Stalinets S-60
1/35th #063
Review by Terry Ashley
The Kit:
This is a full resin kit with additional etched parts to build a well detailed
kit of the Soviet Stalinets S-60 artillery tractor of WWII.
The kit has 120 resin parts in a pinkish resin (with 9 in clear resin) plus 70 etched parts, a small vac formed cab cover as well as a well detailed instruction sheet.
The quality of the resin parts is excellent with clean crisp details with only the usual casting blocks and some thin resin film to be removed from the parts. Some of the smaller parts will require a bit of care when removing the casting block but should pose any real problems.
The kit is very well detailed with a full multi-part engine and transmission
with additional etched parts and the front radiator is of particular note with
good details on front and rear as well as the manufacturers name in Russian
down the sides.
Additional wiring can be added the engine and this is shown in the instructions
and includes the fuel lines to the large fuel tank mounted on the rear left
of the tractor.
The main chassis is in one well cast piece to ensure proper alignment and
is cast perfectly straight while the suspension is made up of separate road
wheels, drive and idler wheels as well as link and length track. The top and
bottom runs of track are in one piece each with individual links to go around
the drive sprocket and idler wheels, some care is needed when removing the
casting block from the individual links as the demarcation between the part
and the block isn’t that clear at times.
Quite a few etched parts go into the suspension units and make for a better
appearance than if these parts were in resin.
The engine/transmission and suspension are the main components of the kit as you would expect but there is also a nice driver’s cab with seat, control levers and top cover in vac formed plastic card and feature etched frame and supports.
The instructions are very good for a full resin kit with 30 sections with line diagrams showing the locations of the resin and etched parts as well as the extra wiring that can be added. The diagrams are quite clear and should make the construction easy but as usual careful study of the instructions and test fitting before gluing will help.
Conclusion:
In all a well detailed kit with excellent details on the parts with plenty
of etched parts to add finesse, the good instructions will also make the
jog easier to produce a nice model of this unusual but interesting subject.
Recommended.
Page created 4 January 2004