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Found 9 results

  1. Having been hanging around in the group build section far too much lately, it’s time to get back to the armour building section. My next build is going to be this armoured bulldozer for my D Day sword beach project and part of some D Day group builds elsewhere. Kit is by mirror models and on first inspection is pretty good, mostly plastic with resin parts for the dozer blade assembly. The instructions would have you build the engine first which is quite detailed but give armoured sides you’re not going to see a lot of it. I skipped it initially and built the chassis first. The plastic is quite soft, detail Is good but a little on the soft side. Very few parts have positive fit locators and most joins are butt joints so it pays to take the time. The chassis arms in particular are quite flexible and I slowly worked my way along fitting and gluing. Tamiya extra thin works very well on this plastic so very few parts needed clamping, glue and hold for a few seconds and it stays solid. Despite the lack of locating tabs, the fit is surprisingly good. One part that didn’t fit well was the end plate for the drive box. It has bevelled edges but didn’t slide into the gap nicely so I had to shave ~0.5mm off each side to get the fit. With the chassis built I then built the superstructure so I could see how much of the engine would be visible. Again, despite all the plates being butt joints, it went together very well with only a couple of very minor gaps. I need to check my references to see where I need to add weld lines. Next I started work on the engine. With the superstructure and chassis dry fitted there is very little to see other than through the drivers area and a gap at the top above the radiator. Unfortunately, a fair amount of it is needed as it supports the exhaust stacks etc that poke up through the top of the armour. Part way through the build and there’s actually a few bits added that in hindsight aren’t needed but it’s hard to tell from the instructions. I’ve also picked up a few of Gecko’s new beach obstacles and an accurate armour driver to turn into a little diorama.
  2. CMP F 15A Water Truck Mirror Models 1:35 The Ford built F 15A trucks were 4x4 versions of the ubiquitous CMP designed series of trucks. They had a wheelbase of 101” and could carry ¾ of a ton. There were a number of different bodies used, with the kit example being that of the water tanker. The kit comes in a very attractive, full colour box with a representation of the vehicle in use. The kit is contained on fourteen sprues of light grey styrene, plus two with a slightly mauve tint, although there are quite a few parts that are only destined for the spares box, as they are not used in this build. There is a single sprue of clear styrene, two sheets of etched copper, a length of rubber tubing, a length of copper wire, a length of steel wire, five rubber tyres and a medium sized decal sheet. All the parts are very nicely moulded, with no sign of flash or other imperfections and only a few moulding pips, but be aware of the sprue gates as they are quite large, even for the smaller parts. The build process is quite complex with lots of detail in and around the chassis, as for most truck models, so this won’t be a quick and easy build, but one that will need time, patience, and care to assemble, certainly not for a beginner. The instructions are very clear and easy to read, but not always logical, particularly with the way the sub-assemblies are used, although they use the CAD/Photo style of drawings. Before beginning assembly the modeller will have to make a choice of whether they are going to build a CMP F 15 or F 15A, as there are optional parts for both vehicles and each has different bonnets, and running gear, the F 15 being a 4 x 2 while the F 15A is 4 x 4. I’ve concentrated on the build of the F 15A. Construction begins with a load of sub assemblies. These include the rear cross member spring unit, which includes the tow hook, associated clamps and the anti-swing bars, front bumper frame, exhaust/silencer, fuel tank and gearbox. The assembly of the very nicely detailed engine is then started. The two block halves are glued together, followed by the lower block plate and sump, cylinder heads, front, which includes the auxiliary drive points plus the starter motor and air filter unit. The drive belt needs to be made of tape from