Trumpeter

1/35 KZKT-537L Tractor

Kit Number: 01005

Reviewed by  Bruce Drummond, IPMS# 37265

MSRP: $94.95 Website: www.stevenshobby.com First allow me say thank you to Stevens International and Trumpeter for the kit which I received to review from IPMS/USA. A quick history of this brute. In a nutshell and after searching the web somewhat all I could discern was that it was designed for towing the AN-22. A rather large beast of an aircraft, the largest flying living room in the world! The Kit I requested and must admit that when this kit was sent to me I had NO idea what it even looked like and as I rarely do ‘modern armor’ I was stunned when I opened the shipping crate. "What is this?", I thought. Basically, it’s an airport vehicle! Oh my god, I’m having a massive at this point, and so I opened the kit box. This puppy is well detailed, impressive in size with 8 (giant!) rubber pneumatic tires. Now for the parts count: 453 total; 439 gray plastic with 14 pieces of clear ‘glass’. Add to this, 37 pieces of Photo etch on 2 frets (All this and still more!). To round out the balance of parts, including the 8 large tires, is a length of cord to represent the tow cable, a decal sheet and a mask set for the glass, and finally, a color sheet offering 2 types of camouflage. The first is a 2 color type: light blue cloud pattern on green overall. The second is a 3 color type: light blue cloud pattern with black outline on green overall. The instructions contain 17 steps to build the KZKT. Thay are pretty straight forward and easy to follow. Some care and thought must be given to some of the build steps - a few I will cover in the build section. The Build All glass parts were attached after the major components were built and painted. As I always do, I attached them with white glue. I read through the instructions first to sort out which items should/could be painted before construction begins - such as with the wheels. I built the hubs first, and sprayed both the wheels and hubs at this early stage so as not to slow down the actual vehicle build. The interior bench seats were also sprayed at this time. Steps 1 – 7 These steps concern themselves with the building of the chassis, and as I mentioned above, this was relatively easy to do due to well designed locating points, allowing for this large structure being built straight forward. My only confusion with this section of the build, is the way the universal drive shafts for each wheel have no real attachment point; it just hangs in a large hole in the rear of the axle drum itself. It worked. After all 8 Wheel ‘A’ Frames are built and attached, you will be able to articulate the rear 4 wheels independently for a more dramatic base creation. The Front 4 wheels can be adjusted by cutting and adjusting the shock absorbers. Note – All corresponding lights, warning and reflectors as well as any lighting lenses, were left off until the chassis was complete and ready for paint due to handling challenges. The interior is as basic as can possibly be. It consists of 1 slab bench, 1 plastic or photoetch dashboard option, 1 each gas/brake pedal, 1 gear shift, 1 floor mounted steering shaft and 1 steering wheel. Two doors with handles on both sides and an imprinted interior are also included to compliment the vast expanse of the cab section. After I completed building the interior, having used the photoetch dashboard, and leaving the seats and steering wheel off; I masked the area for painting with painters Blue Tape (low tack) by simply matching a strip of tape wide enough to span side to side with the front edge of the bench compartment. Trumpeter has no listing on their color sheet for the colors mentioned in this step for the interior. I checked the numbers printed with a Mr. Color Chart found on the computer and was given H320 - Dunkelgelb mixed with H11 – Gull Light Gray. I used Modelmaster Dunkelgrau and cut out the middle man and wastage - both time and materials. I then sprayed the 2 sections of the slab seats and steering wheel separately, using Modelmaster aircraft black (for airbrushes) as I like the soft patina and impression it gives. I hand painted the turn signal device on the steering column with black (as indicated) and then added the steering wheel itself. The dashboard assembly was parted from the fret and the burrs removed to clean it up. I added the hand rail at this point, and the two small devices to the top of the dash (wiper motors?). This was then sprayed Dunkelgrau and set to dry. When dry, I dropped a diluted wash of dark gray into each gauge lens to denote the dials; with a coating of Micro Clear applied over them after drying. The dash assembly was glued into the front cab with a small plastic wedge placed behind it for support. Finishing off the chassis with the additions of the shocks, brackets and drives are added to the chassis at this point. Note - if you plan to articulate the front wheels then I suggest that you leave the shocks off until articulation for proper or better placement. Step 8 – 17 The upper body starts with the fuel tanks. Please take note that when it comes time to build these tanks that you do so 1 at a time to stop any confusion of parts placement Note - If you detach and clean all parts in one session then extreme care must be taken to properly match the proper side. Failure to so will give you 2 confused issues that will be hard to correct. The Photo Etch Gauge wire to be added goes from the plain side plug to the top. This is followed by the power takeoff and generator housing. And to complete the front end, the side fenders were also built and attached. This was straight forward with no complications and a very nice fit. The wheels and hubs were then spray painted with Modelmaster aircraft black prior to their being build and attached to the chassis. I have to admit that I was concerned with wheel alignment, but all came out relatively true after the wheel attachments. Now for the Crew Cab. I first drilled out any holes indicated for later fittings, then added all door handles. Jumping a step ahead, I also added the photoetch dashboard, handle and wiper motors. I left the bench seats off and sprayed the complete interior and inner doors with Modelmasters Dunkelgrau. When dry, I bled, a thin mixture of dark paint onto each of the large gauge dials, repeatedly, until the desired effect was affected. These bezels were then coated with Micro Crystal Clear to represent the glass. The cab was not added to the chassis until the last moment for ease of handling and fit. Gas cans and their racks are now built and placed onto the forward fenders Note - Please note that on my example that some care must be taken when settling the Cab down to the Chassis due to the vehicles steering wheel and gear shifts being very close to interfering with each other. DO NOT force it down but settle it carefully and there should be no problem. The cargo bed is the next assembly to follow. No guesswork or bad fits here. Some care must be taken at this point due the photoetch to be used for the rear end and the mud flaps. The flaps are easily attached with the PE support bracket being added. Care must be taken when attaching the bed to the chassis. In step 4 there are two mounting brackets that are NOT numbered but added to the chassis top rail. To avoid confusion, I left them off and attached them to the bed prior to the bed placement. This eased in locating them properly. After the bed was placed and the issue settled, I threaded the cord provided to represent the vehicles cable. I stained this white thread with several applications of a thinned solution of Polly S Grimy Black until the desired color was reached. The small hook provided was drilled out and the cable threaded through, bent back on itself and glued. I laced this through one of the two cable keepers on the rear and attached the hook onto the hitch. All the rest of the remaining pieces were added as per instructions. At this point I added the emergency lights (which had been painted separately) to the various attachment points. This was then followed by the application of the decals, 2 on the front bumper and 2 on the rear water shields. After they were placed I followed up with Micro Sol to settle them down over any bolts etc. They are a bit thick and I did have some small trouble, but they eventually settled down to a tolerable acceptance. I believe that between the tall bolt heads on the front bumper and depressions on the triangle at the rear, anyone may have a bit of settling trouble with the version I built (airport). I can only wonder about laying them over the raised photo etch plates on the front. This is not a hard build, but can be somewhat unwieldy when handling - I kept on having to reattach some of the lights and PE constantly. It finishes into quite a nice kit and it will take up the same space on your shelf as a Towed vehicle would. Enjoy!