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Inside the box you get 68 parts in a hard butterscotch coloured plastic. Molding quality is quite good with little flash and only minor seam lines to deal with.
Also included is an instruction sheet outlining 11 steps to follow for construction and a small decal sheet of superbly printed decals. In my opinion Italeri are currently in the
fore with regards to decals, and these are a prime example as to why I believe this, being in register, opaque and very thin.
Decals and painting guide are for four options:
- Vehicle no. 15, plate number Polizia Africa Italiana 0767, of the Italian African Police Force, Tunisia 1943, in overall sand camouflage and displaying
colourful markings complete with a plethora of
Italian tri-coloured flags (this is the option on the box top art work).
- An AB-41, plate number RO ETO 166B, of an unidentified unit with the Italian Army, 1942 in overall sand camouflage.
- A beute AB-41 of the 162 Infantry Division, Italy 1944 in a three colour camouflage of sand/dark brown/olive green.
- An AB-41, plate number RO ETO 482B, of the 15o Rgt. Cavalleggeri di Lodi (R.E.C.O.), Pinerolo, Italy 1942 in a three colour camouflage of sand/dark brown/olive green.
Construction pretty much followed the steps outlined in the instructions. Fit was excellent throughout with only a few major issues to
be addressed.
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The first issue was the poor tires. They have absolutely no tread pattern and
have more of a resemblance to drag racing slicks than anything else. As far as I know they are supposed to represent a set of sand tires but web
photos of AB-41s with these tires, and even the box top art work, show some tread pattern which for some reason Italeri chose not to add.
I dearly wanted to model the first marking option listed above, which in my opinion was the most colourful of the four, but was
unsure as to whether or not the tires in the kit were valid for this option as I had seen AB-41s with both tire styles. Additionally, the lack of tread pattern was totally
unacceptable so I started a search hoping to find an AB-41 featured in the marking guide using the aggressive treaded tires. Failing that I also hoped to find a doable
marking option other than what the kit offered. After a couple of days cruising Google search I discovered a picture on the web of a sister vehicle to marking option 1
(vehicle number 14, see picture to the left) which
sported a set of
the aggressively treaded tires, plus I found some instructions for the Tamiya 1/35 scale AB-41 which offered marking option 1 and the aggressive tread tires as well.
Confident that I was now able to model my desired vehicle I set about replacing the kit
tires and decided that the easiest path was through the purchase of Italeri's AB-43 kit (number 7052) which contains the tires that I needed. I could have bought some resin
aftermarket tires and wheels but figured that I would get near the same tire quality from the Italeri AB-43 kit plus the added bonus of extra items for the parts
box such as a pair of shovels, another pick axe, more jerry cans, tow hooks, plus an extra set of their excellent decals, all for close to the same price as resin
replacements. |
There are two spacers (part 49A) to go between the hull halves (parts 22A & 23A). I found that they actually spread the hull
halves too far apart making the joining of the hull parts more difficult. So these were discarded and I built up the hull without them.
Injector pin marks are well placed for the most part. There is a set inside the wheel wells that are most difficult to get at.
There is also a set of marks that sit proud of the frame and make adding the side panels a bit trying if they are not removed.
The rear sway bar is a separate piece but I can't figure out why the same was not done for the front sway bar.
After placing the body on the frame I discovered there were gaps between the body and frame at each end. These were covered over
with some sheet plastic.
I replaced the molded on rear tow hook with a scratch built item made from some plastic for the mount and a loop made from some
copper wire. I drilled out the opening for the turret gun barrel and the horns.
I left off part 45A because it was going to go under a set of extra jerry cans that I added to the front glacis. The jerry cans
came from the spares box, and the frame was fashioned from some left over brass strip. The foot step rungs (part 13A) were thinned. I also replaced the rather
thick fender markers on the front fenders with some manufactured from some guitar wire with the balls at the top fashioned from super glue and baking soda. I didn't
bother adding any markers to the rear fenders as most AB-41 pictures I found on the web didn't have them.
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The only other major issue appeared during a test fit of the rear wheels. Here I discovered that there was a problem concerning their
location in the rear wheel well - they almost touched the front of the rear fenders. The cause was traced to the wheel hubs which
have a pair of square shaped locators that are meant to fit onto a pair
of square locating stubs on the end of the axles. This allows for a very sure fit when attaching the wheels but they also place the wheels too far
forward in the well. My fix was to trim about half of the plastic from the front of the locating stubs on the axles. Doing this allowed me to shift the
wheels about a millimetre or so to the aft, thus moving the wheels more to the middle of the wheel well. Not the most elegant solution but one that works
(hopefully the crude diagram to the left provides a better idea of what I did to correct the wheels). |
As for the decals they were excellent as expected. A few applications with some decal solvent such as Microsol got them to conform nicely to the
model while their opacity blocked any chance of bleed through of the colours underneath.
All in all this is one excellent kit and I can recommend it highly. It's nicely detailed straight from the box (other than the poor tires)
and overall a nice and relaxing kit that can be assembled with little fuss and frustration.
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