By Patrick Keenan

 

Review Summary

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Background

This review is only an "In Box" or "first Look" review. I've done a rudimentary review where I closely examined the kit parts, instruction sheet, packaging, etc. I've provided comments of my first impressions gathered while viewing the contents. I did NOT construct the kit, but a full build review is forthcoming.

About a month or two ago, I first saw an inkling of a new company possibly coming out with a 1/35 Buffalo Mine Protected Clearance Vehicle (MPCV).  At that time, I still considered it “rumor city” but soon after I started seeing some photos of kit parts and even some of a built model.  But, I hadn’t seen or heard much more. Obviously that information caused a bit of excitement for me as I am a convicted armored car/ wheeled vehicle aficionado, so I kept my eyes open for more news.  Finally I got more concrete info that a new Chinese company called Vajra Miniatures did indeed release the kit and some lucky S.O.B’s had them in their grubby little hands.

So, being the proactive guy I am as AMPS review coordinator, I contacted Vajra via e-mail to see if we could get a review sample of the Buff.  Well, to make a long story short, within about 2 weeks not only did I have the Buffalo MPCV in my now grubby hands, but I also had two other brand spanking new Vajra model kits too: their 1/35 F-350 Super Duty Pick Up and their 1/35 Boxer Wheeled APC!  The F-350 was so new that the kit didn’t even have its instructions finished yet.  Those two kits have been given new homes with caring “review crew” members and the Boxer first look review is already available too. You should be seeing the F-350 kit review shortly also.  Well, on to the review…

Needless to say, knowing that Vajra Miniatures was a new company my expectations of the kit’s quality level weren’t as high as they would be with a more established model manufacturer.  Even seeing promising photos of the built up model/ kit parts didn’t alleviate my natural caution.  After all, there is a natural learning curve for most everything, creating model kits being no exception.

Well, I slowly opened the kit box and… I was shocked and awed by what I saw.  This kit looked stunning in detail level and quality of casting.  I quickly shook off my surprise to make sure I hadn’t been mistaken in my initial view.  Well, after pawing through the kit parts and conducting a more detailed assessment, I am happy to report that this kit looks to be “the real deal”.  Obviously, I won’t know for sure how this kit will ultimately rate until I finish my full build review.  But, I can say that I did test fit the upper and lower hulls and they went together almost perfectly; even without sanding/filing or cutting any parts.   So, I am cautiously optimistic that this kit will live up to my initial positive impression.  Stay tuned for that review. 

Also, being that I also had the Boxer APC and F-350 pick up kits in my hot little hands before sending them off to the other “krew” members, I couldn’t resist taking a look at them too.  I am able to report that those other kits left a similarly positive impression upon me also.  They looked like nice kits as well.

Back to the kit…the model consists of approximately (180)light gray resin parts, (10) clear plastic (?), (6) brass rods and (2) frets/sheets of photo-etched brass containing approximately (92) parts.  The most surprising thing about the parts is that they are actually numbered and referenced in the instruction sheets.  Although injection molded plastic kits almost always come with numbered parts, surprisingly many resin manufacturers do not follow this (what I consider) almost necessary practice.  New manufacturer Vajra smartly gets this decision right from the get go.  Excellent.

Vajra also provides a number of “early” and “late” vehicle option parts.  I don’t know if early and late are the proper designation of any official vehicle variants, but I can say that some of the early fielded Buffalos were equipped with different parts than their later fielded MPCV counterparts.  Generally, some of the fittings were seen on early and some on late.   However, I’ve also seen supposedly “late” vehicles with early a few “early” vehicle fittings and vice versa.  The alternate parts Vajra includes are front/rear tow hooks, rear boarding ladders, hydraulic arm bracket mounts and alternate sensor/viewers for the arm. 

Speaking of earlier vs. later fielded vehicles, I’d like to briefly touch upon the use of slat armor on the Buffalo in the field, mostly because this kit doesn’t come with any parts to replicate it.  Generally, later (or maybe more correctly termed ”recently”) fielded Buffalos in Iraq and Afghanistan have been equipped with slat armor (probably both initially deployed and retrofitted).  However, a number of early and some late vehicles fielded in Iraq (at least) were not initially fitted with slat armor.  Therefore, you can depict this vehicle model as based in Iraq without the slat armor, especially if you use the “early” option parts. 

Now the bad news; the retail price - a whopping $270 USD!  Unfortunately, not only is the kit stunning so far, but so is the price.  Wow!!  On the other hand, personally though, I don’t think this price is out of line when compared to similar model kits produced by other manufacturers; especially when taking into account the size of this beastie and my initial positive impressions of this kit.  However, with the downturn in the world financial situation, big ticket items will be more difficult to sell for any company, let alone a new manufacturer.  With all this being said, I’ll now move on to the bits N’ pieces…

 

 

 

The resources I did use are the photos and information available at the following websites: Force Protection Inc. (the vehicle manufacturer), Global Security.Org and my WarWheels.Net site.  Also, I used a few dozen photos in my personal collection of the Buffalo which I received from a number of sources including  troops in the field.

