This long awaited kit of the MAZ-537G intermediate type from Trumpeter is finally here and we can now see what the wait was all about.

The first prototypes of the MAZ-537 were built in 1958 and series production was launched in 1960 with the intermediate type being introduced in the late 60’s. It has been the standard tank transporter in the Russian Army for many years as well being fitted with a large crane in place of the fifth wheel and also used as the prime mover for ICBMs and other large pieces.

The MAZ-537 was/is used by the Russian Army as well as by East Germany, Egypt, Finland, Cambodia, Iran, Syria, and Yugoslavia and has seen active service in the Balkans and Mid-East wars as well as with the Russians in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

This consists of 494 parts in light grey plastic, 25 in clear plastic, 104 etched parts on four frets, a short length of copper wire, 18 vinyl tyres and a sheet of die cut window masks and a small decal sheet plus the 28 page instruction booklet for another good boxful.

Etched parts



Copper wire


Standard of plastic moulding is a real mix with the surface detail on the parts very cleanly moulded and well defined with the large single mouldings for the cab and engine compartment hood as well as the full length trailer deck being standout pieces which are all without any warping or other blemishes.

On the other hand there is a lot of fine flash on the parts as well as substantial pin marks, especially on the suspension/transmission parts and quite heavy mould seam lines on quite a few parts that will take a bit of effort to remove. Also many of the mating surfaces will require smoothing out to endure a good fit and this requires you to test fit most parts to see if any trimming is required with all this adding a fair bit of part preparation to the assembly process.

The fit of most parts though after clean-up is good, especially on the larger chassis, cab, engine compartment and semi-trailer deck which go to make up the basic structures so there is not a lot of problems after the part cleanup.

There are numerous etched parts that are provided as options to the plastic parts while some others are only in etched and this does give a choice of medium during assembly with the etched parts offering better definition that the thicker plastic parts.

Dimensionally the kit matches the 1:35 plans in the Tankograd Special No.2 Soviet Tank-Transporter and Heavy-Duty Truck MAZ-535 and MAZ-537 almost perfectly give or take a fraction of a millimetre here and there for most parts such as the length, width, cab/engine compartment sizes, the semi-trailer length and width as well as the trailer tyres but for some strange reason the 8 main tractor wheels are 1.5mm too small in diameter. This 1.5mm may not seem a lot but is 52.5mm in real size and as the wheels dominate the model probably more than some others this is an unfortunate discrepancy given everything else including the trailer wheels match the plans perfectly.

I don’t have the actual diameter of the wheels to check the plans are correct but given everything else matches as mentioned we can only assume the wheel size in the plans is correct?

There is little you can do about this and on the fully assembled model may not be that noticeable but hopefully when the inevitable after market resin wheels are produced they are the correct size and not just copies of the kit wheels in resin as we see quite often these days.

The instructions start with the cab and engine compartment assembly but the multi-part chassis is the most important part of the whole kit because if not assembled perfectly square will effect the alignment of everything else on the model.

The chassis is made up of 8 main parts that govern the alignment with the two full length side panels (parts A1, A21) joined together with four cross beams (parts D11) and the front and rear cross members but my side panels had a slight outward bow, nothing dramatic as it will easily pull into alignment as you attach the other parts but you must ensure the assembly is all in alignment before the glue dries.

The transmissions and differentials are made up of multiple parts that require a fair bit of clean-up making for quite tedious assembly but these are added inside the chassis and are basically hidden after assembly so any shabby parts are not that much of an issue.

Apart from the cleanup there were no real problems while assembling the transmissions and the quite intricate suspension units are attached to the chassis sides and again there is some additional clean-up needed on these parts for flash and pin marks before assembly commences. There are two separate suspension arms for each of the stations and these have different part numbers for the top and bottom arms as well as front and rear assemblies so marking the parts with a fine felt pen or similar before removing them from the sprues will avoid any mix-up of parts during assembly.

The front two stations have long suspension rods that join the stations together and you should not glue this to the swing arms as they are designed to move afterwards which will allow you to animate the suspension quite easily if you wish for a diorama setting but are not meant to articulate on the actual model.

Again there were no problems during assembly with the separate shock absorbers (part D41) holding the suspension in the correct position for normal ride height with the rear 4 stations having basically the same assembly but without the connecting bar.

The short drive shaft fits into the suspension mounting and separate wheel attachment hubs which can be clip into the suspension arms without the need for glue if you wanted to animate the suspension or you can glue in place for a more robust assembly depending on your preferences.

Fitting the remaining chassis parts are all quite straightforward apart from the clean-up required but the large rear suspension mounting (parts D7) should have more rounded corners than the square profile of the parts and some sanding will achieve this, if you have the Tankograd book there is a good image of the mounting on page 32 showing the rounded profile.

As mentioned above there is the size issue with the large vinyl tyres and the shoulder of the tread pattern is a little square but other than that they have excellent tread pattern that matches photos well and the hubs are in four parts and again the outer hub detail matches photos well, note the wheels are a different design on the Late Production type but are correct for the intermediate type depicted in this kit.

Assembly is straightforward with the wheels simply gluing to the suspension wheel mountings but it would be best to leave these off until assembly is finished for ease of handling.

The main outer cab is a single moulding with the front, top, back and side panels with openings for the separate doors, windows and top hatch and this is an impressive moulding without any real blemishes other than a little flash to trim off the lower edges.

The separate doors have detail on both sides and no hint of pin parks to contend with and have separate door handles and inner grab handles and clear parts for the glass as does the windscreen.

