Artesania Latina 1/75 Viking Longboat Wooden Ship Model Kit

The model is well moulded and when assembled looks good. Assembling it is awkward. There are instructions but they don;t show which way up parts should go. It is entirely possible without care to assemble the side sections so that one is facing the wrong way! The model kit lacks lugs or pins to help locate small bits, making it a very frustrating model to make at times. The final bit if the assembly the rails to hold the de-trenching bar, which is not included in the kit, are in 3 bits and are thin and very flimsy, making them extremely difficult to get into the right place. I left them off as I wanted the model for a wargame and left them off as they would not stand being handled. If the model had locating holes and had the rail moulded in one piece it have have vastly improved the assembly. The box model also shows the rail attached to the top of the tank by two supports, but on the model there is only one, which makes it harder to get thethree parts of the rail to glue together in the right place. Once made the kit paints up nicely and looks really good. The kit includes decals to make several versions, including a captured one, which is very nice If the kit had been better thought out when it was made, and had included pins and lugs to help fix parts in the right place, and the rails had been a single part, I would give the kit fives stars, but as it stands it's 3 stars.

The kit has quite a lot of detail and seems quite accurate to a real Mark IV female tank. The kit doesn't fit together very well and I had problems with gluing the tracks as they are rubber but very poor in quality. Even though it is difficult to assemble the kit it looks good when finished. I cannot say I recommend this kit though.

I have made a few Emhar kits (Mainly WW1), and I can't fault them. These kits are ripe for modification, i.e. Fascines, unditching beams and so forth. Add into the mix Wonderlands great service and you can't go wrong.

Model arrived safely and on time as expectedl. Well wrapped up. Comes with DVD so instructions need to be printed out. But not a problem as long as you have DVD player on computer. Looking forward to starting.

Hard work but worth it...!