The quality of casting is outstanding.  There is no flash present on most of the parts, and the flash that is present is VERY minor.  Also, there are no major air bubbles to fill and I cannot even see any small ones anywhere.  I’m sure I’ll probably find a couple here and there; I always do.  But, I haven’t seen ‘em yet.  Also, there are no miscast, “short shot” or miss-aligned parts (AKA mold shift) that I can see at this early stage. Even the smallest pieces are also very well cast. 

Finally, Vajra really tries to minimize the size of the attachment points between the kit parts and the casting “plug” so as to lessen the damage that naturally occurs when the modeler removes the part.  The less damage that occurs during this process, the more detail level is kept.  Again, I’m going to go out on a limb and state I don’t think much clean up and putty work will be needed.  Again, I won’t know for sure until I build this beastie, but I am cautiously optimistic (which is a common mental state of mine when I work with resin kits).

Decals, Marking Information and Painting Information

Finally, in regard to painting information, no specific information is provided.  However, color photos are provided of the finished/painted model.  Being that the in-service vehicles are sand yellow/tan/light brown, specific painting instructions are not necessary to finish your vehicle.  However, it would have been a nice addition and useful if Vajra would have provided information identifying applicable paint colors to use, either listed by Federal Standard numbers and/or by hobby paint manufacturers though.

Instructions/Packaging

The instructions provided by Vajra for the Buffalo come as an 8”x 5 ½” pamphlet.  They provide (7) color and (51) black/white photos in 20 pages.  (6) of those black/white photos are used as a parts listing with applicable piece numbers being provided. Strangely enough, the only text included consists of background information and technical specifications.

The weird aspect of these instructions is that some portions are outstanding while other portions are rudimentary.  They aren’t positively or negatively consistent.  For instance, some of the steps shown in the instructions are quite involved, clear and very understandable. They include information of what parts are needed (by number) and their applicable location.  They rank up there with some of the best quality resin instructions I’ve encountered.  Yet in other cases, we are only provided with a photograph and your wits to work with.  It’s almost as if two people created these instructions and/or additional photos were included at the final production stage, but they didn’t have the time to provide better information.

The good news is that instructions, photos and parts numbering system provided should be sufficient for all but the most inexperienced resin builders, especially coupled with information available on the Internet.  Ultimately, these instructions are better than your average resin kit instructions, but I was a bit disappointed because Vajra had shown such good ability in some portions. 

The packaging is very sturdy and the kit was well protected from the elements, shipping damage, etc.  The kit comes in a very sturdy cardboard box, with the upper and lower hulls wrapped in bubble wrap and the other parts contained in about 4 separate plastic bags.  All of that stuff was then immersed in Styrofoam mini-balls in shape and size of bb’s (like the ones we shot out of our Red Ryder Air Rifles as kids); about 1million of the dang things. 

Although, the kit was very well packed, those bb’s were pure hell to deal with.  They fell and blew everywhere even when you as much as just looked at them.  Heaven forbid you had to exhale a breath.  Then just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, static electricity caused them to vigorously stick to the bubble wrap, plastic bags, clothes and even to the hair on my arms.  That previously mentioned exhaled breath would not even do the trick now.  I could have had an allergy attack right into the brunt of them and they would only move over on to something else. Seriously, these things were created by the devil himself.

If I ever wanted to have a moment of peace with this kit, I had to rid myself of this, this, Styrofoam scourge.  Better yet, I decided to “take one for the team” (so to speak) and dispose of their evil brethren also lurking in the Boxer APC and F-350 kits.  I want to keep reviewers in the AMPS program, not scare them away.  Well, not only did a do them a favor out of the goodness of my heart, but I admittedly wanted to paw those other kits too. Anyway, I wish I could say I am a better man for this experience, but sadly I cannot. 

In all seriousness though, it took me 90 minutes to completely rid my homestead of the bb’s in three kit boxes. This is no exaggeration.  Please Vajra Miniatures.  Do NOT ever use these Styrofoam packing bb pellets ever again!!

Conclusion

I have to say it is a pleasant surprise to have a 1/35 Buffalo MPCV kit available to us modelers so soon after the real thing caught the public eye.  It’s even more exciting to have a resin Buffalo kit that has well casted and detailed parts; especially considering it’s from a new model company.  I cannot yet predict how this build project will end or how Vajra Miniatures efforts to compete in the modeling arena will fare.  However, I can say I am impressed by their first offering so far.

I only have a couple minor criticisms, the first related with the inconsistent instructions.  However, in my opinion they are above average for those produced by resin manufacturers and should be sufficient for most experienced resin modelers.  Second, the retail price might be prohibitive to many modelers, but again in my opinion it is consistent with similar kits on the market.  If you’re interested in seeing more on this model, stay tuned for my full build review.

Thanks to Vajra Miniatures for the review sample.

Highly Recommended