Marc Mercier Armory Luchs

What do you get? According to the beautiful boxart; this kit gives you the choice between two Luchs variants, early and late. Inside a sturdy box you'll find 70 plastic parts and a sheet with 24 PE ones. The first look seems very promising. The parts have a lot of detail (like rivets and welding seams), but this is often a bit soft or overdone. However, the casts themselves are sharp and flash is minimal. As usual for a short run kit, some cleaning will be necessary, but nothing dramatic. The hull itself is a multiple part construction; no bathtub fuselage here.


Now for a closer look...
Tracks are provided as links and lengths which I like very much. They have sharp detail, but the longer lengths here and there show some moulding issues in the centre row. Since the real tracks didn't have a hole in the middle, some delicate filling will be needed.
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Tools are moulded as separate parts, something that only can be praised. The gun barrel is nicely moulded in plastic and I feel a metal replacement isn't really necessary.

Both versions of the turret rear hatch (early and late) are included, but cannot be opened. Only the commander and loader hatches can be glued open, but they don't have detail on the inside.
The detail on the extra hull armour is a bit too soft for my taste.
A nice PE sheet is included, containing some interesting parts : All the engine grills are there, but the sheet also contains the louvers that go underneath. Most manufactures mould the mudguards together with their supports, but not here. These supports are provided in PE and thus in the correct scale thickness. Even the three handles per jerrycans are in PE, which will result in a very realistic look, but this means the modeller faces some fiddly work. The hatches for driver and radio operator are on the PE sheet too and have to be glued on top of the hull and cannot be left open unless some surgery is involved. The additional front armour plate and its supports, being PE, again will give a realistic scale thickness. Last but not least, the star of the long range antennae which is nicely reproduced.
The instructions sheet and decals The instructions sheet is very clear with beautiful drawings. According to these instructions, the early version has a narrow hatch on the rear of the turret, while the late vehicle has a wider hatch and extra armour. Additionally, the instructions tell you to install the smoke grenade dischargers with both versions. However, in reality these dischargers were discontinued during production, while the extra armour seems to be a field modification, giving the modeller more combinations than just two.
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Decals and markings You get 8 marking options in this kit, most of them from the main users, 4 PzDiv and 9 PzDiv. However one option also gives you the possibility to finish the model as a vehicle from the 116 Div, a unit that isn't mentioned on the Panzer Tracts list of known "Luchs" users. Unfortunately, beside the presence of the smoke grenade launchers and jerrycans on the drawings, it isn't clear which variant corresponds with these markings option
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Decals are well done and in registry. The decal sheet only contains Iron Crosses and turret numbers, no unit sign or the like are included.
Conclusion Keeping in mind that this is a short run kit, I can only say that this is a very nice model with lots of potential. Preview sample provided by Armory This model can be purchased from

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Article Last Updated: 02 November 2016