I really wanted to make a sand color model. But I faced a "small" problem. The AB43 only entered service with the germans and they all had that camo scheme.

How's that for bad news? I'm not going to paint that. Not yet! I need some training from Yoda to master the Force. One needs the force to do that and not fail miserably.

I started my own little investigation on the subject.

It appears that the AB43 should have been an evolution of the Ab41 with a different turret and a 47mm cannon and an upgraded engine. But the Germans used this AB43 with the same Breda cannon used on the AB41. It started to get dense and confusing.

Browsing one of the books I have about Mussolini tanks I found one that was too good to be true. It belonged to the 1st Platoon 1st Company "Lancieri Vittorio Emanuele II" Regiment 135th Armored Cavalry Division "Ariete" II that was in Rome during September 1943. This is why a huge pile of books is helpful. In one of them I managed to find probably the only proof that this AB43 existed in these colors in Rome in 1943.

How could this be possible? According to the records the AB43 was only produced in 1944-45 and such a vehicle could not exist. But it seems it did. And it did because this AB 41/43 was some sort of a mix between the old AB41 with parts of what could be the AB43. This is called the AB41/43 and I believe that Italeri took their measurements from some of the ones in existence. This site sheds some light on this odd variant – Italica Virtus.

The engine was more powerful and there was a different exhaust, the turret was bigger but it still had the same 20mm canon.

Could it be that one of these hybrids saw service in 1943? According to the book it did and that's good for me. I must assume that the author had access to information that I didn't. And on top pf that it serves my purpose so that's what I'll do.

This odd vehicle was a 4 wheel steering 4 wheel drive fast armored vehicle. So fast that the 4 wheel drive could lead to problems at speed. It had two drivers – one facing the front and the other facing the back. That's what I call a nice plan of retreat. Made by Ansaldo it evolved from the AB40 armed only with machine guns to the AB43 that should have a 47 mm cannon. In reality it never used it. It only saw service with the Breda 20 cannon.

It's one of those vehicles that is ugly enough to look beautiful. The same sort of quality I can find on a BT7 (I want one of these badly…) or on a Churchill.

The kit

Price
Accuracy/Detail
Build
Extras
Instructions

For the price I believe it's a nice kit to have but I'm not going to do it strictly OOB. Hussar wheels, not because the tires are not good, but because I hate to think that in a few years the tires will melt down and I end up with a nice kit with destroyed tires and a Voyager PE set (the AB41 one) that included many parts I can use and above all a decent gun barrel. Again Italeri made a gun that needs some imagination to say it's the right one. Too thin and out of proportion.

]]> http://www.pirespreto.com/?feed=rss2&p=1615 0 http://www.pirespreto.com/?p=1575&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dingo-mk-ib http://www.pirespreto.com/?p=1575#comments Fri, 09 Jul 2010 23:40:03 +0000 antoniop http://www.pirespreto.com/?p=1575 Resuming…

After a fairly long hiatus (6 months) I decided it was time to go back to the bench. Instead of continuing with the builds I have resting there I decided to do something new. If I'm restarting I can't do it with something that already began. It has to be new out of the box.

These manufacturers are putting out so many quality kits that is impossible to resist. What can I say..

I started to build this one and found out that two sprues were from the other Dingo variant that Miniart produces. I emailed Miniart and the following day they were asking for my address to send the correct sprues.

They arrived 11 days after my first email (Ukraine to Portugal) and I have to say this is one of the best examples I can give of a good Customer Service. 10 out of 10 for Miniart!

The Kit

Price
Accuracy/Detail
Build
Extras
Instructions

The plastic is excellent with a surface detail worthy (if not better) of the best brands on the market. The detail is delicate and precise and it shines on a model of this size.

From the suspension to the body everything is near perfect.

Only the cabin and lower chassis is glued but the parts fit can already be considered as very good

A tiny little model with lots of potential

The fit of parts is quite good, but I'll have to wait till the final assemble to see if putty is needed to form a definite opinion on the subject.

The wheels are one piece items with the rear hub part as an insert. No need for resin wheels here. They are awesome and they convey that flimsy look that the Dingo wheels usually have.

The 5 page instructions are very good and they leave nothing to guess. The steps are clearly defined and the parts well identified.

