Sgt.Squarehead

That fan! Those hinges! Those wheels! PS - Are you colluding with Braille Scale model companies to bankrupt me? Trumpeter have just announced a 1/72 FROG & also a BM-27 Uragan!

Mistaken post.....I'll re-use it for pictures of horrible wheels in a bit. My plan is to assemble the chassis and while that's setting up, see what can be done about the wheels.....At least I didn't buy Fujimi!

The recovery vehicle has arrived and at first glance it seems to be a bit of a step up in quality compared to the kits above.....The tyres are moulded in plastic again, but these have four parts each! How well they'll go together remains to be seen. Do it! First kit's about to hit the desk, I'm starting small with the up-armoured 3.5ton truck, well It's Hobson's Choice TBH.....The other 3.5ton truck kit has vanished! Pretty sure I remember buying it, along with a set of these: Which were the original intended cargo for the transporter, way back when, until I found I didn't appear to actually have them.....I can't find either kit now! Going back to the subject of JGSDF kits with s****y tyres, I was becoming rather tempted by one of Fujimi's newer offerings, the JGSDF Light Armoured Vehicle (it's a diminuative little MRAP thing), but then I saw this: & thus, inevitably, this: The wheels of the Fujimi 3.5tonner are even worse than Aoshima's (look at the back of the front wheel): Meh! You just have to wait a while, most of these kits are available at very reasonable prices from places like Jadlam & Model Hobbies.....The newer ones will be available in about six to twelve months at a guess, based on the arrival time for this lot. That being said if anyone happens to spot a Fujimi 1/72 JGSDF Type 87 SPAAG for sale anywhere in the UK.....Please let me know!

Beautiful little kit, a pleasure to build as it's completely free of the faff that is the schurzen on their Ausf M.....It's also the very same one I was planning on doing.

You guys didn't help one little bit.....Because I found the damned thing on sale, with free delivery, and.....Well you know the rest already!

Nice work on the tracks dude.....Without paint I suspect you would have done them perfectly. Could I suggest you do the Revell Pz.III (Which version is it BTW? ) before the others.....The L&L in that kit is possibly the most user friendly ever. If you don't paint the parts and are very careful you can easily assemble the entire track-runs without glueing any of the wheels to the hull. That way you can remove the tracks on each side for painting (you can even do this on kits with schurzen if you are very careful, simply don't permanently glue the top & bottom hull halves together until the very last thing). The Revell Tiger I is a much trickier proposition (as I mentioned elsewhere) and depending on which version of the kit you have, the Trumpeter FAMO may come with indy links (ie: no lengths)! PS - Re: Trumpeter FAMO.....Beautiful kit but ensure you check the fit of the front axle. The instructions in some of the early kits had you fit it incorrectly, which made the front end sit horribly high (once again I used to have a photo of the correct assembly, but PB had a nauseating fit of greed and it went bye-bye). https://www.onthewaymodels.com/reviews/Trumpeter/SdKfz9_early_FAMO_prev.htm PPS - If you want I'll buddy-build a Revell Pz.III with you.....Put my money where my mouth is on the tracks, so to speak.

Beautiful finish again Roman. You dodged a bullet with the tyre rims.....Those fekkin things will eat your model!

Nice build of a very 'ACE' kit. You should keep those instructions, they'll be a rarity one day! The corrected instructions are here: http://acemodel.com.ua/en/model/742

It's a beast isn't it. I keep hoping someone would make a 1/72 kit of a crane on the MAZ-543: The 1/35 model looks amazing: But I just don't have the skills for scratchbuilding a whole crane. However, on a brighter note (in more ways than one), I did manage to get my paws on these: I'm compiling quite a portfolio of reference pictures & I have enough spare MAZ-543 etch to properly go to town on at least one of them.....I even bought myself a MiG (as a little accessory to set off the proper models)!

Nope.....The lazy blighters have only moulded the front half of the wheels properly, the backs of all of them are hollow! Problem with me & projects like this, I can always find something that I suddenly 'need' to make them better.....I'm becoming very tempted by this (seems like a natural really): & this could quite well end up joining the pile too (one can't have a convoy without outriders, after all): But then they might release this (just look at those figures): Guys.....I need your help! Don't let me do it!

Nothing quite so technical fella, suspect I'll fill them with Milliput, paint them and hope for the best. Ha! You should see the sheer number of MAZ & KAMAZ trucks I have in the stash now (including three tank transporters and enough ballistic missiles to lay waste to a continent) It's an OK kit TBH, but compared to equivalent Modelcollect or Takom kits it's pretty basic (& even slightly half-hearted).....You'll see once I get those wheels out! Slowly getting myself organised.....So many of my paints, glues and other essentials have dried up, it's heartbreaking, probably only used most of them once or twice.

@bootneck.....Gotta build 'em some time (but like I said elsewhere, bear with me, it's been a while). Probably a couple of others. The wheels of these kits are singularly horrible IIRC, but given the sheer number of them that I have, resin replacements are not really an option.....Gonna have to get creative.

Honestly, it's not.....Revell just send you off in the wrong direction and make it seem that way. Follow the sequence above (letting common sense over-rule me if I'm a single link out here or there), take your time, working in sections and allowing things to firm up (think of each track-run as a mini-kit).....You'll be fine. And even if you're not, still don't worry.....I have more spares for this kit than you can shake a s****y stick at and they are at your disposal ('cos like I said, they're spares). If it's the Revell kit, I've got loads of spares for that too. PS - I should probably warn you that if it is the Revell Tiger I, the L&L is quite a bit trickier than it is in this kit, it doesn't fit together quite as well and IIRC the track runs go in opposite directions on each side of the tank (they certainly did on the Ausf. H that I built around the same time as my Kingtiger).

@echen You have started exactly right! Now work around the sprocket with single links (alternating types obviously) and prepare the short length to the first roadwheel by very gently bending it to give a little sag. IIRC you then need a single link at the first roadwheel to get a smooth transition into the long length the tank sits on. Once this bit is done let it harden while you do the same section of the other side. Returning to the track runs, IIRC it should be another three alternating single links at the end of the bottom run, but TBH here I would return to the top and the idler wheel, reversing the direction of construction so that you finish the run with those three single links.....Same deal as earler, gently bend the length from idler to final roadwheel for sag and to smooth the transitions with the single links and you should be done. Here's a set I made about two decades ago, ironically to demo the correct build sequence as Revell described it wrongly in all of their instructions and have continued to do so ever since: Tracks by squarehead666, on Flickr Sadly the WIP photos with the correct build sequence fell by the wayside.....Never did finish the kit either! PS - Definitely clean up the joints, TBH I don't recommend painting L&L tracks prior to assembly. With unpainted parts you can actually pre-assemble the sections of single link for the Sprocket and idler, let them firm up so they won't fall apart, then gently wrap them around the wheels. With pre-painted parts they will usually fall apart before you can wrap them around the sprocket or idler, it's easier to add them one at a time, giving each a little time to firm up before adding the next.

Can't see that page at all.