Introduction
The following introduction is taken from the ICM website:
The special fire hose truck AR-2 (43105) is designed for mechanized laying of fire hose lines from the fire site. Production of the vehicle began in 1989. The vehicle was based on the off-road KAMAZ-43105, which has proven itself. A specially prepared chassis is fitted with an all-metal body with side and rear doors. Inside, the body is divided into two compartments, the front one houses fire-fighting equipment, and the rear one holds fire hoses. The body also has special racks that can form sections of different sizes. The crew of the vehicle consists of a driver and two operators; the first operator is responsible for controlling the fire hose assembly mechanism, while the second operator monitors the laying of the hoses and controls their placement in the body after use. The length of such a hose line can be over 2.5 kilometres. Some of these vehicles are still in use in fire stations today.
Review
This offering from ICM is packaged in the usual manner, of a flip top cardboard tray with an additional card lid. The instruction booklet is loose within the box, with the decal sheet tucked within the leaves of the booklet. All of the parts are provided in a single plastic bag, with the tyres and clear parts in additional bags within the main package. An examination of the parts, reveals no obvious moulding issues beyond ejector pin marks that may need to be addressed during assembly.
In typical ICM fashion the chassis is a multi part affair, which provides the modeller with a great level of detail but does introduce the risk of not getting the chassis squarely assembled. A nicely replicated engine and gearbox is present, as are most of the other ancillary parts connected with this. Axls, pressurised tanks and fuel tanks are also well replicated in the kit, unfortunately most of this is for nought as it will not be seen on the finished model. An aspect that will be liked and hated in equal measure is vinyl rubber tyres, but they do have very nice tread detail.
The main body of the truck is where I take issue, as it is basically a box structure without covering the various storage areas for the fire fighting equipment and so restricting its display options to a vehicle sat unattended and not in use.
The cab of the vehicle is nicely detailed throughout, including the seats for the 3 man crew. The instrument clusters, steering wheel and parts for controlling the vehicle all appear to be present and suitably replicated. The doors of the cab have separate door liners, which hides the risk of ejector pins marks being seen and the door furniture is also separately replicated. I am pleased to see that ICM has provided the option of having the doors open or closed and so you have the option of a good view of the interior. The only thing that you will notice is that hinge detail has to be removed from the doors if you are going to show the doors closed. No seatbelt detail is provided inside the vehicle - I believe these would be present. It also looks to be the case that the cab can be tilted forward exposing the engine detail otherwise hidden from view.
ICM has provided 3 finishing options for this release and these are as follows:
AR-2 (43105) - 215, Mykolaiv, early 1990s
AR-2 (43105) - 215, Odessa, 2012
AR-2 (43105) - 215, Kharkiv, 2015
Also released at the same time for this offering, is one of ICMs paint sets and the colours included in this product are as follows:
White
Deep Red
Rubber Black
Aluminium
Middle Stone
Clear Blue
This product in item number 3031. Each of the paints within the set are provided in 12ml containers. The paint itself is an acrylic. My only negative comment on the ;paints is that I am yet to find a dedicated thinner for the product, and I know many will say you can thin with X,Y and Z but I prefer to use a dedicated product so that I can get consistent results.
Conclusion
This model for me is a bit of a Marmite release, moulding quality seems to be fair to good throughout. The vinyl rubber tyres are a love them or hate them aspect. I cannot help but feel that ICM has missed the mark of having the doors open on the storage compartments. By not having the doors open, and including the contents within, they have missed the opportunity of making this release stand out from the crowd. I will commend them for taking the time of providing the cab doors with the ability of being open or closed and the ability to tilt the cab should you wish to show the guts within.