Being a very small model the parts are also small. The suspension consists of a high parts count and they are all small and delicate. I wondered how could they support the model till I completed the 4 suspension assemblies. With all the braces and suspension arms it ends up being quite strong and perfectly able to withstand the vehicle. If care is taken on gluing the suspension parts, the wheels can move. Nonetheless I decided to glue the rear wheels and allow the from wheels to move. I prefer to have them turned because I think it gives a more dynamic stance to the vehicle.

The interior is very complete (a must for an open top vehicle) and it's a kit within a kit.

Only the "radio" is below par. EDIT: And that's because it's not a radio. It's a stowage box. Not all the Dingo's had one radio and Miniart decided to make the kit without the radio.

However there's always a strategy. I'll just put the pivoting chair in front of it. Most of the radio will be covered.

In the mean time I went on an expedition to find a good ws19 radio. It's always good to have a source if I need one for another Allied (Commonwealth) vehicle. And I found a recent company that makes one besides Resicast. This company is called Inside the Armour and also makes a beautiful Churchill interior for those of you, that unlike me, still have to finish the excellent AFV Club Churchill.

The first time I saw a model of this vehicle on a magazine the first thing I looked for was the manufacturer. It was a resin kit from Masters Productions and had a very respectable price tag. I forgot about it. With that kind of money I could buy 3 or 4 decent kits I wanted badly.

But a few months after I first saw the model Hobby Boss announced, not one, but two versions of this tractor!!

Of course I found it on my usual Internet shopping spot but other things got in the way and I just didn't order it. I found it for a very good price on a hobby shop that "used" to exist on a shopping mall close to home.

Of course I bought it.

The vehicle

M4 was produced from 1942 by Allis-Chalmers of Milwaukee. The vehicle was in service up to 1960 in the U.S. Army service.

Between 1943 and 1946 about 5,500 vehicles were produced. The tractor was designed to pull 90-mm anti-aircraft guns, 155-mm howitzers of type "Long Tom" and 240-mm howitzers. In the course of the Mutual Defense Assistance Program after WWII the M4 was exported to Japan, Brazil, Germany, Yugoslavia and Pakistan.

It was used by the Bundeswehr in the field artillery battalions until 1960 towing the howitzers M114 and M115 and the M59 field gun.

The M4 High Speed Tractor was also in the civilian sector, as Airport crash tender.

It was used also in the Netherlands until the 1980 as a fire fighting and rescue vehicle. For this role former Army tractors were converted after withdrawal from military service circa 1960.

Specifications

The M4 High Speed Tractor was based on the chassis of the M3 Stuart. It was powered by a six-cylinder inline petrol engine (145GZ or F817G) manufactured by Waukesha. It had a power rating of 210 hp at 2100 rpm. The engine had a whopping 13,400 cc.

The maximum towing capacity of the M4 came in at 14 tons. The tractor could cope with 30° slopes . Transported up to 11 people, the operating crew of the towed gun, in the interior space. The engine was located in the middle of the vehicle and the ammunition stored in the back. Some versions of the M4 had a crane at the rear of the vehicle for lifting the heavy artillery projectiles. The crane could lift up to 10 tons.

The kit

Price
Accuracy/Detail
Build
Extras
Instructions

The kit reproduces a M4 with a Class B ammunition container with the louvered side vents. It's kind of easy to do a version without the vents as this ammo container was also frequently used on M4's.

A pair of M4 HST ready for shipment in 1943. They have a class B ammo container (no louvered vents) and T49 Steel Cleat tracks

A M4A1 with the wider suspension and the T49 Steel Cleat tracks with duckbills. Note the wider fenders on this version. Picture from Ampersand's Publishing, A Visual history of the US Army Tracked Artillery Prime Movers book

A very decent set of decals for what appears to be a Korean War version (too bad it's not WWII) and vinyl tracks. It also includes masks for protecting the windows while painting and this is something that is not common to find and some brands even make aftermarket items for this use. A very nice addition to the kit.

The tracks included are T48's although it was common to find this tractor using T49 Steel Three Bar Cleat tracks. Another common configuration included tracks with duckbills and the M4A1 version had the suspension and sprockets farther from the hull to accommodate duckbills on the inside and outside of the tracks. This version had the fenders a little wider than the normal version, so if you want to do a M4A1 grab some plasticard and prepare to make new fenders.