You are provided with laser cut masks for the windows to aid in painting and you could add this now or wait till painting.

The front head lights and smaller lights have clear plastic glass with alternate plastic or etched windscreen wipers finely moulded rear view mirrors along with the two part top hatch that again has no pin marks to contend with.

On the inside there is a choice of engraved plastic or 4 part etched instrument panel that has better defined details than the plastic part including the instrument dials missing from the plastic instruments and there are driver’s foot pedals, steering wheels and gear levers for most of the basics although parts inside the windscreen such as the small fans and wiper motors are not provided.

There is a lower “floor” section for the cab and engine compartment with additional details added on the underside and this floor fits snugly to the chassis with the fit of the cab to the floor also being perfect without any trimming required after the initial cleanup as mentioned.

This is another impressive moulding with two rows of very delicate intakes along the top that are fully open with just some fine flash to be removed from the openings and the other surfacer detail is also very well done. The four large intake louvers on either side of the compartment are in plastic or etched parts and again the etched parts are finer than the plastic but there is no actual opening in the side of the compartment for the louvers but this may not be that noticeable once the louvers are added to the sides.

Added inside the engine compartment are the two fuel cells made up of four main parts each with the fit being very good after initial clean-up and these cells can be seen through the back of the compartment after assembly with a finely etched panel added to the back of the engine compartment.

There is no actual engine with the compartment being empty apart from the fuel cells and you can see into this void through the open top louvers and over the fuel cells from some angles and hopefully an aftermarket engine will be produced to fill this space.

The fit of the engine compartment to the lower “floor” is again spot on for quick and easy assembly but the six top grab handles are a little on the thick side and you may want to replace these with thinner wire for a better appearance.

This is made up of four main parts with smaller details and again the fit of the box parts is excellent after initial clean-up with the assembled box fitting easily to the chassis with just the two top grab handles again being a little on the thick side.

All the remaining parts for the chassis such as the V steps, rear fifth wheel and other smaller fittings are all quite straightforward but again require a bit of clean-up for the mating surfaces etc  with more choices in medium such as the jerry can racks in plastic or etched parts.

The good fit of all the sub-assembles, cab, engine compartment and winch box does allow you to leave these off until after final painting to make things easier as they can just be slipped into place at any time.

The full flatbed trailer is in one large part which is again moulded perfectly flat and square without any warping with an equally large lower plate added to this to provide the lower lip on the trailer and without wanting to labour the point but you must ensure the mating surfaces are trimmed flat for a good fit and some trimming was also required to fit the rear bumper bar.

The numerous smaller parts for the trailer are quite straightforward to fit with the two large foldable ramps made up of 7 main parts that again needed the mating surfaces smoothed for a better fit but other than that the fit was excellent. The four inner panels that make up the ramps are all numbered differently and marking these with a fine pen before removing from the sprues will avoid any mix-ups during assembly.

The long track guides on the trailer are provided as etched parts with numerous small ribs for nicely defined parts or you can use the alternate plastic parts if you wish with additional wire ‘hooks’ added along the trailer side.

The trailer wheels are again in vinyl with excellent tread pattern and two part plastic rims with well defined hub details and these fit to a simply axle mounting that will pivot back and forth once attached to the trailer allow a bit of animation if required.

This large assembly has the two curved side girders that have some pin marks on the inside that will need removing as these can be seen after assembly as well as quite large mould seams removed from the sides but the fit of major parts was good overall given the cleanup as mentioned.

There are alternate etched parts for the gooseneck details and the hydraulic “legs” can be assembled raised or lowered depending on your choice with the fit of the gooseneck to the trailer being very precise for the robust join.

There are two spare wheels, one large tractor and one smaller trailer wheel to add to the gooseneck with plastic attachments as well as some smaller details which are all easily added to the trailer.

These are the usual exploded view drawings for the sequences and are easy to follow despite some fairly complex areas and as with any instructions careful study beforehand will lessen any potential problems.

There is just one small sheet with basic markings for an ex Ukrainian Army vehicle as featured in the Tankograd book but other than that there is no info or other markings provided with the colour painting guide showing two vehicles in overall Russian Green finish.

Die cut window masks and small decal sheet

Overall this is a well done model of the big MAZ-537 intermediate type with some excellent moulding and details on the parts such as the cab and engine compartments as mentioned as well as some of the smaller details.

Almost as a contrast there is also a lot of cleanup needed on the parts for the fine flash, mould seam lines and especially to ensure the mating surfaces are smooth for a good fit and this does take a bit of effort during the assembly process.

The overall good fit of the parts after clean-up does offset this quite a bit with the etched parts adding further to overall appeal of the kit.

The only thing to note is the main tractor wheel size as mentioned above but as there is little you do about this many may overlook this as it may get “lost” on the fully assembled model which does look impressive in any case.

This long awaited kit will be welcomed by modern armour fans to provide a ‘ride’ for the T-55 to T-72 and anything in between with the number of different users giving some colourful markings options.

Highly recommended 7.5/10

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Detail images

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Prime Portal
Note: These images are of the Late Production type which have a number of differences from the Trumpeter intermediate production type, these are mostly with cab detail but are useful for some common features.

Soviet Tank-Transporter and Heavy-Duty Truck MAZ-535 and MAZ-537 Tankograd Special No.02

Soviet Tank-Transporter and Heavy-Duty Truck MAZ-535 and MAZ-537 Tankograd Special No.2004

Soviet Tank-Transporter MAZ-535G with MAZ/ChMZAP- 524G Semitrailer Tankograd Special No.2005

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