the modellers stock. The water tank is assembled next. But before construction begins, you need to assemble the two pump assemblies, each made from five plastic, one PE part and a length of steel wire. The tank itself is in two halves, top and bottom. To these, the top access hatch, two lifting eyes and the vent mast are all attached. Four cradles are glued to the underside of the tank, followed by two longitudinal rails. To the rear of the tank the control cupboard is fitted, made from a single piece unit to which the water levels are fitted, along with the two doors and locking mechanism. The doors can be posed open if the modeller wishes. Two walkways are then attached, one per side of the tank, as are two, three piece stowage boxes and one two piece box. To the rear, two mudguard support beams are attached, followed by the mudguards and another stowage bin. The cab is assembled from the floor pan to which is fitted the scuttle, gearbox/engine cover, bonnet, wheel arches, windscreen, instrument binnacle, front end, grille and bonnet side panels. The four part seats, gear sticks, PE window hinges and pedals are then fitted. The two piece rear bulkhead is then attached, followed by the roof, rear window, two doors, wing mirrors and PE radiator grille. Finally we get to the chassis, which is normally one of the first things assembled in a truck kit. Each of the chassis rails is fitted with the single leaf springs and their supports at the front, whilst at the rear there are double leaf springs fitted, along with the tow bumper beams and their brackets. Each rail is then joined together by the front bumper, five cross members and the rear end beam with tow hook assembled earlier. With the chassis assembled, all the sub assemblies can now be fitted to it, the engine, exhaust, the front and rear differentials, transfer box, all joined together by the various drive shafts, truck fuel tanks, water tank assembly, cab and access steps, and the five piece wheels, which at this point you will have a completed model. Well, almost. You will then add eh rubber hoses above and below the front of the tank, joining the pumps with the outlets. Decals The decal sheet provides decals for seven different trucks, with various placards for around the truck, plain stars for the cab doors. The decals look like they have been printed in house and appear to be very well printed, with good opacity and very thin carrier film. Ford 15A with Cab 11 in Canadian service Ford F 15A with Cab 11 in Italian service Ford F 15 with Cab 13 in Canadian service Ford F15 with Cab 13 in British service There are also decals for other vehicles, well, their registration numbers, but not shown on the painting guide, as well as three German crosses for a captured vehicle, again, not mentioned on the guide. Conclusion It’s great to see another version of the well recognised CMP truck released as an injection moulded kit. Whilst it is certainly not for the beginner, with care, patience and a bit of skill the average modeller should be able to produce a great looking model. I continue to be pleasantly surprised by the quality of the mouldings and will certainly be looking forward to their future releases. UK Distributors for
  3. Good day, colleagues. I present for review a model from the Irish Mirror-Models - a British Morris-Commercial C8 Quad Gun tractor MK.3 of a late release. Out-of-box assembly. I was going with a bang, questions arose only on the tent. Coloring - RealColor SCC.15 Olive Drab and SCC.14 Blue-Black. Oil and pigments from various companies.
  4. I've had these two kits in the stash for a while now,and i fancy a change from wingy things, These will take me through nicley till christmas at a steady pace, The mirror models cmp FAT looks a nice kit and comes with photo etch and resin wheels in the box, the dragon 25 pounder thats going to hang off the back of it looks good too, Cheers all Glynn The scheme I'll be doing and the resin wheels and pe oob
  5. Hi, Need some help guys, can anyone tell if the Mirror models CWT 10 kit is the same as used by the US troops in the ETO, 1944/45? If not, can you please advise me if I can get this in a kit in 1/35? Thanks in advance. The Woo
  6. Mirror Models Ltd. catalog 2016 is online: http://www.mirror-models.com/mirror_models_catalog_2016.pdf Source: https://www.facebook.com/437882949563530/photos/a.457684750916683.114201.437882949563530/1147053611979790/?type=3 V.P.