The vinyl tracks were the only thing I was not very amused about, but the price for a set of T48 link tracks from AFV Club is very reasonable and some additional PE from Eduard does not break the bank either.

The worst part was when I found a detailing resin set from Masters Productions and a canvas for the ammo container. Yeah, I know I'm lazy and I could do a decent tarp for it, but when I'm on a shopping spree for After Market parts I have no limits.

After all, the final price tag if close to a what we pay for a bare bones Dragon kit these days so I try to comfort myself with that thought.

Another thing that I got was the Ampersand Publications book about the HST's that is one of the best sources to find photographic information about this vehicle.

Everything is set for the start of the build. As usual you can follow it here. Just stay tuned.

Building

I started by the lower chassis and suspension and found that some minor touches are needed here and there. The model is not completely devoid of flash but it's that type that can be removed very easily with an Xacto. Another thing is the fit between parts. The edges are not what we can call sharp, so sanding and filing is needed. But with care the result is really good.

The suspension is very easy to do but take care when placing the wheels on the bogies because one of the faces has much sharper rim lines and this helps immensely when painting the tires.

There are however some points that need to be addressed with some care

1. Suspension rear wheels

The big rear wheel needs two outside rings to be glued to reproduce the step that the original has. Grab some putty because you're gonna need it. After gluing the rings I had to apply a liberal amount of putty to hide the rings seam. But then I had another little problem – removing the excess putty. Faithful Dremel to the rescue. The hole on the wheels is exactly 1/8" diameter so I inserted a drill and hold the wheel in it with two rubber grommets. I had an improvised lathe. Armed with this tool, removing the excess putty was a breeze.

2. Sprockets

After these little tribulations I decided to make a track run. I bought the T48 AFV Club tracks and found that they didn't go very well with the sprockets. On the spares box I had two M4 Tasca sprockets but they were not exactly like they should. The ring was OK but the center hub lacks a few bolts (4 in between the bigger 8 bolts) and the shape is not exactly correct when compared with the reference pictures.

I don't want to risk being dragged on the mud by the "specialists" so I decided to rework the kit sprockets in order to make the tracks fit. Again with the help of a Dremel I made the characteristic teeth shape a little more pronounced. When I compared the Tasca sprocket with the Hobby Boss one the major difference was precisely on the teeth. The fit was perfect on the Tasca but not on the HB one. It were the teeth – after the rework the track fits perfectly.

3. Ejector marks

The lower tub has some ejector marks that can be visible on the finished model. The wall that separates crew from driver has a few marks also. Removing them is no big deal as they appear on flat surfaces that can be sanded very easily.

Removing them is just a matter of using some putty and sand flat.

Other than that the cabin is a very straight forward build. In the picture you can see the Masters Productions parts. The cabin roof MG ring and the seats that, like the original, have four individual places in the back and 3 in the front with seat belts and all. Much better than the plain plastic ones included on the kit.

Normally I wouldn't care about this but on a open kit these details need attention.

4. Front Fender

One point of note is the front fender. If mounted as it is it'll prevent the cabin to sit right. There will be a visible gap when the cabin is in place.
There are two places to sand to avoid this: One is the lower belly piece that "supports" the fender and the other is the fender itself. You have to sand the fender a little bit on the top face to make it a little narrower. That and a bit of sanding on the lower belly piece where the fender sits will be enough for the cabin to sit flush with the lower hull and fender leaving no gap when glued.

The tracks

Geez, these M4 tracks are a pain to build. If the links don't fit tight they will just fall while you assemble it. I don't know how many times I was on my knees looking for lost links on the floor. I decided that enough was enough and started to apply a little Tamiya thin glue in each link. Before drying I moved the track in order to keep it able to move instead of having a stiff and long track that would be of no use.

These tracks look a lot like Modelkasten due to their brown color. The main difference is the price and in favor of AFV Club since they are considerably cheaper.

I prefer to stay away from MK tracks, especially German vehicle tracks due to their assembly method that relies on tiny pins that break easily and are not very tolerant to turpentine or even white spirit, two things that we may need to use during the weathering phases. I was pissed big time with my Hetzer experience and for me that was a big factor for not buying MK tracks anymore as long as an alternative exists.

