ATF Dingo 2 A2.3 Sicherungsfahrzeug

Resin complete kit for a vehicle in 1:35 scale

Review by www.panzer-modell.de

The kit includes 100 resin parts, plastic injection molded clear parts, PE parts and a decal sheet.
The resin parts there are of the finest quality. Not only excellent, error-free casting without distortion, air bubbles or silicone tearouts, no, the details are also very fine and sharp. The bonnet with the KMW logo and the cooling fins and the side walls with the rivets are particularly pleasing. The whole thing continues with the beautifully designed chassis frame, axles, etc. The sprues of the parts are quite different but always chosen wisely in terms of model making - on the tires, for example, the sprue is not on the profile surface as is so often the case, but on the inside where cleaning is much easier. With a few exceptions, the sprues are all quite small and easy to remove - only on the chassis frame and the superstructure is there major sawing work.
The tires are very well and finely reproduced with the correct profile and what pleased me the most are the details and the manufacturer's imprint on the sidewalls! The imprint does seem to be raised - but it's better to go over it with sandpaper than to have tires without an imprint.
Where I couldn't stop being amazed was that the interior is quite well equipped and the parts are of really impressive quality - the seats are well-made bucket seats like the original and a phenomenal dashboard. There is certainly still room for more details on the interior - but will you see that later? Where other manufacturers add transparent film to cut out windows yourself, Y-models offer injection molded window parts that are easy to press into the openings - great!
PE parts were used for the rather filigree appearances for the crew - a good decision. What is pleasantly surprising is that the license plates are also available as PE parts - which I think is innovative since the Dingo has actual embossed license plates rather than painted ones. You just have to paint accordingly!
Another plus goes to the decal sheet - super and cleanly printed. The selection is very good with 4 different number plates, MLC plates, Iron Crosses, tactical signs of two mountain infantry units, as well as excellent equipment for ISAF operations: German flags, green iSAF emblems, recognition angles, new ISAF crests and a large red shield in Arabic Distance warning language and pictogram.

For a small series manufacturer, the assembly instructions are really pleasingly good and, above all, well thought out. What is pleasantly noticeable is that the parts overview and assembly stages all consist of color photos. these are sharp and well lit and especially in the construction stages with clearly recognizable markings and designations!
But I think the biggest plus is the textual instructions for the construction - here you are introduced again to the procedure AND you get useful tips on which points you have to watch out for, so that there are no fitting problems later! Color schemes are specified in RAL colors, which allows every model builder to convert to their preferred colors. A 5-page camouflage plan is included - but it's way too small for me personally. In addition, there are 3x 4-page photos of built and painted models in Nato Flecktarn, camouflage color with yellow, brown and green, as well as camouflage color with brown and yellow only!