The author begins the book with the following introduction,

While other great powers were in search of colonies across the oceans, Russia was gradually expanding its territorial borders.Starting from the middle of the nineteenth century the country began annexing territories in Central Asia, its northern part had already been controlled by the Russians.

The people who stood in the way of Russia’s expansion included the nomadic Kyrgyz and Kazakhs (until 1822 they were known as Kyrgyz-Kaisaks), and three major states further south: the Kokand and the Khiva khanates and the Emirate of Bukhara. The areas included present-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Chinese Xinjiang, bordering Iran and Afghanistan.

The Churchill Mk. VII is AFV Club’s 14^th entry in the line of Churchill tanks. Pretty much every variant you can think of has been produced by them. This kit is a dichotomy of both over engineering at times and at other times extreme simplicity.

The Build

Building this Mk.VII begins with a highly detailed engine and engine compartment, so if you want to have all the engine access hatches open you have something great to look at. That being said there is no other interior parts for the entire kit. I chose to keep the engine out and all hatches closed. Moving on body sides, forward gun mounts, and upper panels are added to the build. AFV Club has made this kit very modular due to the large number of variants for this tank. I did not find too many extra pieces but always double check as AFV Club doesn’t always pack everything into the box correctly.

ICM continues to be prolific despite the ongoing Russian initiated war in Ukraine. While most subjects released by ICM are welcome, fans of modern soft skin US vehicles are having to make do with older kits. ICM recently released a 1/35 M1097A2 HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, commonly called the Humvee in all its guises). Acrylic Paints Set for Humvee US Military Cars is the paint set specially released to accompany/compliment this excellent new kit.

Acrylic Paints Set for Humvee US Military Cars consists of five 12ml paint bottles and one 17ml bottle for the primer (the primer bottle is slightly larger), that are surprisingly not dropper top, but rather are wide-mouthed. The colors include: