S-65 Stalinetz Engine Upgrade Set
Trumpeter 1:35 Scale Kit #35405
Preview by Terry Ashley
With a combat weight of 11.2t the Stalinetz S-65 was used to tow heavy ordinance most notably the B-4 203mm Howitzer and ML-20 152mm Howitzer-Gun as well as recovery tasks with many being captured and used by the German Army to tow a variety of loads.
LZ Models have released this resin update set with a highly detailed Stalinetz M-17 18.5 litre 4 cylinder diesel engine to fill the engine bay void to give a new dimension to the Trumpeter kit.
As LZ Models have also released a replacement radiator cover (set #35406) with the correct Russian lettering this is just a preview of the engine set contents with a full build review to follow when I receive the radiator cover.
The set consists of 41 parts in light cream resin, 29 etched parts, 5 lengths of wire in various thicknesses plus a small decal sheet and Mini CD disc with the .pdf format instruction and marking guides.
The standard of resin casting is first class with no air holes or other blemishes and just some fine resin film and the casting plugs to be removed. This is a very easy task due to the small contact points between the parts and the plugs, even on the larger parts only a #11 blade is needed to remove the plugs and clean up the parts.
There are some very small resin parts that need care cleaning up and during assembly but overall the kit shouldn't pose any problems for modellers with only modest experience working with resin and etched parts.
The instructions as mentioned are included as a .pdf file on the Mini CD provided but to access this you need a computer with an opening CD tray, most desktop PCs have opening CD trays but quite a few newer Laptops come with slot loading CD drives and you can't use the Mini CDs with these drives. Fortunately I had an older laptop with an opening CD tray to access the files. I would also advise you copy the .pdf files to your local hard drive so you don't need to keep accessing the Mini CD, keeping this as a back-up.
The instructions consist of photos of the actual resin parts during assembly with the parts numbered and other locating instructions included, as with any instructions you should study these before hand to understand the sequences to avoid any problems.
As mentioned, when I have received the replacement radiator cover a full review on assembling the engine and radiator as well as fitting to the Trumpeter kit will follow.
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