Price around £22.99 GBP (July 2015)
Review by Geoff Coughlin
Thanks to Revell for supplying our review sample. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model stores. For details visit www.revell.de/en
Some basic background to the type
The ZIL-131 is a general purpose 3.5 tons 6×6 army truck designed in the Soviet Union by ZIL. The basic model being a general cargo truck. Variants include a tractor-trailer truck, a dump truck, a fuel truck, and a 6×6 for towing a 4-wheeled powered trailer. The ZIL-131 also serves as a platform for the 9P138 rocket launcher, a 30-tube variant of the BM-21 “Grad”.
The Revell kit
This kit is in fact an ICM moulding and packaging is typical of that manufacturer but here it is again with new decals offering a more contemporary look to the vehicle. You can see from the manufacturer’s completed model above that it certainly looks impressive.
Moulding quality is to a high standard with fine levels of detail across the board. The attached images should speak for themselves and you can decide what you think, especially as armour is probably your area. So I offer a basic insight into this Revell kit that’s widely available and this will be good news to all of you that are interested in armour modelling in this scale.
The package
Sprues moulded in brown plastic form the basis of the model, rubber/vinyl tyres, clear transparencies for the clear parts, a set of instructions, and small decal sheet make up the package.
Sprue trees
This is a good-sized model, as is the real subject. You can see that the chassis and all the parts are very clean and crisp – even the very small items seem to be flash-free. The detail is cleanly and accurately moulded onto the surface and will look excellent when spray painted and given a subtle wash and maybe filters and other weathering of your choice. The moulded detail throughout is good and although I can’t give an opinion on accuracy, what you get certainly looks consistent with some of the images I have seen on the Internet.
Clear parts
The windscreen, small lenses and other clear parts are clear and free from defects.
Other highlights include
The detail on the wheels hubs, engine block, drive shaft, exhaust and tread plates and fittings – simply the subject are all positive features of the kit. You’ll see from the images attached of the completed manufacturer’s kit that it will look impressive when completed.
No separate stowage is included but that would be unusual for a mainstream manufacturer, so you have plenty of opportunity to add whatever you like from the many aftermarket manufacturers.
There’s no flash or excess plastic on any of the parts, so this will help build time greatly.
Decals
Four options are included on the sheet:
- NVA (East German Army) 1980
- GSTD/GSSD (Soviet Army) East Germany, 1980
- Russian Army, 2000
- Soviet Army Afghanistan, 1980
Respective number plates and unit badges for the options contained in the kit are included. The quality looks good overall.
Instructions
These follow the usual Revell format with Revel colour references, parts and sprue layout diagrams followed by an 84-Stage build and finishing sequence (no less!). The sequence looks to be logical to me but of course you will want to leave off any small, delicate parts until near the end of the build to avoid damage.
To sum up
This is a good package and I reckon that you’ll be made up if 1:35 armour modelling is your area of interest – there’s just something about the ZIL-131 in all of its various forms – you almost feel you should have one in your collection! Most of the mainstream manufacturers are releasing plenty of relatively current AFV models and this can only be good news for us modellers, especially those interested in modern armour. Levels of detail are fine for the scale and fit looks to be clean and pretty trouble-free.
SMN Quick summary SMN Star Rating out of 5
| FEATURE | STAR RATING (out of five) |
|---|---|
| Quality of moulding | **** |
| Accuracy | **** |
| Instructions | *** |
| Level of detail | **** |
| Decals | **** |
| Subject choice | **** |
| Overall | **** |