Trumpeter 1/35
Chinese 50 Ton Tank Trasporter

Background

The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army 50 ton type 82 tank transporter, also known as the HY473 heavy equipment transporter (HET), was developed in the early 1980’s by the Hanyang Special Vehicle factory to transport, deploy, and evacuate 50 ton payloads. This included main battle tanks, light tanks, armored combat and transport vehicles and large engineering equipment, as well as towing the DF-21 medium-range surface-to-surface missile transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) semi-trailers.

The HY473 HET consists of a HY473 6 x 6 truck (tractor) and a HY962 6-wheel semi-trailer. Early variants are powered by an air-cooled 261.1kw F12L413F-V diesel engine, with a maximum road speed of 64 km/h. Later variants were powered by a more powerful water-cooled, turbo-charged BF6M1015CP diesel engine, increasing it’s maximum load to 75 tons. The transmission system is based on German and Japanese heavy lift truck technologies.

The Kit

The kit comes in a large, very sturdy tray and lid type box. The box art shows the vehicle hauling a tank. However you do not get the tank in the kit. I have a Trumpeter T-80 kit, reviewed elsewhere here and that will become the trailer load on my kit. Side panes of the box show color illustrations of the vehicle from above, side, front and rear. A history of the vehicle appears on a side panel also, in Chinese and English.

The inside of the box is compartmentalized. It has an additional long white box that contains the PE fret, vinyl tires, metal springs, metal axle rods, string and some wire. The top of this box serves as a support tray for the trailer’s bed and bed frame parts and the two trees of clear parts. The clear parts are the only things that are cello-bagged in the kit.

Ten parts trees, the single cab shell, trailer bed and its support frame piece are all molded in olive drab. Letter E tree that holds all the engine parts is molded in bright orange.

The instructions consist of a stapled booklet of 24 pages.

Page one begins with a black and white repeat of the box art. This is followed by “Read before assembly” instructions in Chinese and English. Next, are a model paint color listing (of what appears to be Humbrol paints), a international assembly symbols explanation and decal application instructions, all in Chinese and English again.

Page 2 shows parts trees drawings for 11 of the parts trees in the kit and an illustration of the metal springs in the kit.

Page 3 shows parts tree drawings of three more parts trees, the one piece tractor cab shell, the metal axle rods, the three sizes of vinyl tires, the PE fret, length of string and second types of wire that are in the kit. The bottom of the page gives the first assembly step. This step is for assembly of the tractor cab. I noticed raised lettering on the interior roof of this part and some mold ejector marks. I have sanded these off, as the only thing done to my kit so far.

Pages 4 through 23 give the balance of a total of 39 assembly steps.

Page 24 has a five-view illustration of one painting and marking scheme for the vehicle. It is in overall olive drab with a tan wood trailer bed and license plate numbers. Pretty generic.

Trumpeter has helpfully assisted the modeler with color instructions for parts as you assemble the kit. The instructions also call out what an assembly is at times. Kudos to Trumpeter for this, as the kit is some very complex assembly at times.

Tree letter A holds: front axle parts, a stowage bin, frame parts, air tanks, rear axle, tractor frames and 5th wheel assembly parts etc. (The tractor frame members, called out in step 8 are miss-numbered as B4 and B37. They should be A4 and A37). 66 parts on this tree.

Letter B tree holds: cab roof ventilator parts, rear view mirror braces, cab bumper, steering wheel assembly parts, cab bench seat, dashboard, foot-pedals, fuel tank halves, more air tanks, some frame supports, exhaust pipe and muffler, linkage arms, fender parts, cab lifting pistons etc. (87 parts here).

There are two identical letter C parts trees. They hold: leaf springs, wheels, grab handles, door handles, rear-view mirrors, parts for 2 bucket seats, transmission parts and linkages, fuel tank end pieces, frame member parts, brake cylinders, more air tanks, steering system parts etc. (85 parts per tree).

There are two identical letter D parts trees. They hold: more wheel parts, more leaf springs and numerous suspension parts etc. for the trailer only (40 parts per tree)

Letter E parts tree holds all the engine parts. These parts are all molded in bright orange plastic. (32 parts here).

There is no letter F parts tree.

There are two letter G trees, called out as G1 and G2. These two trees are clear parts for windows and various lenses. The larger of the two trees holds 20 parts and the small one holds eight.

Letter H parts tree holds numerous trailer parts and parts for the wench and crane on it (43 parts here).

There are two identical letter I parts trees. They hold: more wench parts, wench support platform parts, trailer fore-part frame members, trailer jack parts, rear ramp parts etc. (60 parts per tree).

The single trailer bed and it’s underframe parts and the tractor cab shell complete the plastic parts in the kit.

There is fret of brass PE in the kit. Parts on it are for the fender sides, the grillwork for the vent fan in the cab, windshield wiper blade assemblies, air intake screens for the front cab bumper etc. (15 parts here).

There are 3 different sizes of black vinyl tires in the kit. You get 10 of the largest, tire I type, 8 of tire II type and 8 of tire III type. These are rather soft vinyl and may present a problem removing the mold seams around them.

The last items in the kit is some string, two types of wire (one to be used as wire and the other as hoses) and the two metal shafts to use for axles. The decal sheet just has license plate numbers on it.

Conclusion

This is a very detailed model kit. It can be displayed with the cab roof raised on it’s pistons to show the very detailed engine. The trailer can be built in either the towed or deployed condition with ground jacks extended and the rear ramp down.

I would only recommend this kit to advanced armor modelers. It is every good and detailed as Tamiya’s Famo and trailer and their US M-26 Dragon Wagon kits. There are 681 parts in all, so this is not a weekend build project at all.

My sincere thanks to Stevens International for this review sample!