The CV90 series of vehicles is Sweden’s version of the infantry fighting vehicle, similar to the American Bradley or British Warrior. The CV90 carries a crew of three plus eight infantrymen.
Academy’s kit is molded in light tan plastic, with clear vision blocks and lights. Molding quality varies: The upper hull and turret feature anti-slip surfaces and louvered grilles, but have knockout and sink marks that need filling. Hatches are molded separately and have interior detail, but two large sink marks on the engine hatch were difficult to fix without damaging detail. A photoetched-metal fret, turned-metal barrel, and poly caps are also included. For several items, you can use either photoetched-metal or plastic pieces.
The lower hull has a large, square hole that Part E25 is supposed to close, but the fit is poor and needs filling. I glued the engine hatch (Part E1) in place to help strengthen the upper hull. A little filler above the tracks was required in the join of upper and lower hulls. By gluing the hull halves first, I was able to properly align the rear hull plate. I tacked the side skirts to the hull for painting camouflage, but removed them to assemble the track.
I left the driver’s hatch operable. There is some play in the hatches; make sure they are centered, or there will be gaps. I left off the tools, rear antenna, vision blocks, and lights for painting. Take care with the collapsible storage racks at the rear. Parts E13 and E14 were missing a hole for the tab on E45/E46, but that was easily fixed. I assembled the whole rack on a flat surface, then glued it to the rear hull.
The kit provides vinyl tracks as well as individual links; the individual track links are molded in black styrene, with separately molded track pads. I chose the individual links but used only enough for the bottom, front, and back runs; the rest of the running gear is hidden under the skirts. I left off the pads until I had assembled and painted the track runs, then painted them with Tamiya rubber black and glued them.
I glued the turret halves, which needed filler, then glued the commander’s hatch down to hide hard-to-remove knockout marks on its inside. Given the option of a one-piece plastic or turned-metal barrel, I chose the latter. It can elevate, but it made more sense to glue it down to ensure alignment of Part D16 above the gun. I left clear parts and the antenna off the turret until after painting.
A commander and gunner figure are included; I built the gunner to show what the figures look like, but skipped the commander to avoid showing the inside of its hatch.
Images on the Internet show several schemes for this vehicle: black and white; NATO tricolor; and black with different greens. I followed the kit directions, though the dark illustration made it difficult to distinguish black from dark green; a color illustration would be helpful.
The decals are generic, with only a choice of one or two license plate numbers. The decals went down over gloss without silvering.
It took 35 hours to finish this kit, mostly for masking the camouflage and assembling the tracks. With the choices of metal or styrene parts, and vinyl or individual-link tracks, novices as well as superdetailers can be satisfied with this kit and add a distinctive model to their armor collection.