  7. US Diamond T 968A Cargo Truck Mirror Models 1:35 History The Diamond T Model 968 Truck, Cargo, 4 ton, 6x6 (G509) was produced during World War II, beginning in 1941. Early production used civilian instruments and other parts. The designation was changed to Model 968A when military standard instruments and components were substituted. It was produced with both the closed metal cab and, by 1943, open soft-top military cab. The final version was 968B. Its military role was as an artillery prime mover and for general cargo transport. The Diamond-T 968 Truck, Cargo, 4 ton, 6x6 was powered by the 6 cylinder, 529 cu. in. Hercules RXC engine that developed 106 hp. mated to a five speed manual transmission and two speed transfer case. The truck weighed 18,450 pounds and could tow 25,000 pounds. The Model The kit comes in a glossy top opening box with a depiction of the truck in use on the top. On opening the box is jam packed with seven sprues of light grey styrene, a small sprue of clear styrene, a small photo etched brass sheet, a vacformed tilt and a length of rope. Whilst the mouldings are very nicely done with some great details, there is a feeling of a limited run kit to it. The sprue gates are quite large, even for the smallest of parts and the plastic appears quite hard. The instructions too are not what we’ve come to expect from modern manufacturers, being a little in-descript and sketch like. Although the sketches are clearly drawn the parts location isn’t always that clear. With the best part of five hundred parts in the kit, the majority seemingly concerned with the chassis and suspension, great care will be needed when building these sections up. The build begins with the construction of the eight wheels. All the wheels are injection moulded and come in two halves and because of the big sprue gates they will need quite a bit of cleaning up along with the resulting seam once joined together. The front wheels are provided with an inner brake drum and outer centre hub, whilst the rear wheels are joined together by a much larger brake drum with a fluted centre piece and a rear panel, plus an outer central screwed panel. The spares require a hole to be drilled to allow fitting into their respective positions. The points where the holes are required are clearly marked. Next is the engine build. This is very comprehensive and begins with the assembly of the block, which comes in two halves, to which the sump is attached, followed by the cylinder heads. The auxiliary drive unit is fitted to the front, whilst the clutch and gearbox are fitted to the rear. The numerous ancillary parts are then added, along with the intake and exhaust manifolds, air intake filter unit, distributer, auxiliary drive belt and cooling fan. If the modeller wishes, they can super detail the engine with the addition of wiring and piping, especially if the engine covers are to be posed open. Once the engine is complete it’s on to the radiator, radiator housing and grille consisting of seven parts. Then it’s on to the drive train, with the assembly of the front axle, which comes in four parts, the transfer box, and the wheel mounts, complete with ball joint for the steering. The steering rack is then attached followed by the CV joints. Now this is where the instructions go a bit awry, instead of build the rear axles, it moves off to the building of the winch, which is a very nicely detailed unit, which just requires some rope to wrap on it. We now move onto the chassis the two longitudinal rails are fitted with several crossbeams, the completed winch, plus the front and rear end pieces. With the chassis rails closed up the air bottle and towing hook assembly can be attached. The front suspension hangers are then attached in their respective positions, followed by the leaf springs and the front axle sub-assembly. The rear suspension hangers are now attached, and then it’s on with assembling the complex number of parts for the rear suspension. These include the axles, transfer boxes, dampeners and air units. Whilst great care will be required to assemble all these and fit them to the chassis straight and level, it will be well worth it as the detail is quite amazing. There is an intermediate transfer box between the front and rear drive units along with the drive shafts and universal joints, which all have to be aligned correctly. With the drive train and chassis nearly complete the engine mounts and engine is fitted along with the associated drive shafts to the intermediate gearbox. Moving on to the cabin the complex set of levers is assembled and fitted to the cabin floor, followed by the seat mounting frames seat squabs and rear cabin panel. The seat backs are then fitted, as is the rear panel window. The drivers’ compartment front bulkhead comes in a single piece moulding, to which the drivers pedals are fitted along with the instrument panel, coaming and steering wheel bracket. The two piece steering column is assembled and passed through the cabin floor and previously fitted bracket. The wheel can then be attached along with what looks like a column shift lever made out of 0.3mm wire provided