IPMS/USA Reviews

According to ScaleMates.com, AFV Club has released no less than sixteen different kitting's of the venerable British Centurion, five of which depict the various Israeli Defense Force (IDF) versions. The subject of this review is the Sho't Kal Gimel Type II, which is identified on the box top as being from the time period of the 1982 Lebanon war ("Operation Peace for Galilee"). 'Sho't' translates to 'Whip' and Kal is an abbreviation of where the powerplant was manufactured (Continental). Each new version of the IDF Centurion was given a new afterword which comes from a letter in the Semitic abjad, the alphabet or 'writing system' used in the Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Urdu languages. In this case, 'Gimel' is the third letter in the abjad.

In November, 1950, "volunteer" forces of the Chinese Army crossed the Yalu River and swept the advancing UN forces out of North Korea and back below the 38th Parallel. By the following February, Allied forces had halted the Chinese and stabilized the front, pushing them back into North Korea with limited counterattacks. By April, with an infusion of fresh divisions, the Chinese were once again on the offensive, pressing the UN line in another attempt to capture the South Korean capital, Seoul.

For those wanting to do dioramas and figures, there is a lot of guns involved and Master Model has come to the aid of modelers everywhere with two sets. They both represent .50 caliber machine gun rounds with an options of spent shell casings or full cartridges. Each set contains 25 pieces of magnificent metal work.

Master Box Ltd, out of the Ukraine, has been a leader in 1/35 figures for a while. They expanded into 1/24 female and fantasy figures in 2016, starting with their first series of six female figures representing the World War II era. This current series, Truckers, is ideal for modern Class-8 truck vignettes and dioramas. Mike (Beach Boy) Barrington is part of the first six kits in this series with more on their way.

The kit comes in a standard end opening box. Pulling out the parts, you will first see that the box is probably three times too large, but in return you get a nice painting on the cover by V. Petelin, and instructions on the back with color callouts in Vallejo, Lifecolor, Tamiya, and Mr. Color. I will note that the plastic figure sculpted by A. Gagarin is not identical to the cover paining, but it is very close. Figure represents a truck driver with his hands on the wheel. Packaging of the eleven parts are protected within a re-sealable bag.

Instructions

The kit instructions are printed on 8 half-sized sheets, including the aircraft's history, a sprue diagram and color guide, 3 sheets of exploded assembly drawings, 3 sets of color four views showing two Mk. III's and one Mk. I.

Decals

Decals are provided for the three aircraft represented in the drawings. When I obtained the review kit at the Phoenix IPMS Convention, there were no decals with the kit. I contacted Special Hobby and they promised to send a set of decals. I waited a couple of months and finally just used decals from my spares box, printing the numbers on my computer. Naturally, I had just installed the decals when an envelope came, from all places Malta, containing the kit decals. I used a few of them and the results were most satisfying.

The Kit

The kit consists of five light grey styrene sprues and one clear unit. Many parts, especially on Sprue D, are listed as not to be used. Some bombs and racks are also provided on Sprue G, but there is no reference in the instructions as to which variants carried them. More good fodder for the spares box.