The Buk missile system (Russian: "Бук"; "beech" (tree), /bʊk/) is a family of self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile systems developed by the Soviet Union and its successor state, the Russian Federation, and designed to counter cruise missiles, smart bombs, fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Buk missile system is the successor to the NIIP/Vympel 2K12 Kub (NATO reporting name SA-6 "Gainful"). The first version of Buk adopted into service carried the GRAU designation 9K37 Buk and was identified in the west with the NATO reporting name "Gadfly" as well as the US Department of Defense designation SA-11.

With the integration of a new missile the Buk-M1-2 and Buk-M2 systems also received a new NATO reporting name Grizzly and a new DoD designation SA-17. In 2013, the latest incarnation "Buk-M3" was scheduled for production.

A naval version of the system, designed by MNIIRE Altair (currently part of GSKB Almaz-Antey) for the Russian Navy, received the GRAU designation 3S90M and will be identified with the NATO reporting name Gollum and a DoD designation SA-N-7C, according to Jane's Missiles & Rockets. The naval system was scheduled for delivery in 2014.

This kit is the launcher portion and is the initial missile system or the SA-11. There is a ton of parts as you might expect from something of this size and the kit comes with something new to me in kits; cast metal tracks. Each of these tracks is separate and there are link pins included for assembly. The casting on these tracks looks to be excellent and they very much appear to be ready to assemble. These come in a fairly large plastic box that has been taped shut and rather than worry about losing any bits, I have kept it just like that.

Once can divide this kit into two major constructs. One is the mobile tractor portion of it and the other is the missile launch system portion. The lower portion is as detailed as any modern tracked vehicle with a separate upper and lower hull. The suspension attachment members for the road wheels and sprocket are molded in place. Those for the road wheels and idler wheel are separate. There is a separate rear plate for the hull and you have a number of various fenders, equipment boxes, tow hooks and other items to attach to the underside and back. On the top are crew hatches, hand holds, a tow cable (which is braided copper wire), and a considerable number of engine hatches and cooling areas. In fact, a goodly portion of the nicely done photo etch fret are used on the upper hull assembly.

The rest of the kit is dedicated to the missile launching section. This includes the mechanism that holds the missiles in place as well as the radar system in the front of it and the various hold downs and safety barriers. You can model the missiles in either launch or travel position. The launch rail assemblies are paired and the way the pieces are designed, they are not separate and have to either be all up or all down. From the look of the instructions, you have the option of two different missiles. One is as shown in the box art with the long main fins and another seems to be a shorter missile with shorter main fins. As usual, the instructions are moot on what is what, but show the longer finned version throughout the rest of the instructions.

Speaking of which, the instructions are standard Panda fare with very nicely drawn illustrations and several showing detail where needed. No color info is provided anywhere in the build instructions. That is left to the full color painting and markings guide. There are several camouflage schemes shown from an overall green to several green/brown/black camouflage options as shown in the photo provided here. The decals are nicely printed, and I wish I could tell you some info on units, but no information is provided in that regard. All color references are for Gunze paints.