Building progresses

After a long period I decided that I had to finish this kit. I started and finished the engine and pretty much the engine bay area.

There are a few omissions on the instructions but nothing dramatic. I found this by looking closely at the pictures and found a couple of pieces that were not in the building steps. The engine is a very nice piece but the mold precision is not the best in the world. A lot of sanding was needed to get rid of seams when I realized that very little of the engine would be visible. I gave up and decided it was good enough for the sort of model display I'm planning.

The Eduard PE that you see on the pictures covers only the engine area, especially the radiator grills and a few other details. Eduard makes a couple of sets for this model but I just got the engine set and it proved to be a wise choice.

Accessories

The tarp on the ammo compartment is from Masters Productions and it did have quite a few repairs with Miliput. It had many flaws that would compromise the final look. At some point I almost decided to throw it away (it didn't sit right), but in the end perseverance took over and I decided at least to try.

Also from them are a few items you can already see on the pictures. The seats, a much better rendition of the real one, with safety belts (oh yes they had belts then), the MG ring with the correct welding marks and a somewhat revised shape and a set of pioneer tools.

Masters made the only MA HST I knew about and many times I has the mouse hovering the buy button. The price however deterred me from that. It was really high. Some of the parts were turned into update sets and as far as I know are the only ones for this model. However, Masters does not have a site and I bought them through Blast Models my faithful hobby supplier.

Pictures

After a few months without touching models, I decided to restart.

Instead of finalizing the models I have almost ready (and this seems to happen to all of us) I wanted to do something from scratch. I opened the box of a Dingo Mk IB from Miniart only to discover that some sprues were switched at the factory for some of the Mk III version. Miniart is going to send the correct sprues (I do have to say that their service is superb) so I had to pick another kit fro the stash.

The Churchill seemed the right choice. I had all the accessories (tracks, rivets, mg's) and it looks like it's a straight forward build. 

The kit

AFV Club impresses me again. The plastic of excellent quality with very fine engraved detail alone, puts this kit high up with the best. But the quality of assembly is in my view second to none. AFV Club seems to have mastered the art of making multi part assemblies fit together like if they were just one.

The two suspension assemblies are very complicated pieces but everything seems to magically fall into place with no problems whatsoever.

I would like to see the individual link tracks included on the kit, but I can understand that these may only be required by people like me that want the tracks look exactly how they should. However, the vinyl tracks included are some of the best examples I've seen.

The instructions are very complete and clear in spite of the complicated suspension assemblies. In fact these are so complex that the rest of the model seems really simple to do. The sensation I have after building the two sides, is that the rest of the kit will only take a couple of hours to finish.

Even on those complicated steps the instructions make them look simple. Very clear drawings and adequately placed part numbers help a lot in doing these assemblies correctly.

There was a wrong pat number in one of the suspension drawings, but upon parts inspection prior to assembly, the error was not a very big issue. Anyway, take care on step 3.

I love this kit and I will buy more AFV Club for sure.

AM Parts

The Ultracast petrol cans are beautiful and totally made in resin. The handles are perfectly cast and there is just a little flash below the handles. Easily removed with an Xacto. I looked at them for a while wondering how they cast a piece like that without flaws. Awesome.

The RB BESA MG's are probably the most delicate little things I've seen in terms of brass barrels. They are a two part barrel and they add a lot of quality to the final product. Considering the price and quality I would recommend them to anyone doing a Allied vehicle that needs them.

And finally the tracks. What can I say? They are from AFV Club and they are absolutely on par with the likes of Friul and MK, if not better. The only situations where I prefer Friul is where the sag is something to consider. In this tank there's no such need so I bought the AFV ones. They are considerably cheaper.

Building

The build starts with the sponsons and suspension. And what a suspension that is. First the are the shocks and their springs and after that the structure that holds everything in place followed by the wheels. Each side takes a couple of hours to assemble and it's something that needs attention.

The quality of AFV Club is very clear here. Amazing how they can build a kit with so many parts that has a near perfect fit. Looking at these complex assemblies it's very difficult to understand where the separate pieces are.

Each side of the tank has 7 big conical rivets that are included on the kit in their plastic version. AFV Club also makes brass AM rivets that I used on this build. First the holes have to be drilled (1.5mm bit) and the rivets glued in place with a small drop of ciano on the inside.

