I couldn’t resist. Two weeks ago I have decided not to wait any longer and ordered the Meng’s D9R kit from Luckymodel. Having noticed that the price difference between the regular and speed delivery wasn’t that huge I went for the latter. And I was not disappointed. As promised, 3 days later big box from Hong Kong landed at my doorstep (compare that to the performance of Canada Post – it took 2 weeks to deliver letter from Port Elgin to Mississauga – 200kms! Pity.)

That’s perhaps the first thing you will notice, the box is larger than the usual model boxes. To understand why, you have to look inside. This thing is going to be big. Literally, having seen just parts will give you understanding the size of the mode. And wait, till you start putting them together.

Even the cursory check of the content and look at the sprues left me impressed. Quality of molding is first class. Details are sharp and crisp. Tiny things like storage box latches are extremely well done and even if any aftermarket producer will come out with photoetch replacements, I don’t believe they are going to be worth it.

For me this kit is special. It is the “put-everything-down-and-build-me” kit. I saw photos of the real machine long time ago in books. I jumped up when Vajra released it in resin, just to be cooled down by the price. Luckily I skipped Vajra’s offering.

I have already started building the model and must say this is complex kit. The way the kit builds is very well thought out and implies complicated molding of individual parts. You could worry about the fit given that complexity, but Meng did a great job. Fit of the part is Tamiya-class. There are still small gaps to fill and seam lines to clear, but the complexity of this kit is way beyond what Tamiya has ever done (maybe with the exception of FAMO trailer, but even this is still behind), so I am OK with it. Definitely not a build for a beginner or a weekend project. You will have to plan construction phase carefully as the model has quite a bit of interior, which is closed once completed and a lot of windows made of clear blocks have to be inserted into a plastic frames and you will not be able to do so after assembling the plastic parts, so you will either have to paint them in pieces first and then put together or do bit of masking.

There are reviews with a lot of pictures online already, so I only made few to illustrate the level of detail and finesse that I like. If you call yourself a modern armour fan, you should already have one (or have one ordered)…