The Challenger II, which entered service in the mid 1990s in the latest British MBT, and has or will replace the older Challenger I tank. Keeping with British tradition, the Challenger II used a 120mm rifled gun, which is different than the nearly universally adopted 120mm NATO smoothbore.

I don't have any references on this tank, and it is a bit out of my normal range of modelling subjects, so I can't really comment on accuracy. My comments and rating are based on construction, molding, and general modelling issues.

First of all, Trumpeter has been knocking out some really nice kits lately. Their Swedish S tank (dimensional issues aside) is really well done, and the AS-90, Chinese SPG weapons, and JGSDF IVF are all very good kits. On the other hand, their engineering is still not quite up to Tamiya quality, and in this case, has fallen short of their other recent kits.

Construction starts with the chassis and suspension. This is one area where the lack of engineering and molding technology really hurts. There are over 80 parts to the suspension, and this grows to over 140 when you add the wheels. There is a ton of cleanup here, as the parts generally have many mold lines, flash and lumps of plastic that need careful removal. Each suspension unit is made up of three parts, and their location to the hull side is very sloppy. I found it easier to assemble the suspension in this manner: add parts A12 and A19 as indicated on the instructions. These are the mounting pads for the suspension blocks. Now, instead of adding A7 and A8, the suspension spring housings (?) to each side, go ahead and cement the suspension arms A3 to A7 and A8. The fit between the arms and the housings is very precise and sharp. The fit between the housings and the hull is very sloppy, however. If you try to add the housings then the arms, alignment will be much more difficult. Small parts A5 and A6 can be added after the suspension units are in place. The hull sides of the Challenger slope, but the return roller arms A4 don't really have the proper angles either way they are positioned. The return rollers themselves are very crudely molded and do not fit well to the arms. Looking at the completed chassis, I am not happy with much of it. There is an odd etched texture on the chassis, but it is uneven and ranges from smooth to sandpapery. There are also large mold marks on the hull sides around the final drive housings; almost as if the kit had motorization cutouts that were later crudely filled in. Oddly, the suspension is not even on each side of the tank. I know that tanks with torsion bars can have staggered suspension, but usually tanks with external suspension units (like this) do not have stagger. The suspension units and return rollers on the right side are a couple millimeters forward of the left. The wheels in the kit are very crude, with simplistic raised dots for the wheel bolts. The hub caps are separate, and very odd. I don't think the real tank would have asymmetrical hubs so I think the kit parts are just very poor. They don't center well on the wheels, either. These are strangely engineered parts certainly. The finished wheels are very thick, looking like rollers. The inner roadwheel is much thicker than the outer wheel, too, which is probably inaccurate. The tracks are vinyl, look okay, but are really tight and too short.  I didn't really notice this untill it was too late to try to adjust the suspension.  The idler mount isn't really adjustable, so maybe the roadwheels hang too low and make the tracks about 1" too short to connect.
The rear hull panel C61 does not fit precisely into either the upper hull or lower hull, so be careful here. There is a lot of slop to the fit and the parts are very thin and flexible. Most detail parts have large mold pin marks that are visible, and often right on the middle of the outside of the pieces.

The upper hull fits pretty well to the chassis, so I was able to add the side skirts to the upper hull and leave it loose from the chassis for painting. The upper hull itself is, again, very mixed in its quality. The detailing on the hull sides is very good and crisp, while the molded screening and grills on the back are very poor. The fuel filler caps and various circular patches on the upper hull are irregular in shape and are not molded in much relief. Some wires or cables look like they are molded in place, too. Trumpeter molded the hull and turret parts from a mold that injects the plastic into the middle of the parts and not from a sprue on the edge. The upper hull has the mold plug right in front of the driver's hatch so be sure to carefully remove it. The engine access panel is separate and can be hinged open if you wanted to add an engine, but although the outside of the panel has filler caps, vents, etc., the inside is smooth. Long range fuel tanks are provided for the hull rear.  The ill-fitting rear hull panel is extremely crude, with raised outlines for the tow pintle location that should be sanded away.

Assembling the turret is tricky, as the top and bottom are thin, and do not positively fit together in any particular way. I think the lower front of the turret should recess flush into the frontal armor (at least it looks better that way and makes more sense) but in the kit there is a large stepped edge. The 16 part main gun and mantlet is rather difficult to fit together too. The perforations on the gun's jacket are soft. I would imagine a resin gun would be the best replacement, were one to be offered. I don't know how one of these could be machined in metal. The mantlet parts are not engineered well and do not fit very good no matter how much you try.  Unless the main gun is at full elevation there is a huge gap that looks down into the hollow turret behind the mantlet.  Optional machine guns are provided for the turret roof, although the instructions don't describe the difference. Apparently one type is used when smoke generator boxes (?) are fitted to the hull rear, although the logic for this is not explained.

In the end I felt the kit was overly complicated and rather crudely rendered. Why make a 16 piece cannon and 120 piece chassis then turn around and provide molded plastic tow ropes, lumpy Jerry cans, very crude, solid vision blocks, etc. Kit decals are for a KFOR tank, although I will probably paint my kit is desert tan. I can't really recommend the kit very much, unless you just have to have a model of the Challenger II. Otherwise, there are many other kits that will make into nice, enjoyable OOTB projects.