Brief History

Typhoon is a Russian family of Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armoured vehicles in service since 2014. Around 120 Russian companies including KAMAZ, Gaz-Group, and Bauman University, etc. are taking part in Typhoon program. The main aim of the program is to design a fundamentally new unified platform for all Russian armoured wheeled vehicles.

The history of the "Typhoon" family began in 2010  when the Minister of the Russian Federation Armed Forces approved the "Development of Russian Federation Armed Forces military vehicles for the period until 2020" program which includes the "Typhoon MRAP program". The first vehicles were shown in 2011.

Designation K-4386 Typhoon-VDV Mine protected armoured personnel carrier.

K-4386Typhoon-VDV is a part of the family KAMAZ Typhoon for airborne troops, which has a mine protection hull.

The development of the project for a new armoured vehicle for the airborne troops began in late 2015, and five months later the first prototype was launched for testing. Among the requirements for the vehicle - the possibility of parachute landing, as well as protection against small arms and mines.

The vehicle is driven by a KAMAZ 610.10-350 350hp diesel engine - produced under Cummins license in Russia. The power pack allows the vehicle to move at a top speed of 105 km/h with a range of up to 1200 km.

The vehicle has an EPOCH remotely controlled weapon station with a 2A42 30-mm gun, developed by the Central Research Institute Burevestnik.

Contents

The box in which the model kit of the Russian KE4386 typhoon the DV armoured vehicle is a normal cardboard box with a lift-off lid, the artwork is quite good.

Inside of the box we have five sprues in light grey moulding all individually sealed in plastic bags for added protection, the moulding looks crisp, there is also the body of the typhoon and armoured back door, a bag with black rubber tyres, a small bag with four springs for a movable suspension.

One clear sprue for the glazing and finally the instruction booklet decals and small photoetch.

Review

On opening the Meng box and looking inside you just know that it is going to be a good kit, well at least that is what it looks like, so let us take a proper look and see.

Starting with the main body of the typhoon its detail is what you come to expect from Meng, I have many of their kits and I have not found any major faults in any of them. The main body is nicely done in one piece so the bonnet roof and side panels showing a particularly proficient level of detail with clear and precise panel lines added protection armour and a small observation or surveillance hatch on both sides of the vehicle towards the rear which contains bulletproof glass.

Looking at some reference pictures everything appears as it should, a good amount of detail that includes the side bonnet clasps, a closed hatch on the top of the roof mid to rear section.

The chassis, V-shape, helps deflect the force of an explosion and shockwave of up to 8kg of TNT the detail of the chassis clearly shows the v shaping and added armour plating being placed over the axles during the build. A nice touch to the build is the hydraulic rods which are spring-loaded allowing independent movement between the wheels.

Talking about the wheels, the hubs have some nice moulding of a series of bolts holding on some armour plating, rubber tyres tread is of an off-road tread and is it branded and includes moulding of the tyre size!

Moving onto the office the driving seat and passengers’ seat both carry separate armour-plating and mine blast resistance seats, the whole of the cockpit is enclosed with armoured plating in and is self-contained. The dashboard has impressive detail moulded in with various switches computerised screen able to display various images depending on the use at the time.

The combat module control panel inside the back of the Typhoon has a control system with sight and remote guidance the vehicle is equipped with a communication complex and automated control the main weapon calibre is 30mm with an auxiliary gun 7.62. The seat configuration in the back is three seats on the left-hand side as you look in from the back of the Typhoon with two seats on the right-hand side one of these is for the operation of the RCWS remote-controlled weapon station the detail of which is spot on when I compared to the RCWS from the internet.

Another part worth noting that again gives a full representation of the real thing with amazing detail (little things and all) is the front grille which Meng has made a photoetch wire to fit on the inside of the grille.

The doors are interesting, and you can genuinely see where all the blast protection comes from with each layer getting progressively more armoured which Meng have replicated extremely well in line with the real thing.

The instruction booklet is 25 pages in total, with the build is over 35 separate build sections all of this does look reasonably straightforward and easy to follow. There are two painting schemes option A Army 2017 International Forum, Kubinka, Moscow, 2017 Russian green option B is a Russian tri-colour camouflage

Conclusion

In keeping with all the Meng models that I have or have reviewed; they are usually really good in detail which this one is, room for improvement of course but surely as long as Meng still continue in the same fashion and upgrading as they go along, then I do believe one day soon they will be setting the benchmark for all the other manufacturers. Should I recommend this kit then it has to be yes, it is a really good kit and if you, like me, like modern Russian armour with very good detail then this is a real solid kit with amazing detail throughout most of the build I would totally recommend this kit it is a Meng kit they all (so far) build into a very good build.