The Type 89 Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) has an interesting fact: depending on where you get your sources, it is rather expensive to build. The highest estimate that I could find puts it at a whopping $5 Million USD, compared to the Bradley's $3 Million USD. Thankfully, Trumpeter's offering does not cost that much, and I was able to snag this kit for a paltry sum of only around $15 USD.
The kit:
I was pleasantly surprised to find the kit shipped in a rather sturdy cardboard box. Unfortunately, in my excitement to complete the build, I failed to take a photo of it.
Inside are five sprues, the lower hull tub, vinyl tracks, poly caps for the wheels, a sheet of transparent plastic, some vinyl tubing and a sheet of decals.
This being an older offering, some flash and odd ejector pin placement is to be expected.
The build:
I decided to start off with the turret, since I wasn't looking forward to assembling the roadwheels first.
The turret itself came in a few subsections, with the vision ports, smoke grenade launchers and anti tank missiles being separate subassemblies. The instructions indicated that the vinyl tubing was to be attached to the missile launcher, adding another welcome bit of detail to the kit. I decided to add some bits of stretched sprue to the smoke grenade canisters to stand in for the chains, since the kit was lacking that detail.
To my delight, Trumpeter made the hatches movable after assembly. This is a huge plus in my opinion, despite the ejector marks in the hatches since some newer kits still fail to do this. The gun can be traversed up and down and, with flap being made out of vinyl, does a huge favor to the posability of the vehicle.
I was unsure if the real steel counterpart had a anti-slip coating on its hull, since it was inconclusive from what photos I could find. Some images that I did manage to find seemed to suggest that there was something of the sort, so I decided to go ahead with it.
Honestly, I wasn't really concerned if it ended up being incorrect - a future build needed anti-slip anyway so I figured that it was a good chance to get some practice.
Trumpeter had decided to opt for a vinyl mesh for the headlight coverings. I would have preferred photoetch, since the mesh had to be glued in rather crudely with PVA glue. Thankfully, it's hidden inside the assembly so you can't really see the end result.
Some of the issues with it being an older offering cropped up here, with the most notable being the multiple gaps along the model: the lower hull and sides had tiny, but visible gaps when fitted together. There was also a fine gap where the upper and lower hull connected together, along with gaps where the gunports were connected to the sides of the IFV. Finally, there was also ejector pin marks on the covers for the viewports. Thankfully, I was able to resolve these problems with a liberal application of putty, patience and sanding.
Other than the massive amounts of flash on the vinyl tracks, the assembly of the wheels was a pretty standard affair. They do have poly-caps sandwiched in between them, but unfortunately, there is not enough play for them to spin freely.
That about covers the building process. For the sake of being a build review, I shall conclude the review here.
For those interested, here's my take on the finished product:
I'm rather proud of the mud and grime, since it's the most weathered I've made a subject so far for my foray into modelling. Maybe I'll post the painting process in the future, but we will see. Right now, I'm more interested in reviewing the build process, since there seems to be a serious lack of this.
Final thoughts:
While this kit is not the best fitted, with its massive hull gaps and lack of anti slip, it does provide the modeler with an opportunity to build a rarely covered subject. It is reasonably priced, and the extra crewmates are quite a welcome addition. However, I wouldn't recommend it for the beginner or someone looking for a casual build as you will need to use quite a fair bit of putty to hide its flaws. But with enough time and care, it will definitely turn out to be a unique and interesting addition to any hobbyist's shelf.
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