by the modeller. The cabin roof is now fitted with the two windscreens, following the written instructions carefully. The roof is then attached to the front coaming first, before being attached to the front of the cabin floor and the rear cabin panel. You must then dry fit the cabin with the engine cover so that the gearstick spigot fits into the hole in the gearbox, whilst at the same time the steering rack gearbox fits into position above the front axle. The written instructions here are in fact very useful, but take your time to get the alignments right. Once the cabin is glued into position you can start fitting the engine panels, the front mudguards, mudguard supports, lights and light protectors, followed by the front bumper. The cabin doors are fitted with their clear windows, but before fitting to the cabin, they will need door handles and window winders made up of 0.3mm wire. The cabin is then completed with the fitting of the roof convoy light and the wing mirrors. At this point the wheels assembled at the beginning of the build can be attached to their respective axles. The two fuel tanks are then assembled along with their supporting bracket assembly under the cabin, followed by the two footsteps, one each side. The truck bed is assembled from the bed, which has seven angular strengtheners attached underneath, front and rear panels, inner side panels and outer cargo bars, which have headrests built into them. The rear mudguards are attached to the rear underside of the bed with a fuel can holder fitted to the left hand mudguard. The bench seats are then fitted to either side of the bed and the now completed assembly can be fitted to the chassis. Lastly the two spare wheels can be attached to front of the bed on the brackets provided. Normally this is where the build finishes, but with this kit the modeller is actually provided with a vacuform tilt, which when cut out and painted slides over the cargo bars and tied to the wire hooks which will need to be made up from 0.3mm wire. It’s nice to see this option as it is rarely available in recently released truck models. Decals The small decal sheet provides decals for two different registrations, along with various placards for around the truck. There are also various sizes of US star and a number of unit markings for which you will need to check your references. Conclusion It’s great to see this truck finally released as an injection moulded kit. Whilst it is certainly not for the beginner, with care, patience and a bit of skill the average modeller should be able to produce a great looking model. The number of parts is quite daunting, but this is only due to the impressive level of detail for the drive train and chassis which will actually be quite visible. The addition of the tilt is a nice touch; just wish other manufacturers included this. All in all an excellent kit, and one I can quite happily highly recommend. I can also recommend the Squadron Signal Walk Around book on this series of trucks, a very useful reference guide. Review sample courtesy of
  8. CMP C15TA Armoured Ambulance 1:35 Mirror Models Based upon the Otter Armoured Car, the Armoured Ambulance was built by General Motors of Canada, sharing the chassis of the Canadia Military Pattern truck made by Chevrolet. It was used in the European theatre as a troop carrier and in limited quantities as the ambulance variant, where its armour made it useful for evacuating casualties from areas where hostilities hadn't yet ceased. After the war the remaining vehicles were used by previously subjugated nations, as well as being left behind and reused in Asia. A few even found their way to Africa. The Kit Mirror Models are a new company to me, and have a small but expanding range of the more unusual workhorses that worked hard behind the lines during WWII and other conflicts. The box is a small one, but inside are a lot of parts, which are all individually bagged in resealable ziplok bags. There are seven sprues of mid-grey styrene of various sizes, a bag of resin wheels and other parts, three sheets of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a small piece of thin styrene sheet, a couple of lengths of wire of different diameters, a decal sheet, and an individual styrene windscreen part. The instructions are printed on good quality copier paper with a mixture of colour pictures of an actual build and diagrams to assist you with your build. There is also a lot of text in between the photos that further assist with the build, and even some photos of the real thing to show you what you're aiming at. The multi-media nature of the model is likely to put off novice modellers, but anyone that has used a little modelling skill and had a bit of experience of PE shouldn't have any trouble if they follow the instructions carefully. Mirror have posted up a slightly more detailed build log of the kit on their website in Adobe PDF format, which you can find here, or you can plod along with the provided old-fashioned paper edition that is in the box. Construction starts unsurprisingly with the ladder chassis, to which the leaf springs and axles are added, along