British Army Husky TSV

Meng, 1/35 scale

Reviewed by Andrew Judson

Summary

F i r s t L o o k

Meng Model has been on a real roll of late with a lot of great new releases hitting the shelves, and here we are greeted with yet another.

When I heard of this Husky TSV, Tactical Support Vehicle, being released I must say that I was very keen to get my hands on one.

The British have always been known for developing small well-armed vehicles right back to WWII and even beyond. The Husky is a modern far more superior development of that tradition. It provides good protection to those crewing it, it is fast, light and able to handle the harsh environments it has currently served in.

This variant is armed with a 7.62mm GPMG mounted in a small roof mounted turret. It is crewed by four troops and used in both combat and logistic support operations.

Now for the fun part - what is in the box? Firstly, there are six tan coloured sprue and the three main body parts, four vinyl tyres, four poly caps, a sheet of photo etch, a comprehensive decal sheet, a coloured profile sheet and a 23 page instruction booklet. The total parts count comes to 320.

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Thumbnail panels:

Looking at the parts, they appear very crisp, with no flash. Detail is to a high level.

The decals are well printed, and be prepared to lay down quite a few, 42 to be exact, and they are tiny.

Looking at the instruction booklet, it is well illustrated, and the build sequence is straightforward with 33 steps from start to finish.

Assembly starts with the underside, which has a good level of detail showing all the suspension and under armour over five levels then if moves on to the front end, hood and bumper bar over four levels. Next it moves onto the cabin area, with a well detailed interior and plenty of detail. You will need to paint this up before enclosing it up. This is all in nine steps. The next seven steps are finishing off the cabin, with doors weapons turret and other external details. We now move onto the rear cargo compartment over three steps, followed by wheels and accessories over the final five steps.

The photo-etched fret supplies mesh, mudguards and treadplate.

A clear sprue is included with the windows and various light lenses.

The vinyl tyres are well moulded with no visible centreline seam.

I must say for a small kit, there is a terrific amount of detail in this one, but I like that it is modular, making it easier to paint and bring out as much detail as possible for the modeller.

Painting gives you one choice, British Sand, but weathering this will be fun with streaks and dust effects, or one can do it as a clean vehicle.

C o n c l u s i o n

In summary, I am very happy to see this release, and would say that it is a great kit with plenty of bang for your buck, and a welcome addition to the range of modern vehicles available. I recommend this one to all who love modern subjects, or want to try something new.

Thanks to Meng Models for the sample www.meng-model.com