The Pantsir S-1 (SA-22 Greyhound) is an short and medium range low to medium altitude air defense system combining missiles and automatic cannons.

Its development started in 1994. It entered service with the Russian army in 2010. Its primary role is air defense at low and medium altitude against aircraft and flying munitions. It is particularly used as close defense for the S-300 air-defense system.

The basic version is fitted onto a Kamaz 6560 8x8 truck. The vehicle is composed of an armored control module, a turret armed with 12 missiles and 4x 30 mm automatic cannons and a service module.

The fire control system comprises a detection radar, a tracking radar and an electro-optic system. The missiles are guided by radar or radio. The maximum altitude is 18 km and the maximum range is 30 km for the improved version of the Pantsir. The vehicle is capable of firing while on the move at slow speed. It is equipped with stabilizers to improve the accuracy when firing the cannons.

The Pantsir exists in several versions of which a tracked one and a articulated tracked one specially designed for the Arctic regions.

The Pantsir is in service with the Russian army. It also has been sold to various Middle-East and African countries.

It has been deployed to Syria, Lybia and Ukraine. Several systems has been destroyed during those operations in particular by drones.

The kit

Released by Zvezda in 2020, it comprises 677 parts dispatched over 8 light grey plastic sprues, 1 clear parts sprue and 2 vinyl sprues for the tires. There is also a bit of nylon mesh, 1 decals sheet, 1 sheet of reflective foil for the mirrors and 1 instructions booklet complemented by a color plate for the decorations.

The carving is fine and the level of detail is high. As usual Zvezda do not give many options. In this case yo ucan build the vehicle in the firing mode or the travel mode. To do so the radar can be raised and the stabilizers deployed. The missiles like the cannons can be mobile. The driver cabin only comes with an interior. The vinyl tires are a bit rough. The markings are molded on one side only and the junctions to the sprue are hard to remove.

The notice comprises 88 steps and several sub-steps. Several numbering mistakes are to be noticed. Zvezda give painting instructions along the assembly steps. For the driver cabin, reference pictures are useful to complement those instructions.

3 decorations are proposed: plain green, arctic 3 tone camouflage and tan. Unfortunately the 3 tone camouflage is not entirely represented on the instructions.

The build

It begins with the engine which needs to be painted during the assembly. At step 1-c part H8 is in fact H9.

Steps 5 to 19 are dedicated to the cabin. At step 5-b parts A30 and A31 are in fact H30 and H31. At step 11-c part A42 is slightly warped. Consequently the windscreen needs several steps to be glued.

At step 12 the sub-assembly 12-b and part A72 need to be correctly positioned to avoid fit issues at the very end of the cabin assembly.

At step 17 the wipers are not glued however the windscreen is masked with masking tape.

Steps 20 and 21 are dedicated to the assembly of the frame supporting the various modules. The stabilizers can be represented folded or deployed. In the latter case it is advised to wait for the tires to be in place to have the correct length of the jacks. Those issued by Zvezda are too long.

From step 22begins the chassis assembly. Despite the number of parts the assembly is not that complicated. You just need to prepare the parts correctly by removing the mold lines.

At step 32 the exhaust lines need to be well aligned.

At steps 33 and 35 the half-moon shaped parts which are used to glue the wheels must be thinned.

At steps 34 and 36 you must not sand the "step" at the end of the rear axles. They are needed to orientate wheels 47-a and 47-b.

At step 37-b the clear parts are not glued yet. They will be when the bumper is fully painted.

At step 47 parts B1 and B2 must be glued under the steering components.

At step 53 only the module frame is glued and the whole chassis is painted black. The cabin is put aside for the painting.

Steps 55 to 60 are dedicated to the control module assembly and present no difficulty.

At step 61 the rear view mirrors are not glued yet to avoid any breakage. The stickers for the mirrors are too narrow. The control module is put aside for the painting.

Steps 62 to 65 are dedicated to the turret base module. There is a large seam at the rear of the module which must be thoroughly sanded. Holes for the handles C2 are a bit too large. Putty is needed there.

Steps 66 and 67 are dedicated to the service module. The ladders assembly is a bit tricky and requires attention.

At step 67 the modules are not glued yet. They are separately painted before being glued. The wheels are glued which allows to have the right length of the stabilizers jacks when the are represented deployed. To avoid chemical reaction between the tire vinyl and the rim plastic the tires are fully painted in dark grey before the rims are assembled. Those are fully painted too.

Steps 69 to 87 are dedicated to the turret.

At step 69 you need to be careful so parts F8 and F9 can move freely.

At steps 71 and 72 the cannons muzzles are hollowed.

At step 73 parts C7 are in fact C27.

At steps 74 and 74-e there is an inversion between parts K40 and K41.

At step 75 the conical ends of part H56 should be hollowed.

At step 79-a part G58 is in fact C58.

At step 81 the installation of the jacks F26 and F27 and part F22 is tricky. It is advised to begin with part F22.

At step 82 the missiles containers are free to move to facilitate the painting. When it is done the missile will be glued.

At step 86-a part G48 is in fact G8.

The last steps do not present any difficulties.

The painting

I chose the tan scheme. For that I utilized XF-78 Wooden deck tan. All the modules and the turret have been painted then a mottling effect is created with the base shade enlightened with some white.

Then a brown wash is applied all over the modules. When it is dry a pinwash is applied in the recesses to enhance the details.

Only at this moment the modules and the turret are installed onto the chassis.

The dust effect is created by spraying several more or less diluted layers of XF-57 over the whole vehicle with more on the lower parts.

Conclusion

Zvezda propose a nice and well detailed model which is not really for the beginners. The tan camouflage gives an interesting look to this vehicle which size is impressive.

Last updated: 11/2024