LW:s 1/72 Russo-Balt 1914 Russian Armored Car
 By Matt Bittner

The LW Russo-Balt consists of 23 short-run, injected plastic pieces. There are no decals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The plastic pieces can be considered a little bit "chunky". However, this really has no effect on the overall build. Since the "chunky" pieces make up the main body, the kit is engineered so the "chunkiness" resides on the inside so none of it is visible. This is good.

 The tires are very well done and will look great with the proper weathering. This shouldn't be a difficult model to assemble, although there is some head scratching to figure out where some of the smaller parts fit. (Click on the thumbnail below to see a scan of the kit parts.)

Construction starts with assembling the main pieces into the body of the vehicle. Don't forget to add the gun barrels prior to closing everything up. 

These are probably best replaced with either white metal from Aeroclub or resin from your favorite WW1 aftermarket parts maker (for example, Rosemont Hobby Shop). Construction continues - and finishes - by adding all of the lower sections of the vehicle to the main body.

While detail overall is nicely done for a short-run kit, there is one area I have contention with. LM molded all the rivets on separate, raised "plating" off the main body. You can even see from the header card that this is not the case. So, there is a lot of work ahead, sanding off all the raised "plating" and replacing the rivets. I'm not quite sure if LM was following plans or photos of some different machine, but all of the photos I have seen of the Russo-Balt show the rivets applied directly to the body. Yes, tedious, but not beyond an average modeler.

Conclusion
This truly isn't a bad kit, and is actually done very well for the first effort from LM. I have been told that LM currently has no other models on the market, but that may change. Recommended if you don't mind a little work sanding, and re-adding rivets.

For another review of this kit, click here!