Patrick STORTO S-Model ZTZ99A

	There are extensive photos of the box, instructions, and sprues at Henk of Holland S-Model page. Two complete kits come packaged together. It is described as a "quick build" model, but the number of parts, especially if one uses the photo-etched items, makes this similar to the old Airfix and Matchbox kits in terms of complexity. Really the simplest aspect are the suspension units, which are molded as two halves with the wheels attached to the tracks. The instructions are well illustrated, but printed somewhat small for my old eyes, so at times I needed a magnifier to recognize small parts. Also, I prefer some historical background in the instructions, but there are none here.
This first image shows the main assembly, incorporating the photo-etched parts (brass-colored). To use the photo-etched turret stowage bins requires cutting away some of the plastic, followed by some filing and adjusting to get the parts straight and flush. You can see vertical struts holding wheel halves to the upper tracks; one may want to cut the struts away and glue the wheels to their corresponding halves on the lower track section (the parts on the bottom of the picture are the two lower track sections). However, this is not really necessary because once fully assembled, the struts are totally hidden by the side skirts. The main gun is not glued into place, but rather sandwiched between the top and bottom turret halves. This makes the gun movable, but I found there is not a lot of play, so basically not very movable.
	Here is the initial paintjob. The colors I'm using are Testors' "British Gulf Armor Light Stone" and Humbrol's "105 Marine Green" and "HP4 British Army Deep Bronze Green" (the latter may be hard to find). The fit of parts is problem-free. I do however have a love-hate attitude towards photo-etched parts; I like how small the parts can be, but I do not like the flatness. Some parts look better in the illustrations (showing real three-dimensionality) than the actual metal piece (too flat). In my opinion, some items (especially the towing hooks) would be better in plastic. I think the molding of parts is mostly detailed and crisp, maybe a little soft on some upper hull surfaces, but overall very nice. The plastic itself feels a little soft, so be careful with the knife and file.
Here's the final assembly with decals and weathering. The decals are pretty shiny but lay nice on the surface, so use good flat varnish to make them matt. This is pretty much "out of the box" except for the addition of antennae (the kit has two small parts representing the retracted antennae; I omitted them and used stretched sprue for extended antennae).
	Here again the finished model from another viewpoint. Overall I'm happy with it and can recommend it, especially due to the subject matter. I will purchase more kits from S-Models because several of their kits' subjects are not available elsewhere as plastic models. And there is a complete leftover kit to build or sell!
Overall : Medium complexity Good value for money Good instructions Good molding and fit Recommended! Review sample bought by the author

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Article Last Updated: 31 March 2014