The Panhard ERC-90 is a series of lightweight, amphibious, highly mobile armored cars developed in the late 1970s. The F1 "Lynx" is the export version of that family, most notably used by Mexico.

Kit Components

The model kit consists of seven (7) tan sprues, one (1) clear sprue, one (1) large photo etch fret, six (6) rubber tires, four (4) metal springs, upper and lower hulls, a turret and an extensive decal sheet.

Advantages

You have your choice of using vinyl or multi-piece plastic tires, metal or plastic suspension springs and optional machine guns, which are included.  The center road wheels can displayed in the deployed (on the road) or in the stowed positions. In addition, excellent clear parts for the windscreen, periscopes and view ports are included. The high quality decal sheet provides markings for several different Mexican and one (1) Argentine Marine vehicles.

Disadvantages

The instructions have a few errors/confusing parts;  The rear axles are too narrow in diameter, yet too long in length; and there are minor sinkholes in the snorkel assembly and fit problems with the jet nozzles.

Kit Construction

Steps 1-10

Cover the assembly of the kit's turret. I didn’t encounter any issues and assembly went smoothly.

Steps 11-19

This portion of the build starts with the lower chassis parts. When you get to step 16, it instructs you to add photo etch parts PA17 to both sides of the kit.  The parts breakdown illustration also shows two parts included.  However, only one part is present on the photo-etch fret.  So, I ended up adding the lone part to the left side.  Thankfully, when the entire kit is built, you don't notice anything missing (or added) to this area, so it's up to you what you choose to do.

Step 17 offers you the choice between the plastic and metal springs. I decided to go with the metal springs as they looked better to me.  However, to be honest once you add the tires and body, the springs are hardly visible, so it probably would've been fine using the plastic ones too.

Steps 20-21

These steps cover the snorkel and water jet intake assemblies. Unfortunately, The water injection nozzles had some issues.  First, the fan assembly was slightly oversized and needed some sanding to get a proper fit. And then, once the fan is trapped between the outer casing parts, clamps were needed until the glue set. Also, in my opinion, the Jet PE screens (parts PA13), seemed to be a bit oversized.  However, once you assemble the entire model that difference isn't seen anyway.

In addition, there were some minor sinkholes on both parts K3 and K6 of the snorkel intakes. But a little Tamiya putty solved that quickly. Another issue I encountered was when I attempted to glue parts K7 & K4 to parts K6 & K3, the locating pins didn’t line up properly.  Again, I quickly solved that by removing them and gluing them together, being careful with parts alignment.

The next part of this step has you adding what I assume are supports for the snorkels when they are in their retracted (down) position. Parts KA16 and KA19 should positioned lower than what is indicated by the instructions. If you don’t remove the tab located on the hull, the snorkels will sit too high as they should be flush with the top of the engine deck.

Steps 22-23

The wheel assembly potion of the build lets you choose between vinyl ("rubber") and multi piece plastic tires. The plastic ones do not have any locating pins on them so if you use them pay close attention to line up the tread pattern. But, I decided to use the rubber tires as they looked good as well.

Although the instructions instruct you not glue together parts M1 & M13, I did so as I found that the part fit is loose and wheel alignment becomes difficult to reconcile if you do not. Also, the rear axles are about .030 too long and .005 too thin. I ended up drilling the correct sized hole into the drive assemblies because it was easier than removing .030 from the axles.

Steps 24-49

These steps focus on adding the numerous tiny parts to the main hull.  Be cautious at this point as the instructions are a bit confusing.  First, the upper hull is listed as part C1 in step 26, G1 in steps 28-30 and G3 in the parts breakdown (there's no sprue number as it's a separate part). Also, in step 30, part C1 is then indicated to be the rear of the engine deck, whereas, by sprue position, Part C1 is actually the bottom of the main gun assembly.

Here is another point where I took a deviation from the instructions. I removed the bottom of the two (2) tabs located on Part C9 before I attached the turret to the top of the hull. This change allowed me to remove the turret while painting and then replace it afterwards. Finally, I did choose to leave the mirrors off the model until I finished painting the model because they are quite delicate and I’m not.

Other than what I previously mentioned, no other issues were encountered while building the kit and things went smoothly.  However, one must take care when assembling the kit as there are many small parts and the photo-etched pieces require some finesse.

Painting and Finishing

I chose to paint and mark the Lynx as an Argentine Marine vehicle. I used Tamiya Dark Green (XF-70) as a base coat followed with highlight coats of a Dark Green and Buff (XF-57) mixture. The decals were some of the best I encountered recently, they went on without any problems and laid down perfectly flat.

Conclusion

Overall this was a good kit and builds up nicely, with the small exception of the rear axles and water jet/rear snorkels. The detail level on the parts is very well done and provide for an overall nicely detailed model kit when finished. I would recommend the kit to anyone who has experience with photo-etched parts and has good eyes due to the large number of small parts.

Recommendation

"Highly Recommended" (For modelers with experience using photo-etched parts.)

Thanks to Merit International, LLC. for the Review Sample.