The tracks

Next I started to build the AFV Club (Kit No. AF 35156) tracks. They are really good and have a very smart assembly method. I would recommend anyone building this kit to go for the AM tracks if the decision is to leave a lot of them visible as I am going to do.

They assemble very well and each run didn't take too much time to complete. Preparing each link is just a matter of sanding an attachment point and it's really easy to do.

As always each run was either too tight or too loose. Even with one more link than the vinyl ones the fit was not that easy to do. Especially because I want to paint them off the tank. It will be a bit tricky to do because the sprocket is enclosed behind armor. For being able to do what I plan I will need to glue that rear plate that protects the sprocket after the tracks are in place with all the model painted ready for weathering.

The only problem I see here is the fact that the tracks need to be in place when the painting of the hull is done. I really don't like to paint tracks in place.

The hull

Again, AFV Club is remarkable in designing their kits. The hull consists of several parts that go between the two suspension sides. A lower plate, a rear plate and the top plates (3).

The lower plate has to be very well aligned from the beginning and mine was a little warped. I had to resort to ciano glue to hold it in place. But when I started to glue the rear and top plates I was amazed with the almost nonexistent gaps on the model.

Like the Stuart, they manage to assemble many pieces together without causing the dreaded gaps. I really like the no nonsense approach that this brand has to designing kits.

The turret

I'm loving this kit. It's incredibly simple to put together (with the exception of the complicated suspension).

The turret consists of very few parts. The main structure (not counting hatches, antennas and pieces like that) is just a dozen of parts. And they all fit like a charm. The rear plate has an odd shape but it all comes clear when placed in the correct position. Assembling the turret took me less than an hour to do.

Painting

Vallejo colors with some modulation effect

Colors, colors colors… This is the point when all the efforts can be reduced to garbage. Hopefully not, because it's at this phase when I usually do everything wrong.

This time I wanted to make sure everything was ok to proceed with the painting process.

Because of my decision to prepare the tracks off the model and then installing them I had to paint the sides of the tank, suspension, wheels and the bottom of the tank with the tracks uninstalled.

The colors are from Vallejo and they are a mix of 893 and 894 in equal proportions. I tried several mixes but they were either too dull or too bright. This mix gives the balance I was looking for. I sprayed some panels with a few drops of 986 (Deck Tan) to highlight some panel centers or areas where the light would make the color seem lighter. The color balance for these highlight areas is 50% 986 (Deck Tan) + 25% 893 + 25% 894.

Because all these colors are matte, the final effect can only be seen in full when a satin or gloss coat is applied but an can see that I have a nice base for filters and washes that tend to darken the model a little bit.

I'm not going into "full" modulation this time but I'll use the technique in small doses. A plain color model is something to be approached with care. It can either be an excellent model or just a miserable attempt. Although I see a lot of superb CM examples, when they are presented without filters and weathering I always think that the result is going to be very weird. I guess I still lack that confidence that allows certain modelers to know it's going to look "just right".

The tracks were given a coat of black with a few drops of metal and several washes of dust color and several tones of rust from the Lifecolor range.. They'll receive the final treatment with pigments but that's only when the vehicle reaches the weathering phase.

Hull and Turret

The modulation effect is very visible on this shot

The effect of modulation was deliberately softer on this model than on previous examples. I just applied some lighter green on the horizontal surfaces and a little on the sides to give the impression that the color darkens towards the lower parts of the vehicle.

I didn't want to have a very dark base color because of all the filters, washes and pigments that usually make the vehicle darker, but a single color model can be very monotonous and I wanted to avoid that badly.

The trick of changing the colors a little bit from horizontal surfaces to the vertical ones helps break that monotony and gives the impression that light is coming from above or better yet, that the parts of the vehicle that are more exposed to the sun have become lighter. And that's exactly what happens in real life. Or so they say. They? Who? Well, they, the guys that know "stuff" and that know more "stuff" than me LOL.

A "sponge bath"

During my modeling life I tried many techniques with various degrees of success. What determines the choice of one or the other is something I can't really point exactly.

For chipping and scratches I'm using the sponge technique. I made some wear with dark grey and after that a very dark brown to simulate some spots with oxidation.

