For a long time now I have loved the look of this range of kits and have wanted to build one, so I jumped at the opportunity to build this kit. It is an excellent kit in the Hasegawa Machinen Krieger series. The kit is very easy to build as long as you watch the instruction details carefully.

In the Box

• 11 x red sprues
• 1 beige sprue
• 1 clear sprue
• 1 dark grey vinyl sprue of polycaps
• 1 vinyl/rubber sprue
• 1 decal sheet
• 1 painting guide / collectors card
• 1 instruction booklet
• 1 small correction sheet for the instructions

All the sprues are extremely well molded with no flash and great detail. The decals allow you to finish the Mk 44 in many different ways. The painting guide shows 4 more, and 2 more on the back of the box.

Construction

Assembly begins with the feet and legs in steps 1 thru step 11. These are moveable due to the use of the vinyl polycaps in each joint. Construction of the legs and feet was very simple with no issues, and the parts fit nicely.

Then on to steps 12 to 17 which assembles the main body front hatch and access door. On step 12 and 13 there are a few parts to be installed without location pins so you need to be careful and note the positions shown in the instructions. You also need to note the correction sheet provided at step 12.

The steps 18 thru 24 are the construction of the rear upper body shell. I would recommend test fitting the body front at this point to get a good joint between the two body parts. After step 20 was the best point to paint the interior and also all the previously built sub-assemblies. At step 22 you have the option to install different configurations of flaps and vent outlets.

Step 25 through 27 build the arms, again with polycaps, allowing them to be positioned.

Step 28 is the construction of the main weapon. Step 29 and 30 construct the hands, with two options for the right hand depending upon whether it will be holding the main weapon or not.

Step 31 is the assembly of the pilot, who is only a partial figure as his arms and legs are not seen due to the way the pilot operates the Mk44.The kit includes separate oxygen masks and hoses,

The last step is 32 where the machine is assembled from the sub-assemblies and the details such as smoke dispenser and arms are added. Lastly the decals are added and then final painting and touch up was done.

Summary

This is excellent addition to Hasegawa’s Machinen Krieger series and was a lot of fun to build. The fit of the parts is super. This is not a difficult kit to build so any standard of modeler can enjoy assembling the kit. I must say that I loved this and now want to build more of this wonderful series!

Thanks go to Hobbico/Hasegawa for providing this kit to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it.