Sweden has never been afraid to follow its own path on defence matters, and nowhere is this more apparent than with the radical S-Tank, more officially known as the Strv 103.  In essence a super self-propelled gun, the S-Tank was armed with a 105 mm gun mounted rigidly in an extraordinarily low, heavily sloped hull; in order to train the gun, the entire vehicle has to be moved both in traverse and elevation.  Due to the extreme importance of mobility, the S-Tank was fitted with two engines, one an auxiliary gas turbine to provide emergency power.

I have fond memories of the S-Tank, having built the ancient Aurora 1/48 scale kit (pivoting suspension and all) when it first came out.  That model is long gone, but that unique armoured vehicle's distinctive lines stayed with me long afterwards.  It is a sign of just how good things are for 21st century armour modelers that I can now build a state of the art injection-moulded kit of this relatively obscure vehicle, thanks to Trumpeter of China.

This company has come a long way since their first releases, extraordinarily poor knock-offs of Tamiya kits and motorized monstrosities.  Their recent IS-3M and now the S-Tank set new standards of quality for Trumpeter, and all at approximately half the cost of a typical Tamiya armour kit.  Trumpeter has released both the initial Strv 103B version and the later Strv 103C, with different tracks and supplemental armour (including skirts made of fuel tanks!).

Packaged in a very sturdy box, the kit contains three sprues, plus the lower hull, decals, and vinyl tracks.  Options are limited to open or closed hatches, although no interior is included, and an optional position dozer blade (all S-Tanks were fitted with this).  The overall quality of the mouldings is extremely good; as can be seen below, the surface detail on parts like the one-piece upper hull is very crisp.   I was disappointed by the tracks, however, which seem to be lacking any detail between the main cleats on each link.  Since the tracks on this version of the vehicle appear to be similar to those fitted to the Centurion MBT, I will check my pictures to see what the tracks should look like.  Regardless, I suspect that the aftermarket manufacturers (led by Armour Track Models) will be all over this kit soon.

Test-fitting reveals a very good upper to lower hull fit, and the road wheels have poly caps inside of them; I am a big fan of this, because it lets me add and remove the wheels as needed for painting and weathering.  The suspension components are well-done and accurate, with the unusual orientation of the suspension arms being correctly depicted.  A nice touch is the fact that all of the periscopes are moulded separately.  The tools look a bit crude to me, but their clasps are moulded separately, which is something I wish more manufacturers would do.

This kit has moved right to the top of my (huge) to build pile.  The combination of a simple, yet interesting, vehicle, in a well-executed kit, and a relative lack of aftermarket products or reference information (to keep me from getting bogged down) means that I should be able to build this kit quickly.

Highly recommended to anybody interested in modern armour, or looking to build something a little different.  I have to say that I am heartened by the quality of recent Trumpeter releases, and believe this bodes well for some of their future releases, like the imminent Challenger II and AS-90, and the upcoming SA-2 missiles.

Here are a few links with good S-Tank photos and information:

The Swede's Armour Page

Swedish Armor

STRV 103 S-Tank

Enjoy!