Magic Factory offers a 1/35th scale MRZR Dual Combo Kit for the Ultra-light All-Terrain Vehicle D4 (MRZR-D4).

The LMADIS counter-drone system mounted on a Polaris MRZR vehicle

The Kit: Magic Factory’s MRZR D4 Ultra-light Tactical All-terrain Vehicle dual boxing

Magic Factory is a relatively new manufacturer with a very eclectic range of new releases focussing on mainly modern contemporary subjects, ranging from the Israeli Iron Dome SAM system, to a robotic dog? Magic Factory has released a F4U kit as well, so they are not just releasing old-fashioned stuff. This release features the MRZR all-terrain vehicle, which I admit I initially thought looked similar to a couple of golf buggies. These vehicles, while not very attractive, have a wide range of uses, including battlefield supply delivery, battlefield ambulance and anti-drone war. This latter role has become more important in recent years, especially during the Russia/Ukraine Conflict. The MRZR is used by a number of armed forces in the world. Most notably, the US Marine Corps. This release comes in a dual combo that allows you to construct two different vehicles. You can build one as a regular armored MRZR D4 vehicle with a cargo trailer, and the other as an anti-drone MRZR D4.

The sprues:

First, to add to the CADs we have the plastic parts of the kit. These are all injection-moulded parts in a neutral tan color, which is pretty close to the actual thing. The kit’s black vinyl tyres are a mixed bag. They are either loved or loathed. Their treads are pretty worn. We do think that a lot of aftermarket tyre suppliers will jump on here for the half of the modelling population that cant abide by them.

Photo-etch parts are supplied, but thankfully not too many in this kit – some (pessimistic types – you know the ones) were expecting much more. We must think that Magic Factory were able to make a lot with plastic.
A decal sheet is supplied for both kits, with the myriad of stencils, instrument dials, instructions, data stamped sheets and even a “Blue screen of death” for a windows screen that doesn’t work – nice!

The build:

Construction starts with the lower chassis which gives you the engine, driveshaft and transmission, but this will be pretty much hidden under the body once it is installed. The pipes that stick out from the engine are important because the rear tray is supposed to be mounted on them. Dry fitting the parts before assembly will help you avoid this. The rear bumper was attached at a slight incline which would affect the towing mounting. I solved the problem by removing a part of bumper mount. Take care when removing the suspension arms from the sprue. I snapped two. It’s a neat touch that the shock absorbers come with springs of two different lengths, both for front and back. The kit has some details that need to be attached. This is when I found the unique aspect in the form of the PE sheet. This is not to be confused with the normal method where parts are attached to the fret, it’s to prevent attachment points from being removed. The PE sheet looks great, but the biggest problem I encountered was trying to keep the parts from bending as I peeled them off the backing. This method would not work with small bits, but the PE in this kit are a good size. The tray fences are also easy to reverse. The lift rings on the front bumper were left until last, and I had to destroy so many of them that there weren’t enough for the two kits. The instructions say to install the front hood and rear tray before installing the passenger cabin. I decided to do it the other way around. The rear tray ended up with a slight tilt, and the fit between the lift mounts of the passenger cabin was impacted. It may not be intended that the tray be connected to the cabin. Although the harnesses were provided as PE, I had trouble bending them into shape so instead I made some from tape. The instrument dials can also be made using

.

The next kit…DecalsThe dual combo kit has two different kits. However, you are not allowed to build the same model twice unless you are building two versions of the base kit. It comes in two versions: the armed reconnaissance kit has three M249 SAW mounts on the side of the roll cage, and another one at the top. I chose the unarmed version because it also came with a trailer. The kit also comes with Magic Factory’s NATO Individual Weapon Set which is a nice addition, although most of the weapons aren’t really in US service so they’re not entirely appropriate. The kit also comes with Magic Factory’s NATO Individual Weapon Set which is a nice addition, although most of the weapons aren’t really in US service so they’re not entirely appropriate which is a slight shame.

Like the trailer, the wheels for the vehicle are provided in vinyl, but the wheels have four attachment points to be attached to the brakes, but this means that the wheels all have the same alignment which doesn’t look natural, but easy enough to fix if you don’t glue them squarely or remove the attachment points.

The second version I chose to build was the anti-drone vehicle which differs in being a two seater vehicle with a storage trough in the back seat, the anti-drone equipment on top of the roll cage, and some storage and what looks to be a generator attached to the back of the vehicle.

Thoughts…

This is definitely an interesting release by Magic Factory as no one else makes this vehicle which is always welcome to the “Oh no not another…” crowd, however as always the question is how well will it sell? The kits are not easy to construct, but not hard either. They require some effort and care to complete. The completed kit…

The Dual Combo is also a little fad to me as I don’t want to always build the same car. While building it, the engineering was quite similar to that of Bronco. Since Bronco has stopped, do the former staff members have any involvement with Magic Factory? Thanks to Magic Factory who sent this kit for review and building. More information about this and other Magic Factory kits can be found on their

&