Visitors to Cape Town, South Africa, often find the queue at the cable-car station at the foot of Table Mountain endless, so they set off on foot to conquer this little mountain. After all they can see the summit easily. As they come to the contour path, there is another little path leading up the mountain. Next to it is a sign: "this is not an easy way up". The joker who wrote that sign does not tell you that plenty of people have died on that particular route up the mountain. What is the point of this ramble?

Resin Kit     

Well, "This kit is not an easy way to obtain a replica of an Eland 90". I am not going to dwell on the misshapen incompletely moulded parts, numerous air bubbles, grainy variable resin and fit-where-it-touches. Your heart will sink when you open the box anyway. It is possible to build a mid-production Eland 90, seemingly accurate and attractive, but it will need a fair amount of effort. A Tamiya quality or award-winning model it is not. Some experience with resin kits is essential.
 
Start by identifying all the parts against the provided page of computer drawings. Wash the parts gently in soapy water. Then trim, file and fix till they resemble something. The first big surprise comes when fitting the mudguards, as the left one does not match the right; compromises have to be made with the fit. Fill, fill and fill gaps and air bubble holes, superglue works well for this and provides strong joins too - I used it throughout. The suspension will need cutting, butchering and lots of trial fitting before it is vaguely in place. The swing arms angle quite sharply downward, front and rear, more than is shown in the drawings.
 
Templates are provided to get the height off the ground correct, I admit I did not use them but they may be useful. After fitting the wheels I found they were a little skew in places, so I used hot air from a hair dryer on the suspension and bent the wheels as needed, a technique that works well with resin. The rest of the assembly is routine, cleaning up the muzzle brake is a pest; do not hollow it out too much or it will collapse. The instructions are fair, with lots of hints and directions. I never did find parts No 31 and I do not know where part 9 goes, but I banged it in a hole in the turret roof since it looks like a ventilator. Fairly nice rubber mudflaps are provided.
 
A coat of Humbrol 72, generous weathering (Angolan dust!) and sprue aerials and it's OK for a collection or lurking behind bushes in a diorama.