ICM, a model manufacturer located in Kiev, Ukraine has exploded on the scene in the last several years. They choose a variety of interesting subjects, including from the Ukraine. I think I speak for many in the modeling community that it is amazing when the country is beleaguered by a war with Russia, they can continue to operate at the tempo they have chosen to pursue. The Kozak is a domestically produced MRAP in the Ukraine. This kit is a variant of the Kozak-2 that was released in 2023. This kit is the border guard version of the same vehicle. As a kit, it is virtually identical to the previous release. The exception is the vehicles weapon and the color schemes that are found are different.

There are 431 parts, ten sprues (sprue D repeats three times; sprue G repeats twice), five vinyl tires, two clear sprues, and one small fret of photo etch. Two sheets of decals are provided for five schemes from 2016 through 2020. Since the kit is relatively new, the parts are well molded in the soft, grey plastic that is typical of ICM. The sprues are packed together in one plastic bag, with separate bags for the photo etch, tires, and clear plastic parts. The instructions are well designed and easy to follow. Color call outs are done in ICM’s relatively new line of acrylic paint. The colors are relatively easy to match if you do not have ICM paint. To be true to the spirit of this build, on my own, I have purchased ICM paints on my own and I am anxious to try them out.

Assembly

As with most vehicles, assembly begins with the chassis and under carriage of the vehicle. Both sides of the frame are separate pieces. Be careful detaching pieces, some of the sprue attachment points are close to suspension features. Care must be taken when the frame is assembled to ensure that it is square and flat. The attachment points are prominent and I had no issues assembling it correctly. Part of the steering is supposed to be attached in step two (pieces C82 and C83). Recognizing how fragile the attachment point is, I delayed it until step 18. Regardless at what stage you put the gear box on, one of the few pieces I had difficulty with was the steering arm. It is difficult to attach. Note that the engine’s oil pan is visible, but there is no engine in the engine compartment. I found it relatively easily to assemble the bits and pieces of the frame and undercarriage, namely the axles and drive shafts. They all aligned perfectly without any issues.

Once the frame and undercarriage is assembled, you can attach the floor to the chassis to add some strength and stability to the chassis. With the floor assembled, it is time to focus on the bits and pieces of the interior. The dashboard is well molded. The parts that are attached to the various points are small, so be careful, in particular the turn signal stalks. They are very small and need your complete attention to assemble. There are decals that are attached to the dashboard, including the speedometer. I didn’t attach the steering column until that was accomplished. With a little bit of dry brushing, it looks really nice!

From the dashboard, we go to the seats. The front and passenger seats went together well. Where I had the most trouble was assembling the passenger seats. There are two single seats that are behind the driver and passenger, then six individual seats tied together on a frame. Since this vehicle is an MRAP, designed to be mine resistant, the seats have a special suspension to cushion a blast. Each of the seats has three parts to mimic the real suspension. They are incredibly fragile and come in three pieces – one on either side of the seat and a small bar that bridges the left and right. The attachment points for the cross piece are incredibly small and there is no positive attachment point for the cross seat. I studied the instructions and looked at their video of the Kozak-2 on their YouTube channel and could not find an easy solution that would facilitate construction. I love ICM kits, but this seems to be over engineered. I tried to assemble the seats incrementally, which helped, but the cross bridge was still hard to mount.

After carefully assembling the seats, it was time to move to the body. You have to build up the hull with each side. The tolerances are very fine, so it is necessary to test fit each piece. I had the most trouble precisely placing the left and right side so they were even with each other. One was slightly off, so I needed to make some adjustments to the fender. Additionally, the windshield was not sitting flush with the body, so I needed to do surgery to the driver’s console to make everything fit flush. Thankfully, ICM plastic is very soft, so making adjustments to the pieces was relatively straight forward. Once the body was assembled, the doors came together fairly easily and fit perfectly. Again, the soft plastic was easy to clean up, insuring a tight fit. Once the doors were on, the wheels went on next. The hubs are designed as a two part unit. To make sure they were secured, it took several clamps to insure that. Once the hubs were on, the wheels fit snuggly on the axles. With that, most of the body was complete. Unfortunately, thinking about how to painting and masking the vehicle, I did not put in the windshield wipers, thinking I could do them later. Unfortunately, I could not seem to do it at the end of assembly, so left them off.

The only thing added later were grab handles, and the bits and pieces that were attached to the body. The photo etch that went over the headlights and the front running lights were a challenge to attach, in particular the running lights. There are individual pieces that are attached to act as covers to the running lights. Each element is a half circle and there are four on each side. The last bit that needed to be built was the turret. Its main weapon is a heavy machine gun. The gun shield needed some surgery, but want to together okay. A little sanding and filler got rid of a seam in the back. There was supposed to be a mirror attached to the turret. Unfortunately, the carpet monster intervened, and I lost some of the pieces for said mirror.

Once the kit was, for the most part, assembled, it was time for painting. I purchased a set of ICM paint for this project. If I understand the instructions, ICM 4BO Green was identified as the interior and exterior color. The bottles hold 12 ml of paint. I was worried that I would run out, so I looked for a chart of equivalents and listed Tamiya XF-62 was a match, so the exterior was painted with that brand. It is a bit darker than the ICM color, but I am okay with it. The under carriage and front/rear bumpers were painted NATO black. Also used NATO black as a primer for the body. Once painted and dried, time for a gloss coat. While there may be issues using pledge floor care (previously known as Future) for a gloss coat, I still have a bottle, so that served as my gloss coat. There are four color profiles to choose from. As you can see from the model, I chose to use the digital camouflage. The decals come off the backing sheet easily, but they are very thin, so care must be taken. I found some of them difficult to use. They did not conform over some of the hinges of around the door, even with copious amounts of decal setting solution.

ICM has made a huge splash in the modeling world. They are still in Ukraine, pumping out new kits at a pace that is phenomenal given the challenges they are facing. I really enjoyed this kit. It is not a shake and bake kit. Dry fitting is needed, in particular for the major components like the body panels. While most everything fits well, at times I think that in some respects, the kit is over engineered. There are many very small parts that, at times, I think can be incorporated into the main molding rather than separate bits and pieces. I am not an engineer, however, so I am not sure if that is a fair criticism or not. Regardless, this was at times a fiddly kit, but in the end I really enjoyed it. ICM has really upped their game in the last several years. I like topics that are not considered mainstream, so this is a welcome kit.

Thank you to ICM and IPMS for allowing me to review this kit.