The KTO (Kolowy Transporter Opancerzony : armored personnel carrier) Rosomak is the Polish army personnel carrier vehicle based on the Patria AMV. The production of the Rosomak started in 2003 and 690 vehicles of different types have been delivered to the Polish army.

The Rosomak infantry fighting vehicle is fitted with a Oto Melara Hitfist turret armed with a 30 mm Bushmaster II automatic cannon and a 7.62 mm UKM-2000C coaxial MG. It features an advanced fire control system, thermal sights and a Obra laser warning system associated to 6 81 mm smoke grenade launchers.

The vehicle weighs 22 metric tons and can reach up to 100 kph on road. It also is amphibious and moves on water with two propellers.

The crew consists of a commander and a gunner in the turret and a driver. In the troop compartment, eight soldiers can be carried.

The Rosomak has seen combat in Afghanistan within ISAF from 2001to 2014 and in Chad within EUFOR from 2007 to 2008. It proved its effectiveness and particularly its protection against RPGs.

The kit

It is produced by IBG who also released the IFV version deployed in Afghanistan and the APC version. It comes in a large cardboard box and comprises 11 beige plastic sprues plus an additional one dedicated to the APC version which is useless. In addition to the beige sprues, the box includes the both hull halves, the turret upper half and the tire treads. There also is a sprue for the clear parts , a sheet of photoetched parts, a sheet of decals and an instructions booklet.

The casting quality and the details are excellent. The attaches of the parts to the sprues are sometimes large but they always are well located. The parts need very little cleaning. Weirdly enough IBG gives a full engine whereas there is no separate engine access hatch. The interior of the vehicle is pretty well detailed and with a good documentation there is some room for extra detailing. Unfortunately IBG does not give any painting instructions for the interior.

The PE parts are few but really give a plus. They perfectly fit.

The decals are very thin and allow 3 decoration options. 2 are for a green vehicle as deployed to Chad and 1 for a 3 tone-camouflaged vehicle of the 11th Polish cavalry division.

The instructions booklet comprises 20 pages and split the build into 55 steps. The drawings are grey 3D views. Each step includes a view with the parts to be glued and a view of the parts assembled which is necessary as the drawings are not always clear. Moreover the order of the steps is not really logical. Some sub-assemblies are supposed to be done way before their use. It is better to analyze the instructions beforehand and adapt the assembly order.

The build

Until step 12 I followed the instructions then I decided to go straight to step 23 to build the chassis. The parts A18 and A19 show an ejection pin mark to remove.
At step 24 you have to insert the transfer boxes without gluing them. But they can't stay in place this way. So I chose to glue the whole chassis under the hull prior to continuing the assembly. But beforehand you need to glue the parts C1 and A2 as stated at step 37.
Next I glued all the transfer boxes and then only the drive shafts. I advise to glue one box at a time then a shaft till the last ones. The wheels are not glued to allow the weathering of the undercarriage. Moreover I replaced the IBG wheels by a set from Eureka XXL which gives wheels with Michelin tires featuring a sagged effect. In addition, on each side the 4 wheels have a different orientation.

Once the running gear assembled, I started to build the various elements for the interior of the hull (steps 14 to 19) then I painted them before proceeding to steps 31 to 35. To paint the interior IBG does not give any indications as stated above. So you need to research reference pictures on the Internet. Some of them are mentioned at the end of the article.

Step 36 deals with the water propellers assembly which requires a bit of attention particularly because of the thin tubing. At the same step you should assemble the commander station of the armored personnel  carrier version. It is obviously unnecessary.

Steps 37 to 40 come without difficulties. I added the winch cable from Eureka XXL. As I am used to, the clear parts are not glued yet. Since I wanted to depict the rear doors open I fixed them with blue tac. So I put apart the PE parts PE3 and PE4 which represent the articulations.

At step 41 you have to glue the glass in front of the headlights. You must do it and not wait after both hull halves are assembled. On the contrary I did not glue the rear view mirrors to avoid breakage during the following handling. At step 43 part A3 is misnumbered. It should read F3.

From step 44 the build deals with the turret and particularly the interior. At step 46 part I4 (turret floor) is in fact I14. IBG has only represented two supports between the floor and the turret ring whereas there are four. It is a surprising mistake.

The rest of the build comes with no difficulties. I replaced IBG gun barrel by a turned brass one from Master Model which is superb. It comes with a resin muzzle brake. The smoke grenade launchers from Master Model have a resin base and turned brass tubes. Master Model also gives 2 types of caps. The antenna from the same brand has a hollow resin base and a metal two-part antenna.

At step 54 you need to glue the reflectors K3, K14 nd K15. I usually do this only after having painted the vehicle and I glue the clear parts with some white glue. Be cautious with the direction of part K14. It should be glued rearward the side bin and not between the bin and the hull edge.

The decoration

I chose the three-tone version. To paint it I tested the Hataka acrylic paints mentioned by IBG except for the black shade. I applied some Tamiya XF-67 NATO green as a base color. Then I sprayed Hataka HTK-A152 NATO green with a few water drops as a thinner. The brown patches are made with Hataka HTK-A188 NATO brown and the black ones with Tamiya XF-69 NATO black.

A coat of gloss varnish is sprayed before applying the decals. These are very thin. I advise to use some setting solution to facilitate the process. The red circle at the rear is larger than the plastic part on which it is applied. Thus the white border extends beyond the part. I let the decal dry then I removed the decal border and painted the border on the plastic part.

For the weathering I applied a pinwash to enhance the recesses. Then I applied pigments of various shades over some matt varnish to represent dried mud on the lower hull. Next I applied with a brush earth and dust pigments and finished with a light coat of Tamiya XF-57 Buff.

Conclusion

IBG has release a great kit. It is unfortunate that the instructions are that difficult to follow and miss any painting instructions for the interior. Likewise providing an engine which will be totally invisible in the end is a bit surprising.

References

http://bigmodel1200.blogspot.com/2017/09/kto-rosomak-wnetrze.html

http://mayanetwork.blogspot.com/2016/10/kto-rosomak-detale-wnetrza-i-zewnetrzne.html

http://www.autoelektrobochnia.pl/index.php?t_str=KTO+ROSOMAK+od+środka.

http://madhamsters.blogspot.com/2014/10/walkaround-rosomak.html

02/2019