Model Miniature, Demining Robot (Wolverine), Kit No. MM-R021

Remotely controlled robots are becoming a popular choice by many military and para-military organizations in an effort to limit the exposure of their personnel to hazards in the battlefield or other dangerous situations.

The Wolverine is one in a series of remote control military robots offered by ANDROS and designed by REMOTEC, a subsidiary of the military firm Northrup Grumman. The ANDROS series is primarily designed for military, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), and law enforcement or SWAT applications. The Wolverine has been adopted by the Israeli military, being manufactured by Israel Military Industries (IMI) for over 15 years.

This is not a particularly large robot, being a mere 29in in width and 58in in length, but it's not a lightweight either, tipping the scales at over 350kg. It has 6 independently driven wheels which can be outfitted with optional tracks, as represented in this kit. Transportation vehicle is a Ford F-550.

This is probably the first kit I've ever seen where the instruction sheets probably outweigh the kit parts by a substantial margin. Instructions consist of four 8.5in by 11in pages. A parts diagram consists of a single photograph showing the parts on their casting lugs with a corresponding part number. In all, there are 15 parts cast in a light pea green/greyish resin. Needless to say with so few parts construction time will only be affected by how much part preparation will be needed. No decals are included. The construction sequence is straight forward, stepping the builder through a sequence of six photographs illustrating the parts as they are added to the kit. Removing the casting blocks looks to be a simple affair save for the tracks.

The colouring guide is for an overall solid khaki tan vehicle using Tamiya paint call outs (3 parts XF-51 (Khaki Drab) plus 1 part XF-57 (Buff)). It would have been nice to see Testors enamel paint numbers, Humbrol numbers or even FS numbers also listed for us old timers that don't use acrylic paints.

Inspection of the parts shows that the detail is good for the most part.

On the real vehicle the tracks are a rubber band like affair with guide teeth along the outer edges to keep the track on the wheels. The kit has the tracks and wheels are cast as a single part. They are commendably thin and translucent due to the thinness of the resin giving them an almost to scale thickness. But they are also missing the prominent edge mounted guide teeth which are so prominent on the real vehicle, probably due to limitations with resin casting.

Unfortunately they also have a bit of a skew to them in all three planes (see above). As well, they also have a few minor casting flaws which in my mind would be difficult to correct without damaging the track. I'm not sure that this may just be an issue with my particular example or an issue with all moldings of the kit. It may be that the molds are starting to get a bit on the old side as well.

Since the tracks are optional items for the Wolverine it would be just as acceptable to remove them and have the model just sit on its wheels.

This kit will make into a very small and reasonably well detailed model. Be careful not to display it someplace where someone might mistake it for a roach, and give it a swat!

References:

[1] Northrup Grumman
[2] Official Israel Defense Forces Blog
[3] wikipedia

Review sample supplied by Julie Ludmann of Model Miniature.

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Article Last Updated: 06 February 2013