Model Armour

SAS 4x4 Desert Raider

Manufacturer: Cyber-Hobby

Scale: 1/35

Material: Styrene & photo-etch

Serial Number: 6681

Price: Unknown

FULL BUILD: CYBER-HOBBY - SAS 4x4 Desert Raider

Introduction

Released as a white boxed, limited edition kit, this model from Cyber-hobby arrived a little out of the blue, and yet the earlier release of a 1/6^th scale version should have offered a clue as to the appearance of a smaller version.

The Kit Contents

The kit arrives in a smaller than usual top-opening box, inside of which there is one large sprue of grey styrene, plus seven smaller ones, a transparent one plus separate chassis and body. The moulding, as expected is extremely sharp and precise, with no flash, and no problematic ejector pin marks either.

The construction begins with the assembly of the drive train, suspension and wheels onto the one-piece chassis. Each of the wheels is in two pieces, but not halves. The inner tyre sidewall being a separate insert, and six wheels being supplied of which two are spares for stowing on the rear of the Jeep later.

The first stage assembly consists of separate and highly detailed elements to represent the front and rear axles, drive shaft, suspension leafsprings and steering mechanism which is non-steering. The instructions show slightly different parts to those supplied, with various locating points missing on the actual parts, so constructing the steering mechanism should be done carefully, and test fitting will be necessary.

Once the chassis is complete with drive train, suspension and wheels, construction then begins on the assembly of the engine, which is fairly complete and together with the separate part to represent the engine hood, allows the possibility of maintenance dioramas with the addition of some wiring etc. Wait until you see the superbly moulded spark plugs! There's even a nicely rendered radiator and cover, which is fairly important given that this is represents a desert version as used by the precursor to the SAS and had most of the front grill removed to aid cooling. There's even a cylindrical condenser to fit to the front of the grill, which was used to reduce water loss from the cooling system. If you do choose to display the engine, then you will have a few ejector pin marks to deal with on the inner surface of the bonnet, which would otherwise have remained hidden. The two bonnet lathes are supplied as photo-etch, which I'm not an admirer of....I always think they look too flat and injection moulded parts would have been far better.

The upper body to the Jeep is also provided as a one-piece slide-moulded part complete with floor and front fenders, which is gently fitted into position once the engine etc., has been assembled to the chassis. Various pedals, along with the steering column and separate dashboard are then fitted, for which there are decals provided to represent the dials along with various data plates. Moving to the rear of the vehicle, the two spare wheels are fitted and the two metal wheel channels fitted over these are supplied as photo-etch. There's a fully detailed .50 cal Browning machine gun provided for mounting in front of the passenger seat, and twin Vickers K machine guns for a pole mount in the rear of the vehicle.

One thing very characteristic of the vehicles used by the SAS at that time, were the amount of stowage they carried in terms of supplies. Towards representing this, Cyber-Hobby have supplied photo-etched racks for both the bonnet and rear sides of the vehicle. They also supply twelve highly detailed Jerry cans for fitting in the racks, which are all German, but were used in preference to the British 2 and 4 gallon containers that were prone to leak. Each of the twelve jerry cans comes with a photo-etched insert to represent the seam and they fit too.

Conclusion

Beautiful model again from Cyber-Hobby, superbly engineered and a much wanted variant...most modellers will really want to stow this one up to the gills with extra ammunition etc., and it's a pity there isn't any extra ammo cans etc., provided in the kit, but don't let that put you off, as you've a good start with all those jerry cans! Recommended!

My thanks to Cyber-Hobby for the review sample.