This adds some character to a flawless green paint. Some may disagree that a tank has that kind of wear, but imagine soldiers climbing to a tank, riding it, things bumping into the paint and you know it's virtually impossible for the paint to be just dirty. Some spots and scratches have to exist. They exist in our cars and we don't treat them with the same level of abuse a tank got treated.

The wear was done in areas where it could happen. Places that get hit by rocks and sand dragged by the tracks, places where the crew walks or climbs to the tank and places where there is real possibility of scratches and paint wear.

This is the minimal I think is logical to have. The rest is now up to the pigments and the occasional touch with oils or washes to give it that final look.

Pigments, pin wash and all the tricks I could think of

In this step I used pretty much all the pigment earth colors I had on my drawer. From the sandy dust to the Russian earth I put them all and blend them with white spirit. On the lower parts of the suspension I added some pigment without blending it and just fixed it with MIG pigment fixer.

A few more chips and bare metal touches (very light) in places where the typical wear could happen.

Some MIG Oil and Grease Effects were used on the petrol/oil cans on the engine deck and on the places of the suspension where some lubrication could occur and spill to adjacent areas. The oil effect on dusty surfaces is very characteristic but not very easy to master. I hope I nailed it

Final Veredict

Price
Accuracy/Detail
Build
Extras
Instructions

AFV Club has become one of my favorite brands. Not only their price is adequate and very far from the insane values that Dragon or Tamiya are charging for their kits, but the quality leaves nothing to desire in absolute terms. It's not just a matter of price /quality ratio – These kits are good, period.

The instructions are clear (after reading the instructions on a Dragon kit with multiple variants you'll know what I mean) the parts are perfectly molded and the fit is superb. Although AFV is not into the sliding mold "thingy" the multiple parts assemble so well that is seems almost impossible. I have yet to use filler on one AFV Club model. There's no need, as simple as that.

Using Tamiya Thin Glue helps a lot in having good builds. There are no glue blobs anywhere and the bond is as strong as can be.

AFV included a lot of neat stuff in the kit. The Alu barrel, PE fret being the most notable. Of course like a good AM freak I bought a few goodies for it. The tracks (also from AFV and excellent), a pair of precious BESA MG's from RB Models and the petrol cans from Ultracast. All of these parts are not absolutely necessary but add some quality to the final product. And after all I usually do the very same thing in much more expensive kits, so the final cost is still below a pimped Dragon kit.

Pictures

Outstanding

One of these days I bought an issue of AFV Modeller. This detailing set was advertised on the inside back cover and looking at the pictures I couldn’t believe that something made in resin could look that good.

Since I have a Tristar Marder III H waiting to be built I wondered if it could be a good acquisition.

I remembered a blog about it that showed some limitations on the ammo tubes and opened the kit to have a look. By comparing the plastic ones with the pics of this K59 set I had no doubts and decided to order it.

The first pleasant surprise was the speed it arrived. I bought it on the AFV Modeller shop on a Thursday and I had it the following Monday. It was the best case of speed that I can recall.

But the best of the best was opening the box!!! What an amazing resin set. It is absolutely incredible when compared to the second best resin set I have (probably from Blast Models). I never saw thinner parts, with no warp and with amazing surface detail. My jaw dropped!!!

The Tristar kit is probably one of the best plastic pieces on the market but a set like this is irresistible. It will only make a fabulous kit even better. I just hope I’m up to the challenge.

On the company site I can see some amazing resin kits for other models and for sure I’ll get them if I build one of them. It may even make buy some kits just to have the opportunity to get K59 sets.

It’s clear that these guys take their work seriously. I can’t comment about research or accuracy on great depth, although I checked my photo references and they seem spot on, but I assume that someone that goes to this extent in producing the best resin kit I ever saw must have made his research much better than I can.

I wholeheartedly recommend this set.

The instructions

But it does not stop on the resin parts.

It includes a perfect PE set and, lo and behold, it has almost flawless instructions. Now that’s something I never saw at least with this level of quality.

Here you can see some the instructions included and you can judge for yourself.

Final verdict

Price
Accuracy/Detail
Build
Extras
Instructions

The instructions are also above average for the typical resin AM kit. If you ever bought any Legend sets you sure know what I mean. Their bad quality is "Legendary" (excuse the pun).

