Ace

1/72 Uniform Chassis Medium Staff Car Kfz. 21

Kit Number: 72261

Reviewed by  Grant DeRue, IPMS# 42477

MSRP: $10.80 Kit supplied by HobbyTerra.com Website: hobbyterra.com When the package arrived at my door to build this kit, I had no idea what to expect. I've never owned an ACE kit, nor have I seen the contents of one of their model kits. When the package arrived, it was an envelope, and I got nervous. Actually, in the envelope was a box top for an ACE kit, so I assumed that the kit was shipped this way for the review. Due to the packaging though, one of the parts within the kit was broken. Part 58, the right side doors and window frames of the vehicle had a broken window frame. With a little superglue and a flexi-file, the part was like new. Upon opening the envelope, I saw a lot of parts with a moderate amount of detail and a good amount of mold flash. There are 77 styrene parts in the kit with many of the parts being small and somewhat delicate. The mold flash wasn't difficult to deal with, but the radiator (part 8) and the convertible roof (part 55) had a lot of extra plastic that couldn't be removed without removing surface detail. The radiator got a lot of work with a hobby knife, and the convertible roof had a lot of work with a file and water-soluble putty. Decals were provided for three different vehicles. Two of the vehicles are in gray schemes with emblems and flags. The third vehicle is the one that I built with a camouflaged yellow scheme and simple registration markings. The decals for the gray schemes appeared to be out of register, so I avoided building the gray versions all together. The decals that I used went on flat paint without silvering, and the decals conformed to the curves of the kit. I did use Microscale products to aid in decal placement. The directions are two sides of a sheet of paper, black and white, and are easy to follow. Decal placement diagrams and a parts map were included. There were three patterns provided in the directions for making your own windows. I did this using the package for a Hot Wheels car. I could have done a better job, but it was the morning of our local show, and I wanted this vehicle to compete. Building the kit was fairly simple. The most difficult part of the build for me was the suspension. I don't know quite how I did it, but one side of the vehicle is higher than the other side. I do not blame the kit. The kit went together fairly easily. The only difficulty that I had with the build was between the left engine cover (part 9) and the chassis/fender assembly (part 15). The engine cover just would not fit the curvature of the fender. I cut off a lot of material to aid the fit, but I ended up cutting off too much. With a bunch of water soluble filler and some wet filing, the part looked like new. My favorite parts of this kit are the engine lovers and the wheels due to their very light and clean detail. I painted the kit using Tamiya acrylics. The door skins, seats, and convertible roof were painted panzer gray per the box art and were dry brushed with light gray. The base color was panzer yellow with Nato green and Nato red/brown for the camouflage. A highly diluted coat of buff (beige) was placed to blend the colors together and to dull the black tires. A raw sienna enamel was used to highlight the low areas, and a white and yellow mix of artist oils was used for highlights with a dry brush. It took me 10.5 hours to complete this kit. This is about average for me with a small-scale kit without tracks. With the small parts and the addition of windows from patterns, this kit is probably not suitable for a novice modeler.

I took the kit to ROCON (the Rochester HSMA show), and the kit took a 2nd place in the "soft skins - all scales" category. Not bad. Did I like the kit? Yes. Will I build another? Yes. I just ordered an Ace Dingo (kit #72248). I'd like to thank Hobbyterra.com and IPMS USA for providing me with the opportunity to review this fun little kit.