Takom AML-90 (Falklands War)
Posted: 01 Jan 2019, 00:35
Bought this little kit last year as a bit of a "postage filler" as it was on sale. These were used by the Argentine forces in the Falklands war along with American made LVTP-7s. They are cheap, and with the low velocity 90mm gun, reportedly could take on older generation tanks. They saw armoured warfare on one occasion versus UK Scorpions, but it was a bit of an impotent fight with both sides withdrawing without scoring any hits. There are a few lying abandoned around the Falklands, and two made it back to Bovington where one is on display.
I was going to go straight OOB, but reviews point out the supplied wheels and tyres are the wrong size and pattern. I also like using aftermarket resin wheels with the "sag" effect so my only deviation to the OOB plan is to use these;
They also have the advantage they come with a pre-cut mask, both "inner" and "outer" to suit those that paint the tyres then the hub, or those going the other way round. Only one mask is provided for each wheel, they will restick for the back surface, but it won't be seen anyway and clean up can be achieved with a small amount of brush work.
The kit itself is in the usual Takom "soft" styrene that cracks easily if your sprue cutters aren't sharp, and also has the usual large sprue gates that Takom favours. Despite that the details appear crisp, there are only very subtile mould lines and almost no flash I can see. There are pieces provided for two variants, the major difference being in the turret and engine air intakes. Colour profiles are provided for 5 vehicles, IDF, Argentine, French etc with the colour call outs and profile pics done in collaboration with Ammo of Mig. This is where it looks tricky, to decide which of the two variants to build you have to study these small colour profiles carefully then match it to the instruction steps, there is no clear call out that you have chosen to build variant 1 or 2. Luckily the differences are minor with the most visible being the turret stowage options.
A minor point on colour. Mig calls out quite dark earth and green colours for the Argentine variant. The box art depicts this version but with much lighter colours. Pics of the vehicles in the Falklands show a number of colour variations and the one on display at Bovington yet another colour scheme. This provides me with no clear guidance, but also opens the door to some artistic licence
I want this to be a fast, uncomplicated build. Everything I did last year was either fiddly, had a "full interior", aftermarket PE and parts, or all of the above
I'm home alone today on call, family is away, so am writing this whilst taking a building break. Have managed to get to here so far;
The hull is broken down into a large number of flat panels assembled on a one piece tub. They are all butt joints so you have to be careful to line everything up. I used a slow setting cement so I have a bit of "play" and it was also advisable to cut out and clean up everything first then do a bit of dry fitting. Overall the fit to far has been spot on, only very minor sanding required for a tight fit.
More to follow...
I was going to go straight OOB, but reviews point out the supplied wheels and tyres are the wrong size and pattern. I also like using aftermarket resin wheels with the "sag" effect so my only deviation to the OOB plan is to use these;
They also have the advantage they come with a pre-cut mask, both "inner" and "outer" to suit those that paint the tyres then the hub, or those going the other way round. Only one mask is provided for each wheel, they will restick for the back surface, but it won't be seen anyway and clean up can be achieved with a small amount of brush work.
The kit itself is in the usual Takom "soft" styrene that cracks easily if your sprue cutters aren't sharp, and also has the usual large sprue gates that Takom favours. Despite that the details appear crisp, there are only very subtile mould lines and almost no flash I can see. There are pieces provided for two variants, the major difference being in the turret and engine air intakes. Colour profiles are provided for 5 vehicles, IDF, Argentine, French etc with the colour call outs and profile pics done in collaboration with Ammo of Mig. This is where it looks tricky, to decide which of the two variants to build you have to study these small colour profiles carefully then match it to the instruction steps, there is no clear call out that you have chosen to build variant 1 or 2. Luckily the differences are minor with the most visible being the turret stowage options.
A minor point on colour. Mig calls out quite dark earth and green colours for the Argentine variant. The box art depicts this version but with much lighter colours. Pics of the vehicles in the Falklands show a number of colour variations and the one on display at Bovington yet another colour scheme. This provides me with no clear guidance, but also opens the door to some artistic licence
I want this to be a fast, uncomplicated build. Everything I did last year was either fiddly, had a "full interior", aftermarket PE and parts, or all of the above
I'm home alone today on call, family is away, so am writing this whilst taking a building break. Have managed to get to here so far;
The hull is broken down into a large number of flat panels assembled on a one piece tub. They are all butt joints so you have to be careful to line everything up. I used a slow setting cement so I have a bit of "play" and it was also advisable to cut out and clean up everything first then do a bit of dry fitting. Overall the fit to far has been spot on, only very minor sanding required for a tight fit.
More to follow...