see also Peter Hartup's RSO Reference Photos
| Catalogue No.: | 361 |
| Scale: | 1/35 |
| Media: | Injection Styrene |
| Review Type: | In Box |
| Rating: | Highly Recommended |
S u m m a r y |
| Contents: | 239 parts in tan styrene plus 8 clear styrene and two silver vinyl tracks. |
| Price: | not available |
| Advantages: | Provides third version of the RSO chassis and cab; adds some new details plus the very good Italeri PaK 40 kit |
| Disadvantages: | all the problems associated with the earlier RSO kits |
| Recommendation: | for all German armor fans |
F i r s t l o o k |
Just when many modelers on the Internet have happily written off Italeri as a serious
model company – wrongly so and with a great deal of prejudice – they begin to
release nice new kits like the schwere Wehrmachtschlepper and this one. Italeri has
combined their excellent PaK 40 kit as a towed variant with the upgraded RSO kit, this
time with the wooden "Einheits" cab. (I don't have full references, but it
appears that RSO/01 is the steel cab original model, RSO/02 is the armored cab model with
the PaK 40 in the cargo compartment, and RSO/03 refers to the late production
"Einheits" cab model.)
The kit comes with a choice of canvas top up or down, but the top is a typical plastic
effort and most advanced modelers will want to leave it off or replace the plastic
simulated side curtains with other materials. The model also comes with a set of
"Ostketten" plates carried on the side of the body and seven rounds for the Pak
40 (four full and three expended). Most modelers will want to replace the rounds with
better quality ones from after-market kits. While the PaK 40 has held up well over the
20-odd years it has been around, the rounds have not.
The kit is very cleanly molded, and most ejection pin marks are in inconspicuous areas or
where they are easily corrected. No sink marks were in evidence on any of the parts in the
box. The vinyl tracks are one-piece and very crisply molded. No method or instructions to
convert the "Ostketten" plates to mount on the tracks are included. A basic
interior is included in the cab area.
As was noted earlier, a number of modelers have unfairly bashed recent Italeri efforts as
they don't stand up to "the only kits to build". This is both an unfortunate
view of this company, and a really elitist approach to modeling. Some of the more eagerly
awaited recent Italeri kits have shown a decline in their molding process – some
steps being skipped or small to medium details molded on the model's larger components
– but their accuracy is not as bad as some would lead modelers to believe.
As a "put your money where your mouth is" rejoinder, I recently built the
much-maligned Panther Ausf. A kit and found it to be pretty accurate, with a match in
nearly all major dimensions and angles IF it is built with the add-on "Zimmerit"
armor as part of the model. (If not, it is slightly underscale.) I compared its major
details with a good set of plans drawn by Hillary Doyle and they were a near match. The
worst problem with the Panther was that its gun barrel was around 5mm too short and the
muzzle brake was a bit too small. The rest of the details could easily be fixed or
upgraded (most of the same things have to be done to the "only" kits as well to
get to the same level, namely etched brass and new gun barrels).
If you haven't picked up an Italeri kit because of naysayers like that, try one and make
your own choice. While they are more inexpensive and do need care in assembly, most build
into nice models and are pretty good value for the money.
Thanks to Dana John Nield of Borgfeldt Canada Ltd. for the review sample.
Go to Peter Hartup's RSO Reference Photos
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