with a number of strengthening webs. The nicely detailed engine drops into the space between the chassis rails, just over the front axle, and comes complete with some PE detail parts and cooling fan in case you wanted to open up the bonnet/hood. The drivetrain is then extended back along the chassis using styrene and resin parts, plus some additional PE supports for the various assemblies along the way. The hubs are glued on the ends of the axles, and the front hubs has a linking wire between them which requires drilling out of the stub on the rear of the hubs. The exhaust system, additional suspension damping and steering arm are next, with a resin radiator sat at the front of the chassis, right in front of the cooling fan. An exploded diagram of the body shows how it assembles, with an additional diagram detailing construction and adaptation of the radiator's protective louvered cover, the top-most section of which must be sanded back to clear the radiator. The armoured covers to the windscreen can be modelled open or closed, and here some strips of the supplied styrene can be used to detail the lips and spacers that are required for open or closed position. The hinges themselves are made up from PE, so some careful bending will be needed here. The smaller openers within the covers are also highly detailed with their control rods replicated in PE that should look great if you take the time and care to complete it correctly. To assist with this complex part, a number of photos of the real thing have been provided to help you understand the process better. Inside the body shell is a large area of PE tread-plate that covers both sides of the cab around the transmission hump that separates the driver from co-driver. The instrument panel has a PE skin with the bezels etched in relief, but these are sadly no matching decals on the sheet. The interior is very well detailed, and has seat rails, gear stick, stowage rack, and a fully detailed pair of armoured side-doors, with drop-down panels and PE locking mechanisms. The engine compartment is topped off with a four-part hood made of PE, with hinges and latches as separate laminations that give additional realism, and permit the posing of the hood in the open or closed position to show off the engine within. The rear doors are similarly detailed with strip, PE and wire, showing the locking and latching mechanism, plus nicely rendered hinges for the outside and a combined step/towing hitch of resin and PE. A large portion of the supplied styrene sheet is glued loosely to the upper section of the rear of the vehicle, to simulate the thick canvas cover on the roof, and this should be curled and distressed a little to improve the realism of the part a little. Adding the wheels is simply a case of cleaning up the minimal resin flash from the moulding process, and identifying the rear and front hubs by the shape of their raised central area. Square at the back, rounded at the front, and hollow as the spare. At this point the remaining parts are shown in place on the real thing, with part numbers to help you find them on the frets. The large wing mirrors extend on long bars from the front of the wings, and must be made up using 0.5mm wire, but I'd probably source some brass wire myself and solder it to the PE mirrors to prevent them getting knocked off or destroyed during handling. Markings Only one set of markings are provided with the kit for an ambulance of an unknown unit in France in 1944. The colour scrheme is Olive Drab overall with white stars on the doors and Red Cross motifs on the vehicle's sides, front and rear doors. The decals are very thin but appear to have a large and similarly thin carrier film that extends quite a way from the edge of the decals in places. If I'm seeing it right, I can't see it as a problem, because of the minimal thickness, but without trying them it's difficult to reach a firm conclusion as to their usefulness. Conclusion This is an unusual subject that we are unlikely to see tackled by a mainstream manufacturer anytime soon, and to be honest, the detail in this kit is unlikely to be bettered at any reasonable price point. Sure there's some work involved in adding bits and bending PE, but it all adds to the finished look of the model, making it faithful to the original, rather than a simplified replica. Add a few weld beads here and there, and you'll end up with a special model that won't be in everyone's cabinets. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  9. We are looking for opinions / feedback please on a new range we are starting to distribute. Mirror Models are hoping to release their first three kits this month with a number of interesting releases planned for the coming year. Photoetch parts, metal barrels, resin wheels and other after market details will be including in their kits so they are looking at offering a high quality product from the start. The first batch of releases will be: Prices should range between £27.99 and £34.99 Any comments would be very welcome as judging demand on these could be very difficult!
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