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| Development of the West German Luchs (English= Lynx) began in the mid 1960's to fill the requirement for a fast armored reconnaissance vehicle with all-terrain performance and amphibious capabilities. |
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Production began in 1975 and continued until 1978 with 408 vehicles delivered to the West German Army's armored reconnaissance battalions. |
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The 4-man crew of the Luchs was well protected in their day, with an NBC protection system, a a quiet engine, a top road speed of 90 km/h (55mph) and steel armor to stop 12.7mm rounds. The Luchs was equipped with forward-facing and rear-facing driver positions which was convenient for "peak and scoot" missions. |
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The Luchs is armed with a turret mounted 20 mm Rheinmetall main gun and a 7.62mm MG3 machine gun mounted on a ring above the commanders hatch. |
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| About the kit: Revell of Germany is one of the best places to look for kits of modern/cold war German armor vehicles, and the Luchs is a fine example of the high quality kits they produce. |
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The level of detail on this kit is very good, with separately molded pioneer tools and towing hardware. |
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| It would have been really nice if Revel could have included open crew hatches and the early model spotlight but it's difficult to complain since the rest of the kit is so well done. |
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The tires are molded in three parts (outside, middle, inside) which allows for a really nice tread pattern all the way around with no flash or loss of detail.
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All pioneer tools and are molded separately and really well done. Hand rungs are very thin, still too thick for scale but possibly as thin as they could be molded and acceptable to me.
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| The kit comes with markings and instructions to build 2 different NATO camouflaged vehicles, I decided to stray from the path and build an earlier West German vehicle using decals from my spares box. |
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| As usual, I cut small pieces of transparent sequins to size and glued them to the many periscopes which works fairly well to represent glass optics. |
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| One very impressive thing about this kit is the suspension and drive train. This is one of the most detailed undercarriages I've ever built, Revell really deserves credit for this little masterpiece. |
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| This kit is a gem, superbly molded, highly accurate, with great detail. I'm very happy with how it turned out and enjoyed the process of completed it. |
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Kit: Revell #03118 |
Scale: 1/72 |
Value:
At a retail price as low as $15.00 (US) at time of writing (2016) this is a very good value. |
The Kit:
168 parts are molded on 4 dark green sprues. 18 page instruction sheet printed in black and white. 1 decal sheet.
All parts are molded crisply with no flash to speak of and fine details. Fit is excellent throughout.
Assembly starts with the suspension which is one of the most complex and detailed you will ever see in this scale, taking up the first 22 steps of the instruction sheet. The end result is an accurate representation of the real thing. Each tire/wheel is molded in three pieces of front, middle and back section which allows for really nice tread detail.
Pioneer tools and towing accessories are molded separately and well done.
All hatches are molded shut. The main gun is designed to elevate and turret can traverse. Propellers can be positioned facing fore or aft.
I started with a base coat of Tamiya Acrylic XF-51 Khaki Drab but then applied several color filters of red and brown to get to the correct (close) West German "Yellow-Olive".
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Modifications:
I used small pieces of transparent sequins for periscopes and optics. I used decals from my spares box to represent a West German vehicle, pre-unification. |
Decals:
Decals and instructions are provided to build either a KFOR vehicle in Kosovo 1999, or GECONSFOR vehicle in Bosnia 1998. The decals are printed in perfect registration on a nice thin carrier, completely opaque. |
Conclusion:
This is an excellent kit, highly detailed and good representation of the real vehicle. Recommended highly for experienced modelers who will appreciate the high level of detail in the complex suspension.
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