IDF Accessories

This offering from AK in 1/35th scale of IDF Accessories I suspect will find a great number of modellers looking for it. IDF modelling has become very popular of late, judging by prices on places like Ebay for such products.

Review

This offering from AK arrives in a card end opening container, which offers a limited amount of protection for the sprues inside. An examination of the sprues reveals no issues with flash or the like. Access for removal of parts is generally good, but while this is called IDF accessories not everything is purely IDF in nature. Inside the carton is a re-sealable plastic bag containing an instruction sheet, paper maps, and what I believe are magazines, and a good decal sheet. The plastic parts are in a re-sealable plastic bag, with one of the two sprues inside another bag. I am just going to break this down into a list as there is very little I can say about it.

The maps and magazines, cover the correct areas are well printed and in the case of the magazines provide that human element that can be hard to place in a setting. 

Tools are provided in the form of a shovel, a pick, and a spade and they are what they are.

Three types of fuel and water container are provided, as well as mounting brackets for the addition to a vehicle, but no photo etch strapping is provided to secure them within their holders. Tamiya tape should suffice for this purpose. 

A hand operated vehicle jack, with a very high lift capacity is included. This particular items is an interesting item as while I have seen its little brothers, I have never seen one of this size.

Radio equipment - You are provided with a two piece radio set, this is provided with a separate mounting bracket and shelf, a speaker and mouth piece of two designs, only requiring the addition of cable in some cases. A hand held radio is provided similar in appearance to an 1980s mobile phone, but what I believe is described as a field radio handset. In addition to this, radio antenna mounts are provided, along with the angular portion of the antenna and these have been provided both straight and bent. Also provided in this vain, are brackets for mounting to a vehicle and then adding the antenna mounts to those. Lastly two personal radio sets have been provided.

Personal weapons have been provided in the form of 3 Uzi machine guns, 1 with extended stock, 1 with retracted stock, and 1 with a fitted wooden stock. One is a Galil rifle, there is also an Israeli bi-pod mounted machine gun, but I have been unable to identify  this to my satisfaction. The weapon is very similar to the FN Mag GPMG with the stock being the area I question. 

Common items, are provided in the form of tools boxes with the option of them being open or closed. MRE boxes, unusually made in injection moulded plastic with the option of being open lor close. MRE food pouches and cans, various designs of Thermos flasks, a gas heater, a water storage dispensor, plates, bowls and cups, trays and portioned food serving plates that I always associate with American films, and the last item is a bucket.

Conclusion

This offering from AK has a nice assortment within. That said, while this does make for a nice one off purchase, I think I would have preferred to see this released as two or three separate sets, with a higher number of the individual items therein. I feel, that they would likely have sold better in that way. I can’t knock the offering, as it provides a nice mix of products for the modeller, I just would have liked to have seen more of each part.