Molded in tan plastic, HobbyBoss’ ZSL92 infantry fighting vehicle features excellent detail with an impressive lower hull that has fine weld seams for a one-piece casting. The six tires are molded in hard vinyl. A small photoetched-metal sheet provides screens for the intakes, a perforated heat shield for the exhaust, and delicate brush guards for the headlight assemblies.
Decals are provided for two vehicles depicted in the full color painting guide as well as additional numbers in three sizes if you want to change the vehicle number. If you like the box art, a full-color print of the artwork is included (suitable for framing).
You might think there is flash on the edges of the upper and lower hulls, but don’t remove it – it is a weld seam.
The main springs are molded in halves, which requires a bit of work to eradicate the seams. I added the rear plate to the lower hull but left off the pioneer tools and rear step. Normally I would cement the upper and lower hulls together before adding the details, but their fit is excellent and I wanted to install the front windows after the camouflage was painted. I was able to hold the hull together while painting the camouflage pattern. All of the hatches and doors are separate parts and can be posed open or closed, but there is no interior so I had to glue them shut. The two front windshields are die-cut from clear plastic sheet and are thin and crystal clear.
Assembling the turret was problem-free. While the guns can be built to elevate, because the connecting links for the sensor door are molded as one piece, I cemented the guns in a fixed position.
I had problems with Tamiya acrylic paint sticking to the vinyl tires, even though I scrubbed them with Fantastic and treated them with Poly-Prep before painting.
The main headlight and turret spotlight lenses are molded separately – but, unfortunately, in tan plastic, not clear.
All of the photoetched-metal parts fit very well, including the headlight brush guards. The decals are very thin and will not tolerate heavy handling. Since I chose the markings for the vehicle wearing the parade whitewall tires, I kept weathering to a minimum.
HobbyBoss’ ZSL92 IFV possesses good detail and excellent fit. Any modeler familiar with handling small parts should be able to assemble the kit with no problems. It only took me about 19 hours to complete mine.
The finished kit matched the dimensions in length and width exactly to those I found on the
Military Today website. However the kit is a scale .25" taller than the stated height. I suspect that, like the Chinese military, HobbyBoss will issue a family of vehicles based on this six-wheel chassis.