The price can be defined as fair. I paid £29 for it and the Rear Platform for £4.50. May not be a bargain but when compared to the kit prices these days and with the favorable GBP / Euro excahnge rate I have to give it a good rating on this one.

I almost forgot, go to their site and see their excellent range of products K59 Productions.

Pictures

First thing of notice is the inclusion of cables and plastic rod needed for hinges etc. Aber just does not do that. They simply tell you to use some wire or rod and it’s up to you to get it from another source.

The second is the packaging. The parts come in a net cardboard box with a photo of the set, the PE comes in a plastic bag that includes all the items with some of them in their own plastic bag. Very neat and a clever option. These sets cannot be bent (like Aber or Eduard despite the card inside the bag) unless the box is really crushed.

The instructions are clear but if you are used to other brands they need an adaptation. All the manufacturers have their way of documenting what to do and where but that’s not a big deal.

Finally the PE itself. Really good. It’s a little more complicated to bend than Aber probably because the grooves are not as deep but the final product is not as soft as Eduard (which I’ll never buy again if I have another choice).

Price
Accuracy/Detail
Build
Extras
Instructions

One thing you should know is that they have the bad habit of using pictures that have more than one reference so if you look at the picture of the model with PE applied you’re probably looking at 2 or 3 (or more) PN’s.

In this case the 35148 it’s everything that’s on the picture except for the fenders (35149).

A very good set that makes me consider Voyager every time I need a after market PE set.

I’m going to do my first Sherman. And what better choice than a Tasca kit?

I bought this kit a while back and I had it in my hands many times but somehow there were always other build that got in front. This time is for real.

I have all the bits and pieces needed for the build including an Armorscale barrel, Bison decals en Panda Plastic tracks.

This version was the most powerful Sherman of WWII and resulted from the installation of the British 17 pounder gun. It had enough punch to knock out the German Tiger unlike other versions of the Sherman that needed to hit that tank on the least armored angles, namely the rear.

The problem was that while they were trying to do that, the 88mm gun of the Tiger would blow them away easily. It’s not by chance that they compared the Sherman to a Zippo. It lights at first time, every time. Not a good thing for the crews…

The Kit

The Tasca kit is a small wonder. Their quality is absolutely the best surpassing even Dragon in many respects. And now that the price on Dragon kits has rocketed, there’s no reason for not having the Tasca kits.

From the versions included with the kit I could not choose one and I always like to have a different model. I ordered a set of decals from Bison and I chose the tank I’m going to build.

Luckily on a 100 page special of Military Modelling there was an article dedicated to the unit and a very good picture of the tank can be seen. Immediately I understood that the tracks that the decal instructions indicate are wrong. From the picture above we can see that the tank is using the T62 track  instead of the T54E1 that the decal instructions indicate.

Nice catch, and even better because I had a set of Panda tracks waiting to be used on some model and they were precisely T62 tracks. This is a good omen (lol) being lucky twice in the same day is not very likely.

This particular tank has a storage box behind the armored radio box on the turret and I found two possibilities for getting this box. Formations makes a set in resin and Voyager makes a PE set that includes the boxes and a lot of PE for the tank. I decided to get the Voyager set also because I’ve heard good things from them but till now I just used Eduard and Aber sets and I was wanting to try other reputable brands.

Building

Price
Accuracy/Detail
Build
Extras
Instructions

The best example of that is the lower hull composed of 6 pieces that assembles like if it was a single piece of plastic. Nothing falls out of place, there is no need for adjustments and the final result is perfect.

The same thing with the engine deck panels that in spite of being 3 assemble with total perfection.

I have the turret ready and found out that the Armorscale mantlet and gun support are smaller than they should to fit the Tasca turret. I had to discard the beautiful resin parts from the Armorscale barrel and use the kit parts instead. I wonder in which kit are those parts supposed to fit. Dragon?

Those parts are awesome but the cast texture on the resin parts was clearly better.

The gun itself is very good and the muzzle is made of 4 parts that I assembled by soldering. The final result is perfect (no seams on the muzzle).

After fitting the barrel on the plastic parts I noticed how big this 17 pounder gun was. That thing was BIG.

