Scale: 25/28mm - about 5"/13cm long when completed.

Parts: Base kit is 47+ resin pieces

Instructions: Multiple page diagrams and text

Decals: None

Molding Quality: 8 - a few flaws with pin holes and voids, most fixed by manufacturer before shipping

Detail: 8

Accuracy: 10 ... considering they're original designs

MSRP: $25D (~€ 29 EUR) APC, $30 USD (~€ 40 EUR) HFS available from DLD Productions

Overall Rating: 9 for a resin kit this was way up there in quality and the price is great when compared to some other kits

Well, DLD Productions has released a line of science fiction APCs and variant kits for you.

Image: What comes in the box

Image: Exterior detail pieces

Image: Interior detail pieces

Image: What comes in the box

Image: Gunner figure and seat

Image: Interior detail pieces

Personally, I do not like resin kits all that much - there's usually a lot of cleanup to do before you can start building. When these kits arrived at my door I was very, very surprised. DLD did most of the really dirty work for me; most of the voids were already filled, flat surfaces were sanded, and excess flash was trimmed off. I was greatly impressed. Small parts were left on "sheets" of resin flash, making them easy to find before trimming and less likely to break during shipping, but thin enough that it just breaks right off the piece with little effort. The only problem I saw was on the front glacis of both main bodies had some pin holes, but this was easily fixed or covered over.

The Instructions

The instructions are very comprehensive, even compared to some main stream model companies. Each page has step-by step instructions, each with a picture and a possible conversion idea or a helpful tip (like "Use Tweezers Here"). All pieces are labelled in the directions, which I think is a very nice touch, so that I know what I will be painting later.

The Kamodo (All variants)

The main body is 2 pieces with a open compartment space, engine space, and space to place the commander in his copola. The vehicle travels on eight wheels with seperate shock struts. The pilot compartment is a seperate piece with its own hatch that can open on hinges and an optional view slit that can be positioned raised or down.

Both kits also features smoke dischargers, headlight assemblies, and extra armour strips to hide the seam lines on the front glacis and two accessory pieces (one with a gas tank, the other with a storage box) that cover the back seam lines. The completed model measures 13 cm long x 7.5cm wide x 6.5cm high.

The APC

The APC kit consists of over 70 resin parts. The kit features opening hatches for the engine, top hatch (optional), commander's hatch with elevating machine gun, and rear ramp. These function through friction holding the pieces in place. The top deck can also be left removable so that you can swap it with the HFS kit if you needed the HFS for a coming battle.

The kit also features pieces for the interior - a tread plated floor, benches for infantryman that can be assembled down or stowed, a door leading to the front compartments, and some optional wall panels.

The HFS (Heavy Fire Support)

The HFS kit consists of over 90 parts (primarily resin and some plastic sheet). The HFS comes with a rotating turret with elevating gun complete with a weapons engineer seat, a different top deck, and a different back door. When assembled the turret can be removed. Most of the doors, like the APC, function by friction. The top deck, again can be left removable so that you can swap it with the APC deck.

One of the best features of this kit is the details used in the turret controls from the targetting panel to the control stick. I have decided that I will use some of the pieces from the second kit for another model that I was planning on doing a Cut-Away view for.

Major Pluses: Details, Details, and more Details... Just knowing that some work was done by DLD gave me a warm fuzzy feeling.

Minor Failings: The main glacis had some pin hole issues, but the rest of the main body was fine. A couple of the pieces did not mold well, such as the handles (BOTH) and the cooling pipe (HFS). The handles have to be very carefully drilled out. If care is not taken, they will break. The cooling pipe I just replaced with spring wire instead.

Major Failings: None.

Assembly: This is going to be real quick to assemble, I can tell already...

DLD is constantly making sales and other offers that make their products a bargain for the quality products that they create. It is definately worth the price if you need some ground support vehicles for your wargames.

NOTE - After I purchased these kits, DLD has removed the interior pieces and made them seperate kits, to lower the costs. I do not know what exactly was removed, but the interior to the HFS is definately worth getting.