Panda PAN35001 1:35 M-ATV MRAP Model KIT

Sadly, 3 stars is high. Kundos for beautiful detailing on the parts. Tons of parts. Easy to read instructions.. Faults; So many parts are so small, using a new knife broke them. Need small tweezers and magnifying glass sometmes. Brass laser cut parts. Nice touch..Unless you have childs hands, good luck bending any part to fit. No suspension part fit. Everything had to be drilled to fit. No big deal. Once flashing removed, doesn't fit well at all. Assembly of each axle doesn't line up after glueing together. This is not my fit model kit, in fact it's ove 250. I may have had bad luck, but I rate this at the experienced level builder. Notes; Pre-assemble suspension before using glue. Ue vi for building frame. This vehicle is my daily job for 4 years, so I'm excited to have my own display with all my photos. I'l try this on again soon..Wish it was in 1/24 scale..Good luck building..

It was not fun attempting to assemble this model. I give up. It is going to the trashcan. Pieces did not fit together. The directions were difficult to interpret. There are many tiny parts. There was no paint guide even though the instructions said it was included.

Just need the other versions to go with it now.

I don't write a lot of reviews. Sometimes I write one if a product really impresses me. Sometimes I write one as a warning out of compassion for my fellow man. This is one of those.This kit isn't all bad. I'll give my impression of the different aspects of the kit, sticking with the star thing. Subject: 5 stars. There are not a lot of MRAP family models, so it's nice to see them coming out. This is one of two kits of this subject. Side by side reviews of the two indicated that this was the better of the two. If that is the case, I am scared of the other (Kinetic) kit and I am not afraid to admit it. Plastic Parts: 3 stars. The molding on this kit ranges from barely identifiable blobs to intricate detail. There is flash on some parts that would cause a 1970's MPC or AMT kit to point and laugh. A few small parts did not form completely. Very inconsistent. Photo Etch: 4 stars. Really good for the most part. Some parts, like the interior racks are very small and 'fiddly' and may cause you to use words your mother wouldn't be proud of. There are a lot of brackets, etc. on the real vehicle that can only be done realistically with PE, so this is a nice addition. Most parts fit well. Some have to be trimmed or drilled out. A couple don't fit at all. There are 3 PE sheets. The parts are laid out for etching, not for building. At times you are getting parts from all 3 sheets for one assembly. A nice feature of the PE is that there is a clear plastic film front and back. You can peel the front off and leave the back film in place so when you cut pieces from the sheet they don't launch skyward. Overall fit: 2 stars. This is another emotional roller coaster. Some parts fit so well it makes you say things like 'wow' or 'ooh'. Other parts fit so badly they make you say those other words we talked about earlier. This goes for plastic to plastic and plastic to PE fit. I have decided that this kit was designed by 4 pretty sharp guys and one dimwit who spent half his working hours drunk, none of whom ever spoke to each other. This is the only way to account for the flashes of genius and the poor fit issues. Most places where one part fit into or through another had to have a hole drilled, a tab cut down or off or some other major adjustment. I do mean major. You will not find the precision of Tamiya or Dragon here. Tires: 5 stars. They are vinyl which is a love or hate thing, but they are well done with Michelin on the sidewalls and no pesky mold seam to clean up. Yes, the vinyl tires get the high score. Decals: 4 stars. I have not used these yet so I can't comment, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt. Instructions:1 star. This is where things get ugly and where the title of my review came from. I give these a single star only because they give you instructions. (Deep breath). The instruction sheet is full of errors. Incorrect, similar-looking parts are called out. If you don't catch these, it creates cascading failure in later steps (trust me). The suspension arms and some other parts are called out on the wrong sides. They fit, but they are backward. Locations are vague. Some parts, if put on in the sequence per the instructions, make subsequent parts difficult to install or fit poorly. There are no clear folding diagrams for the PE. Most of the time this is okay, but some can be fairly complex. Some parts are not even mentioned by number. They are just there in the picture and you have to figure out which part you need. I think the instructions were done by a sixth guy who never met the other five, never saw any parts and found out he was getting canned before he finished, so he just didn't care! The last page, marked 'Decal and Color' has a small 4 view illustration of the vehicle in black & white. No colors are listed or remotely hinted at.All the fit and instruction problems can be overcome if prior to starting you get as much reference material as you can and look up all the build reviews you can find on the web. There are some that go through the major instruction errors. Conclusion: As I said, if you go into this prepared with references and be ready for the fit problems and lousy instructions, it can be done. This is a complex kit. The driver's seat assembly consists of 16 parts. Each of the four suspension assemblies consists of 16-18 parts. This can make for a high level of detail, but can also lead to a lot of aggravation due to nothing more than sloppy engineering and poor quality control. Some people like this type of challenge. A certain amount of it exists in every kit, but with the state of the art and the cost of kits today, a kit like this shouldn't feel like it was designed 40 years ago.Only recommended for Experienced modelers who want to build an M-ATV now rather than wait to see if a better company issues a kit of this subject.

I brought this model years ago and set down to work on it a little before I had to pack up and move cross country. The fist thing I noticed is there are a TON of tiny little pieces. This wasn’t a big deal to me but if you don’t want to sit there and mess with a bajillion tiny pieces this probably isn’t your kit.First up, some pieces are very nice and intricately detailed and some look like something you’d find on a cheap kit bought at Michael’s. In all fairness, the transmission and everything under the main chassis is going to be covered up by an armor plate anyways, not to mention sand, dirt and mud that most people will no doubt weather this model with.The next thing I immediately started to notice right away were horrible fit issues and instructions that made placement hard to figure out. Several pieces I had to just use my best guess on where it went. Again, I’ve been building models for years so am used to it. Some kits are just like that and I can always figure it out. But this was ultimately a game breaker for me; the fit was that bad and I’ve never said “are you kidding me?” so many times when trying to put together a model. I feel like two separate companies made this model. One was a great company who had great attention to detail and precise engineering and another company working out of a basement with a cheap 3D printer and imprecise blueprints.Ultimately I just quit out of frustration because I have such a pile up of models to work on that there’s no sense in me spinning my wheels on this one even though I really love the MRAP and if you can get past the fit issues and so-so instructions I feel you’ll end up with a gorgeous model.