Airfix 1/76 Saladin Armored Car

Well you know things are getting out of hand in the fanboy world when a British armoured car from the 1950s has its own Facebook page. Strange but true.

This 6 wheeler had an 8 cylinder Rolls Royce engine and a 76 mm cannon. Built from 1959 to 1972, it weighed 12 tonnes when all tooled up and could go 400km before running out of gas. It seems to have been fairly versatile, remaining in service with smaller countries until recent times. 

This little gem was originally made by a company called JB, which was bought out by Airfix. In 2008 Airfix released this and a few other JB kits.

It's a neat and basic kit. Nicely moulded, with simple detail. I guess for serious armour modelers, it may not be up to scratch (considering what you can get these days). But in this scale, and of such a relatively obscure vehicle, I suspect it is quite popular anyway.

It doesn't have much detail behind the wheels, nor are there many smaller parts to give it the busy appearance military vehicles really have (lots of grab handles, attachments, etc).

The pintle mounted machine gun is pretty awful and I recommend replacing it or just leaving it off.

It comes with a small decal sheet containing number plates and small unit/regiment badges.

In summary, nicely moulded but basic indeed. Looks like a fun build out of the box and if you had the inclination, a good basis for further detailing.