Hobby Boss- IDF Eitan Wheeled APC

For the First Look at this kit, head here: https://www.amps-armor.org/SiteReviews/ShowReview.aspx?id=15356

Construction

Assembly begins with adding the side boxes to the lower hull, as well as the belly armor. Steps 5-17 have you assemble the wheels and the 8 separate suspension assemblies. This is where things started to go awry for me. I held off on attaching the wheels as I wanted to paint the lower hull first-- but then when I went to add the wheels, some of the suspensions were out of alignment. Sadly there is little in the way of alignment attachment points which makes it ever more difficult to line things up- it is just those slots for the one end, but nothing really definite at the other to attach to as you can see on the last photo in this sequence.

The upper hull is one piece- so other than a few bits added onto it, it is placed atop the lower hull in step 20, sandwiching the rear hull door in between the two. Railings, hatches, lights, exhausts and screen, and loads of small rings were added through step 26. Steps 27 through 37 involve assembly of the machine guns and mounts, smoke dischargers, antenna mounts, and mirrors to complete assembly.

Painting and Weathering

There is only one scheme as I mentioned in the First Look- IDF gray and little to nothing for markings. Decals include rear light lenses, and identification number plates. A pair of large Israeli flags are there as well-- but nothing in the instructions refers to them. I am assuming one could fabricate a flag for the model but it seems quite large- not sure if its in scale? I used AMMO by Mig paints in their IDF set for the gray. Weathering was done with AMMO by Mig pigments and washes. I placed it on a base to help hide the awkward tire alignments. The well comes from Reality in Scale.

Conclusion

Despite the unwelcome surprise at the end of the misaligned wheels, I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of this build. Most of the build went swiftly and trouble-free, but I got hung up on trying to fix the alignment in the end- so let my troubles be your warning. There is very little available resource material on this vehicle due to its recent addition to the IDF arsenal- so from what I was able to see there were no real markings on these yet. I also wondered about the open space at the rear of the turret- I was unable to find evidence that this was used for gear stowage so I did not add any, but it sure seems ideal. If I ever come across more photos of these in action and see stowage there, I will add it then. Great fitting kit otherwise- a nice newly tooled kit from Hobby Boss!

Recommended for Intermediate to Advanced builders due to the complexity of the suspension positioning.

Thanks goes out to Model Rectifier Corporation for this review kit.

Reviewed by Michael Reeves, AMPS Albany

If you liked this review, consider joining AMPS. Your annual membership
includes six copies of AMPS's magazine, Boresight,
and helps to support our ongoing reviews.

Click here for more information about joining AMPS