Spähpanzer 2 Luchs – Assembling
This Revell kit (no. 03036), which depicts a German reconnaissance vehicle used until a few years ago, is the first wheeled vehicle I have ever built. The model is quite big: its length is almost 22 cm (8.6 in), being the actual vehicle almost as large as a Leopard 1 tank.
In the box there are three green sprues (for hull and turret, for the suspensions and for the accessories) and a clear one for the lights; moreover, there are eight vinyl tires, a decal sheet, a steel wire for the aerials and, of course, the manual!
The overall quality is satisfactory, there are few fusion lines and no visible ejector marks. There is only a small gap between the two halves of the hull that needs to be filled.
The most challenging part to assemble is perhaps the suspensions. There are tenths of pieces forming an intricate system of bars and struts. Thus, additional care is needed when reading the instructions. It's a shame that most of this part will not be visible once the model is finished!
For the rest, the detail is quite good, except for the not-so-much-convincing folded camouflage nets.
I suggest to make a hole on the gun muzzle with a 0.5-0.6 mm (about 0.2") drill, roughly equivalent to the 20 mm (0.8 in) of the actual gun caliber.
I will remove the square box on the left side of the turret, that is the white light /IR projector, because this is no more present in the version A2 of the vehicle, which I want to represent.
