The FV103 CVR (T) family of vehicles are small lightly armoured vehicles put to several uses by the British Army. The Spartan indicated here as they went out of service with the British Army were given to Ukraine to help defend their country during the present conflict. The Spartan in British use was an armoured personnel carrier however in the hands of the Ukrainians who knows exactly what its uses are. It does have a large offset fitted turret with armoured plates around the entire turret and a heavy machine gun mount is fitted in this offering but I am sure that other weapon systems could be fitted as desired when the need arises.
This offering of the Spartan APC with HMB Turret is I believe incorrectly titled as I do not believe it should be called the HMB turret and I'm not quite sure where this acronym came from, however it is what the model is titled. The model offering itself is well packaged and well protected with a flip top cardboard box with an additional card lid protecting the contents which are in a huge number of plastic bags. Before I get into the model i should say it has two things going for it one is that Gecko Models are very affordable in these days of rising prices and secondly Gecko Models provide a very high level of detail which sometimes puts them out of the ability of some modellers.
The model provides everything needed to produce a very detailed result including the addition of a decent amount of photo etch. The only thing I would have liked to have seen included that isn't present are some crew figures however I am sure knowing gecko that these will follow in time. Looking at the model the suspension elements of the vehicle have been well detailed and to keep everybody happy has been provided with link and length tracks as opposed to fully individual or for that matter rubber band tracks. The body of the vehicle is again well detailed and has been catered to in most ways that I would expect to find offered in a decent quality model. However for those modellers who wish to go the extra mile I am sure that a company such as scorpion should be able to assist in providing some aspects that would be usable on this release.
looking over the body of the modern i'm very pleased at what i see and there should not really be any need for further additions beyond what is included, however some modellers may know differently. The surface detail is pretty much spot on and once painted it should really stand out as a high point of this release. Two items that caught my eye as very pleasing are the fire extinguisher which includes a high level of detail and the stretches which are provided both Folded and ready for use.
Moving in to the turret which is basically flat pack to allow details on both faces plus the roof and floor have very good detail throughout. Construction of parts provided like this does require addional car to correctly angle and get all joints as they should be. Moving to the main gun and the heavy machine gun that's fitted really does not need any additional work other than perhaps an ammo belt and some additional ammunition boxes should you not be happy with what's being presented. Another nice inclusion by gecko within the model is also a decent amount of glazed plastic which is something many companies often miss and so I'm pleased to see that.
Gecko Models have only provided one finishing option and no details on what the vehicle represents are present; this is unusual for Gecko Models and so I can only believe it has not been clear enough to provide that data. Digital camouflage decals are provided but I would have expected to see more of it than what is included. Regardless of that I am pleased to see another release from Gecko Models of the FV103 CVR (T) family.