ICM’s 1/35 Ural 4320 Soviet Army Truck

By Ray Mehlberger

History

Because of its advanced rough terrain capabilities, this truck was widely produced. The Ural 4320 army truck is diesel powered and was designed at the design bureau in 1973, at the Ural automobile factory in the Russian city of Miass. Serial production began in 1976 and the truck is still being manufactured to the present day. This is because of the vehicle's success in the field and it’s ease of maintenance and servicing.

The truck is still in service with a lot of ex-Warsaw Pact nations and other forces including China, Angola, and Cuba. They were also used as part of the forces during the fighting in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Yugoslavia.

The Kit (click on thumbnails for larger image)

The kit includes 291 parts in dark olive drab colored plastic. These are nicely molded on 4 large trees that are all in one cello bag. A small tree of 12 clear parts makes up the cab windows and various light lenses. Finally, 7 vinyl tires are included…one is a spare that goes in a tire rack behind the cab.

A decal sheet, with a lot of different country’s markings on it is included. However, the instruction sheet is not all that clear as to which countries these marks represent. I can make out a few: Russia (of course) Czechoslovakia, E. Germany, Poland...there is also the Order of the Red Banner marks and vehicle license numbers.

An 11-page instruction sheet is included. A short history is given in English, German, Czech, and Russian. Also one page is devoted to the parts tree drawings. Assembly of the truck is shown in 12 steps. This kit is broken down into a LOT of individual parts.

ICM has really gone overboard to make the truck into as many individual parts as possible it seems…so the kit is only recommended for persons over 10 years of age.

I also noticed that assemblies that are repeated on both sides of the truck are only shown ONCE…so be careful to do ones that should be on both sides. Some hot riveting of parts is shown in step 7. That I think would be very RISKY, given the size of the parts that they indicate, so gluing them would probably be the better option. A full engine is given if one wishes to open the hood…also it looks as though the cab doors can be positioned either open or shut. Some of the parts look a bit heavy, but this will remain to be determined after assembly. The last two pages of the instructions are the paint schemes.

Only 2 are given…overall olive drab…with a flat black chassis…and sand with olive drab wave pattern for desert or mountain regions…again with a flat black chassis.

I would have liked to have ICM say on the paint instructions what the decals indicate. Instead they just say to use either of 12 different markings on the cab doors at your preference, and not what they are.

I think this kit will really build up super for those armor modelers that prefer modern soviet hardware. Also, I know that modern soviet soft-skins are lean to find too. Also, if you're looking for something to haul behind this truck, ICM's excellent BS-3 100mm field gun is a great choice. In fact, ICM thought that way too, and has provided a boxing of this kit with that gun in their "Conflict in the Balkans, Kosovo 1999" set. If you're thinking of getting both of these kits, you might want to check that boxing out.

I want to thank the Squadron Shop for providing this excellent kit…and I highly recommend it. Accuracy??? I cannot say…as your dear old editor is primarily a WWII Nut. But….man…does it look neat in the box!!