Challenger 1

Manufacturer:Revell AG. (Kit #03110)

This is aremarkable model, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed building.Every new release of Revell's gets better and better, and this isone of their best. Some highlights of the kit include hardplastic, link and length tracks (very nicely detailed), a superb7.62mm machinegun at the commander's station, extra fuel drums,and an overall remarkable level of detail. The driver's andcommander's hatches can be positioned open, but unfortunately,the other three turret hatches cannot. The detail on the hullsides, behind the wheels is incredible. Too bad you can't see anyof it. But if anybody wants to do a diorama with some of thewheels off, you're all set.

Somedrawbacks to the kit: pioneer tools molded directly on the hull(but in excellent relief), open side hull sponsons above thetracks, poorly shaped smoke grenade launchers, and poor bustleracks (storage baskets) on the side and front of the turret. Thekit racks are plastic pieces with mesh patterns molded onto them,but they look very unrealistic. The only other way that Revellcould have done it is to include small pieces of mesh for themodeler to cut into shape (curiously, it looks like this is whatwas done for the pictures of the completed model on the boxsides.) Although I wanted to build this kit"out-of-the-box," I just could not force myself to usethe plastic racks, so I scratch-built my own from styrene andmesh. Unfortunately, I botched the one on the front left cornerof the turret, so that now there's nothing there :(

There aretwo stowage bins on the rear corners of the turret. They bothhave horrendous ejection pin marks inside the bins, which arealmost impossible to remove. I guess the best fix would be tofill the bins with stuff, and hide the marks.

Seeing asI did nothing special to this kit, there really is not much elseto say about it. Construction was very straight-forward, withabsolutely no hassles. Everything fit very well. According tovehicle's dimensions given in Jane's TankRecognition Guide , the model scales outvery well to 1/72nd. I guess if I had to find something elsewrong with the kit, I could mention that it's high time thatRevell started including tank crew figures with their vehicles.

The decalsare physically of very high quality (with the exception of somenumbers printed out of register). Regarding thinness, adhesionand lack of silvering, I'd say that Revell makes my favorite kitdecals. I question, however, the color of the SFOR and vehiclenumber on the armored skirts. The decals are printed in black,which is very difficult to see when applied over blackcamouflage. The box art shows these items to be printed in white,which makes much more sense, but I am not sure which one iscorrect. Also, the red and yellow stripes which were to beapplied to the rear fenders are far too large to fit, as is therear vehicle identification number also.

This modelis highly recommended.