SMK KRAZ-6501 Tracktor

[Paul A H]

SMK KRAZ-6501 Tracktor

1:87 (HO)

KRAZ, or Kremenchuts'ky Avtomobil'ny Zavod is a producer of heavy trucks based in Kremenchuk, Ukraine. Originally established as a manufacturer of bridges in 1945, the KRAZ plant has gone on to produce agricultural machines such as combine harvesters and, most notably, heavy trucks. By the mid-1980s, the plant was producing over 30,000 vehicles every year and in 2006 they produced their 800,000th truck. The 6501 model is a 6x4 truck powered by a 240 horsepower V8 diesel.

Although they may not be a familiar name to many Britmodellers, Ukrainian manufacturer SMK produce a large range of civil and military truck kits, all in the popular model railway scale of 1:87 (HO gauge). Their new kit of the KRAZ 6501 is a mixed media affair comprised of both resin and plastic parts.

The kit arrives packed into a very sturdy corrugated cardboard box, the top of which is adorned with a nice clear photograph of the subject. All of the parts inside are kept safe and sound within several resealable plastic bags. Although the kit is mixed media, the bodyshell and bench seat of the truck are the only two components cast in resin. Everything else is injection moulded plastic with the exception of a transparent sheet from which the cab windows must be cut. The resin bodyshell is well cast and features some nice, delicate detail. There is a little flash present, but this should be easy enough to clean up. The plastic parts are moulded in a mixture of black, grey and translucent plastic. As with the resin components, there is a little flash in places, but the level of detail is very impressive and everything looks crisp and sharp.

Construction begins with the cab. The interior is fairly simple, with just a couple of fittings such as the steering wheel to be added to the resin bench seat/dashboard. The transparent plastic windows also have to be added at this stage. SMK have made this job pretty easy as a template for the windows is printed onto the plastic sheet. All that has to be done is to cut this out and then fold it up and fix it to the inside of the cab.

The remaining five stages of construction involve fixing the suspension components, wheels, exhaust system and fuel tanks to the chassis. To make life easier for the builder, the hubs are moulded separately to the tyres. This should make painting the hubs a much simpler process. The build concludes with the addition of the cab to the chassis.

The decal sheet is small but appears to be very nicely printed. A variety of markings are provided for both civilian and military versions, including Soviet stars and Czech and DDR roundels. No instructions are provided for painting or decal placement, however, and as the decal sheet appears to be common to all of SMK’s GRAZ trucks, the builder would be well advised to check references before choosing a colour scheme.

Conclusion

This is a nice little kit and with a little care and attention it should build into a fine replica of a rugged KRAZ truck. It will make a fine addition to the collection of many HO gauge railway enthusiasts.

Review sample courtesy of

[richellis]

Oh, I do like this. I have done some conversions in this scale on Wiking trucks, and the detail look very nice on this.

Will have to get my hands on some of this range!