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Hobby Boss British Challenger II MBT

Catalog Number: 84852 Manufacturer: Hobby Boss
Published: Monday, June 23, 2025 Retail Price: 49.99
Scale: 1:48 Reviewed By: Russ Clark

British Challenger II MBT by Hobby Boss 1:48 Full Build Review


Welcome to the full build review of Hobby Boss's new tooling 1:48 scale British Challenger II MBT. The first look review can be found at the following link...

Hobby Boss 1:48 British Challenger 2 MBT First Look 

The Kit

Simply put, this model was a pleasure to build. Everything fit together pretty much perfectly. Very little clean up was needed other than normal areas where the parts were connected to the sprue. I had no issues with any of the parts physically or cosmetically. The whole process went smooth and so quickly that I had to make it a point to stop and take photos. This was my first 1:48 scale armor model. Anyone thinking of giving 1:48 scale a try must seriously consider starting with this kit.

 The Build
The build begins like most armor models. Step 1, 3, 4, and 5 assemble the drive sprockets, road wheels, and upper track rollers. Polly caps are sandwiched between the two halves of the road wheels. Step 2 breaks up the assembly of the wheels with assembling the front glacis plate. 

Step 6 attaches all the road wheels, drive sprockets, rollers, and glacis plate to the lower half of the hull. At this point I would recommend holding off on attaching the two drive sprockets until the very end when attaching the link & length tracks so the sprocket teeth and track links line up. 
 


Steps 7, 8, 9, and 10 assemble and attach all the parts to the rear of the hull. The two fuel drum halves go together well however there is a seam left behind that will need a little work to remove.



Two Jerry cans fit nicely between the two fuel drum mounting brackets. Step 11 starts the assembly and installation of the tracks. Step 13 attaches the upper hull and rear plate to the lower hull after the tracks have been installed. You can leave the tracks off for painting purposes and slide them on from the rear at a later time as long as the drive sprockets can be removed. In these pictures they are not glued on.



 

Here is the finished hull. You can see some of the molded texture on the surface of the hull. The two tow cables on the sides do not have any cable detail molded into them. The model would benefit from some after market tow cables or making your own. As for assembling the track sections, I glued together the 4 groups of 5 individual links that wrap around the 2 drive sprockets and 2 front tensioner wheels. When the glue was almost dry but still flexible I wrapped them in their locations and let dry fully. Once dry I attached all the wheels and sprockets to the tank and started gluing on the straight track sections following the directions. I used masking tape to hold the sections in place while the glue dried. I did not glue the top run A19 to links A9 at the front tensioner wheel. By leaving that one spot free to come apart and the drive sprockets free to come off, the whole length of track can be slid out from the back. I repeated the same process on the other side. 

Step 12 begins the assembly of the upper hull. I went ahead and attached the upper hull to the lower half before adding all the small detail parts making it less awkward to handle and easier to deal with any fit issues before any fragile parts have been added. 



Step 14 begins the assembly of the Turret. Building the two hatches and smoke dischargers kicks off the turret build followed by attaching them and a few other small details to the turret. Building the two piece barrel is next in step 18. I was very impressed with the two piece barrel. This type of barrel makes it easy to hide the seam however the two halves fit together so well, not much work would be needed even if the barrel surface was smooth.



Step 19 finishes up the turret. The barrel is sandwiched between the upper and lower halves of the turret. The machine gun and antennas are added along with the turret rear panel. The same texture found on the hull is also on the turret. All the parts fit together perfectly. Finally step 20 concludes the build, marrying the turret and hull, adding two rear view mirrors, and the side skirt armor. 




Painting
I decided to go with my usual choice of paint colors similar to the box art. With the tracks and wheels removed everything received a coat of primer and then a base coat of Tamiya Nato Green. Then using masking putty I applied the camo pattern using Nato Black. Tamiya XF-85 Rubber Black was used to airbrush the rubber around the road wheels. The appropriate sized wheel mask was used to airbrush Nato Green in the center of the road wheels. Finally a coat of Tamiya gloss clear was applied over the whole model. The decals were applied following the guide labeled #1 followed by a second layer of Tamiya gloss clear over the decals. Once fully dry a simple pin wash of black and dark grey oil paints to pick out the details in the model. After drying for a few days a coat of VMS XXL Matt was airbrushed to create a matt finish and a few details hand painted. 









Conclusion

I was pleasantly surprised by this model and feel thankful to be able to review it. Being my first 1:48 scale armor kit I didn't know what to expect but I can say this kit set the bar fairly high. This kit would be perfect for the experienced modeler looking for a quality 1:48 Challenger 2 kit and work just as well as a gift for someone young looking to start out in the hobby. Either way the modeler is going to be happy and satisfied with the outcome. Thank you very much for the opportunity to do this review. I am honored and look forward to the next one.

Highly Recommended for Beginner to Advanced builders.

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

Reviewed by Russ Clark



 

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