Russian 8x8 Armoured Personnel Carrier Bumerang

Zvezda, 1/35 scale

Reviewed by Andrew Judson

Summary

F i r s t L o o k

Zvezda has been around for a long time now, and have always been very prolific in the model industry, providing we modellers many choices in all areas and subjects.

Of late they have really started bringing out some great models with a whole new level of quality.

Here I have one of their recent offerings of the Russian BUMERANG, an 8x8 Russian Armoured Personnel Carrier.

The Boomerang is a personnel carrier, though it can also provide fire support for destroying personnel, anti-armoured weapons and light armoured enemy vehicles.

It is armed with a 30mm automatic cannon, 500 round capacity, a 7.72mm Kalashnikov MG with 2000 rounds and two twin Kornet anti-tank missiles.

The vehicle is crewed by three and can carry up to eight equipped soldiers.

Looking inside the box, there are five grey plastic sprues, the lower tub to the vehicle, 8 rubber wheels, a clear sprue, Decals for two vehicles, Some adhesive mirrors, a colour profile sheet, and lastly the Instruction booklet with 22 stages of construction. All seems well drawn and easy to follow.

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Before explaining the build, I must say that I was very surprised with the size of this vehicle. It is big and looks menacing.

The parts are very well detailed, and clean-up looks to be minimal. The vinyl tyres are very nice without any seam lines around centre of tread as usual with a new way of moulding them.

The build starts with the turret over the first seven stages.

The next three stages are building the upper deck and rear end, and then it is onto the most complex part of the build, the lower hull and driveline. This goes for the next ten levels, where you are building the drive line, water propulsion system and suspension.

Finally the last two stages are the final assemblies of the upper deck, placing on the turret and putting on the wheels.

A clear sprue contains is supplied.

It is nice to see the inclusion of self-adhesive reflective mirrors.

Decals are minimal on both variations. Green, just the striping and star up the side, Camouflage, none.

In summary, this is a very nice offering of this vehicle, and if modern armour is your interest or just big wheeled vehicles, this won't disappoint.

Thanks to Paul Skuse of Last Stand Hobbies for sample kit https://thelaststand.com.au

Zvezda kits are distributed in the UK by The Hobby Company Limited www.hobbyco.net