials on the dash black and trimming the decals very carefully should result in a good finish.

 

 

Conclusion

Another piece of modern British light armour that will please more than a few Britmodellers, and thanks to it being based on the correct incorrectly named Jackal, it should build into a decent replica.  They’re proving popular, so get one while you can, as stocks are diminishing already.

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[bootneck]

A great review Mike and I have just shown it to Margaret (it's my birthday next month so I hope she takes the hint   ).   Some of the assembly detail sounds somewhat complex though.

 

cheers,

Mike

[Mike]

1 hour ago, bootneck said:

Some of the assembly detail sounds somewhat complex though.

Nah, it’s just me problem with word have.

[bootneck]

32 minutes ago, Mike said:

Nah, it’s just me problem with word have.

Yoda to, related we are?