I was so happy when I found this old box in the exchange stash at the IPMS Ireland Nationals 2025.
It is simple, and it’s a great subject - an old civilian truck, which not only did I see in person many times, but also grew to love in Snowrunner (a video game).
You can tell from the battered look of the box that this kit’s journey, from Donetsk in Ukraine (where it was made) to Dublin, was a long one.
KrAZ-258
It is an old soviet 6x6 truck, manufactured at KrAZ plant in Ukraine. Younger people may know it as Tayga 6455B from Snowrunner.
This particular model depicts a civilian tractor with a fuel carrier semi-trailer, a very appealing subject to me as a Snowrunner fan.
Model quality
It’s pretty bad. Very basic instructions, almost no locator pins. Brittle plastic, big ejector marks, big mold lines. But that’s part of the charm, at least for me - I started my modelling journey with such kits.
Build notes
The build was relatively straightforward, despite kit’s problems.
I had to replace the brittle plastic with brass wire in a few places, such as trailer’s fenders, or truck mirrors.
Dealing with gaps and mold lines on a semi-trailer was a huge pain. I also tried a new putty for this build, an Acrylic one from AK.
Didn’t like it at all - it doesn’t bite into the plastic, so often chips away when sanded. Plus it takes hours to dry.
I much prefer the good old plastic putty from Revell or Tamiya.
For painting I mostly used Tamiya paint - sky blue for the cab (love this colour on the old soviet trucks), orange for the cistern. I hate painting orange, takes so many layers to build up the coverage. Just after I finished it, I learned that you are much better off with a red, brown or pink undercoat. Will use it next time.
All wheels are painted AMMO MIG rubber black.
For the headlights and mirrors I used my new chrome markers. Not perfect, but better than all the paint I tried, so I’m rather happy.
I used a grey enamel wash on both semi-trailer and truck, worked a charm. Regular black wash would be way too sharp.
For the wheels and the lower part of the truck and the trailer I used my favourite ‘African Dust’ enamel wash.
Even without the decals the model looks lovely now, I’m quite pleased.
The decals are provided in abundance by the kit, but at least my box has absolutely no guidance or instructions on where to apply which of them.
My only reference was the box art, so I only used a few of the decals.
They were very fragile, but on a thin layer, so blended pretty well after the semi-gloss varnish layer.
Conclusion
I really enjoyed this little project. Great subject, small footprint, simple kit.
Even with all the challenges coming from kit’s age, and me running out of glue and putty mid-build, it was still a very nice palate cleanser.
Gallery
