The KTO Rosomaks are an 8-wheeled multipurpose family of vehicles similar to the German Boxer in operation with the Polish Army. The KTO stands for Kotowy Transporter Opancerzony, Polish for Wheeled Armored Carrier, and Rosomak means wolverine in Polish.
This is a licensed-built version of the Finnish Patria Armored Modular Vehicle which has seen service in Chad and Afghanistan, where the Taliban nicknamed it the “Green Devil.” The originals, painted NATO green, were hard to knock out and had potent firepower.
This is IBG Models’ first release in a series and features the 30mm ATK MK 44 chain gun. The model is molded in pale yellow plastic; a clear sprue includes lights, front light covers, and armored windows. Vision blocks are yellow. Two photo-etch (PE) frets are included with RPG mesh, hatch handles, and door hinges. The PE was hard to remove from the frets; I had to cut parts off the trees with new scissors.
The level of detail is high, with all of the rivets and anti-slip strips faithfully reproduced. An engine, fairly complete hull interior, and turret basket are included, as is interior hatch detail, but there is no detail in the turret. Also, the gun is glued in place with no option to elevate.
Fit is good and knockout marks are minimal, but assembly instructions are sketchy. If you’ve built an IBG kit before, you will be familiar with the directions: CAD drawings with exploded views and completed steps. But some parts are not numbered, wrongly numbered, just floating in air unattached, or not shown being assembled but appearing in a later step. However, with a little patience you can easily sort it out.
I left the engine out since it can’t be seen once the hull is assembled.
I found the suspension assembly frustrating. Directions say to assemble it entirely and glue it to the hull later. That’s logical for painting, but I had problems and found it easier to glue the transfer cases, drive shafts, and frame to the hull first, then glue the lower suspension arms to the hull and the shock absorbers to the frame. This ensures the suspension sits at the proper height. Then the rest of the suspension can be added to ensure everything sits straight.
Parts A35 are curved, but the directions do not show which way they go. I did not glue them in place so I could rotate them later.
Directions are vague as to how parts A25 and A26 attach to the upper and lower suspension arms. I made an educated guess. But when gluing the wheel parts together, be sure to follow the directions; the tread pattern is directional. There is a large seam running around the interior of each wheel that will interfere with gluing the outer wheel halves.
Interior assembly had no surprises. I glued the chair frames (PE17 and PE18) to the inside of the hull instead of to the chairs, allowing the chairs to be painted separately. I also left the driver’s control panel for separate painting.
The tops of the shock absorbers extend to the interior, interfering with some components, so they need to be removed. Exterior components can be added once the interior is painted and the upper and lower hull halves glued together. I removed some upper hull detail that was interfering with Part J7.
Assembling the RPG screen was difficult, as the thin screens are hard to remove from the fret without damaging them. There’s not a lot of surface area to attach each screen. So, contrary to the directions, I glued the screens to the fragile frames from the inside using copious amounts of super glue to attach them.
The directions show only a sand-colored vehicle using Model Air, AK Interactive, and Hataka Hobby colors. I had Model Air 71.075 sand (ivory) but found it too light compared with Internet photos. So, I used Tamiya wooden deck tan (XF-78) to base-coat the model, then added Tamiya yellow (XF-3) and white (XF-2) to warm the tone. I finished with washes and filters.
The directions mention no detail painting, so I resorted to photos for guidance. The decals showed no silvering but did not like to be moved. Make sure you put them where you want them the first time. The No.7 circle decal is too big to fit on the hull’s rear and needs a trim to fit.
This is one big model, measuring more than 9" long and nearly 4" tall, almost as large as many main battle tanks. With painting the interior and complex suspension and RPG frames, this took 51 hours to complete.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the March 2017 issue.