Italeri

Semovente M43 da 105 / 25 “Bassotto”

This new tooled kit from Italeri builds the most powerful armored vehicle used by the Italian army in World War II. The “Bassotto” was based on a widened, lowered hull from the Italian M15/42 tank design and featured a casemate mounted Ansaldo 150/25 howitzer. This vehicle was made in relatively small numbers beginning in 1943, with limited use by Italian forces before the Italian armistice of Sept. 3rd, 1943. Following the Italian armistice, this vehicle was used by the Germans, and Italian forces remaining allied with Germany.

This kit provides interior parts for the crew / fighting compartment, if you’d care to open the large hatches on top. There are no engine parts provided.

What’s in the Box?

This kit came housed in the standard tray and lid box, with the sprues in cello bags. Some parts were observed to have broken off of the sprues, and contained by the bags. No major damage to the parts was otherwise observed. 

The parts quality is quite good, with no deformation, “short shots”, or sink holes to be seen. No flash is evident, with mold seams or sprue attachment points not appearing to be a problem. The parts are molded in a dark, shiny green ( which created some slight issue with my sprue photos having glare on them, sorry….). The fine detail on the parts is very crisply molded.

Sprue A - running gear, suspension parts

Sprue A detail view - note the tiny, clean holes in the road wheels

Sprue A detail view- the drive sprocket halves.

Sprue B - hull and detail parts. The kit provides both German AND Italian pattern Jerry cans.

Sprue B detail - the arrow shows a broken off axle. Luckily it was in a bag.

Sprue B detail view- nice detail on the bottom of the hull. Sadly this will be unseen unless you’re really creative.

The above parts had been separated from their sprues, the missing broken off axle is in the center of the photo

Sprue C - hull and casemate parts

Sprue C detail - hatches

Sprue C detail view

Sprue E - interior and misc parts

Sprue F, plastic main gun halves, gun mounts

Sprue G (x2) - link and length tracks, ammunition, more Jerry cans

Sprue G detail - Jerry cans, also, both German and Italian helmets are supplied in this kit

Sprue G detail - the tracks look quite nice

Sprue G detail - various calibers of ammunition is supplied

The photoetched fret is nicely made, as is the turned aluminum main gun tube. The tube has no rifling at the muzzle end.

The decals provided are for four paint and marking schemes, two German and two Italian. I’ve always found Cartograf decals to be top shelf.

Above - the instructions are well drawn and uncluttered.

Above - full color guides are provided for a total of four paint and markings schemes.

Conclusions

Parts quality with this kit is first rate, with no issues noted. The detail on the parts is very finely rendered. The supplied fret of photoetch is well made and seems quite appropriate for a vehicle of this size. The link and length tracks appear to be easily assembled, and the option of using a turned aluminum main gun tube is nice. There are roughly 100 parts marked not for use, so your spares box will see a boost.

The instructions do not appear to present any difficulty, and finally, the Cartograf decals (as always) look to be superbly printed.

This model would not be appropriate for a North African campaign use, as it was over when this vehicle came along. However, this vehicle would be correct for use in Italy by Italian forces during the defense of Rome, and post Italian armistice by the Germans.

This kit appears to me like it will be a pleasurable build. Please stay tuned for the full build review of this kit!

Highly Recommended (pending full build)

Thanks to Model Rectifier Corp. for the review sample

Reviewed by Chuck Aleshire, AMPS Chicagoland

AMPS 2nd Vice President, Midwest Region 

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