Trumpeter 1/35 Italian Puma 4x4 AFV
By Joe Lotz
History
The Puma AFV was initially intended as a complement to the Centauro Tank Destroyer. The Puma family consists of the 6x6 and the 4x4. Most infantry regiments of the Italian Army are equipped with the Puma today. A total of 580 Puma’s were ordered for the Italian Army with 250 in the 6x6 and 330 in the 4x4 configuration. The armament consists either of a 7.62mm, a 12.7mm MG or as of 2007 a remote weapons station. The Puma is seeing extensive use with the Italian Army in Afghanistan and has been used on other peace keeping missions, like Kosovo, as well.
The Kit
This is another release in Trumpeter’s extensive line of post WW2 vehicles. The box contains 8 mostly small sprues, 2 PE frets and one single PE piece, 4 vinyl tires, 1 sprue with clear parts, 4 vinyl caps, the upper and lower bodies, a small decal sheet, the instructions and a two-sided color painting guide for a vehicle in either 3-color NATO camouflage or in white UN paint.
The assembly starts with joining the upper and lower bodies together, followed by adding the drive train and suspension. No engine or interior is provided with this kit.
Next in the assembly process is the rear body plate followed by adding a bunch of small parts to the body including tools, cable cutter, smoke granate dischargers, hatches, tow shackles etc.
This kit contains a lot of small parts as well as many PE parts. Some of the sub-assemblies are PE exclusively with no plastic alternatives.
All plastic parts are clean and crisply molded with no visible ejector marks or flash. The PE parts are covered on both sides with a protective plastic foil.
Conclusion
This is a very interesting release from Trumpeter. It will make a nice addition to every modern armored vehicle collection. It will nicely complement all those Strykers, LAV’s, BTR's etc. Due to the amount of PE and small parts I recommend this kit to more experienced modeler. Two thumbs up or Trumpeter for releasing another interesting and well detailed kit. I would like to thanks Stevens International for this review kit.