The tracks from Panda plastics are also an excellent example of how a link by link track shoud be. They have very good detail and they assemble perfectly. The only problem is the amount of work needed to remove the sprue attachments from the smaller track connectors. And they are plenty..

The Voyager PE set

One of the reasons why this kit is taking so long is the excellent PE set from Voyager. At every step I decide not getting into trouble doing the boxes or the box locks. But then I can’t resist. So box after box I managed to do them all with the respective locks but at a very slow pace. Judge for yourselves.

There’s not much left to do (OE wise) so I’m planning painting very soon.

The first time I saw them I wondered how could they have such a price without compromising quality. I had some kits needing AM barrels so i decided to try RB Model products.

I don’t regret it at all. They are very good and the price is really good.

I bought the Semovente barrel, one for the E-10 and two precious Besa MG for the Churchill. All of them are above average. The rifling on the E-10 barrel is really awesome (one of the best I’ve seen) and the Besa MG’s are truly amazing. The Semovente barrel has 3 parts and the flash suppressor is really veri thin and with perfectly opened holes.

Go to the RB Model site and have a look. They have a very big product line and their prices are really good.

Blast Models and Der Sockelshop carry the RB range of products and these are my two favorite shops on the Net. Unmatched efficiency and excellent prices.

Price
Accuracy/Detail
Build
Extras
Instructions

But is was a resin model (by Accurate Armour) and with a price tag to match. So I decided to wait until a plastic model hit the market.

And finally did by the hands of Trumpeter along with another paper panzer – the E25.

I bought the kit only to find that some parts would not allow a build like I would like. The vinyl tracks were really under par and the link and length tracks were not that good either.

The decision I took to order a set of Friul tracks for it, with the cost involved, turned this "build for fun" into something a little more serious. Since I was in a shopping spree what else could I do than buy the IR set from Blast-Models? Nothing I guess, so I did buy that too.

This is the one I’m tackling now and I guess that the initial intentions of doing an OOB build are totally gone. I’m absolutely sure that I’ll be browsing my spare parts to create something in which I have all the freedom. You see, this tank never existed so it’s up to us to decide how plausible it would look like if it ever existed. Now, that’s a modeling style I might like.

Building starts

At first glance the kit looks good. It includes PE parts, link and length tracks and two types of vinyl tracks. They even include a early and late type sprocket (that really made me smile). Some flash is apparent and there are sink marks in many parts. Some of them very pronounced and some lighter but as I assemble it I can see that most of those sink marks will be far from view, so all is good.

The detail on the parts is good and crisp. Not to the level of a Dragon or a Bronco kit but very adequate for a good model. If they are the correct bolts or not, I can’t tell and probably no one can either. Advantages of building a paper panzer.

The kit is kind of big especially if compared with a Jagdpanzer 38(t) which was intended to replace.

I replaced the tracks with a set of Friul for Pz IV and they fit the sprocket beautifully. I bet that someone at Trumpeter measured the Friul tracks expecting that some customers might want to use them LOL. The road wheels (4 per side) are absolutely huge and they would dwarf a Tiger II wheel.

The gun was replaced by an excellent RB Model barrel (for this kit) and it fits well after shaving a little bit from the base. That base is longer than on the plastic barrel and would make the mantlet protrude too much. Easily solved with the help of my faithful Dremel and a sanding disk.

There’s not much to do on this kit. The parts count is low and it’s probably one of those kits that everyone will build differently by adding their own interpretation on the E-10. I’m still wondering what I’m going to do with it. The exhausts seem a bit out of place in the whole model and I have to figure out what I’m going to do with them.

Most of the work on the hull is done. The parts fit is good (not fabulous) and I just used a little Tamiya putty with acetone to fill some minor gaps.

I changed the exhaust arrangement because it seemed undersized when compared to the rest of the tank. I felt that those flimsy exhausts would spoil the "balance" of the whole model. I scratched a little something that is has a loose resemblance with the Pz 38 exhaust albeit a little bigger. After all we are talking of a 550 hp engine.

The tow cables were replaced by two made of string and Trumpeter conviniently included four shackles for them so I didn’t have to dive into the spares box to find replacements. The shackles are finely done and it was quite a surprise to see how good they were. If only Trumeter could avoid the flash and the very bad located sprue attachments points we would be eternaly grateful.

I looked at a few details on a build by Jan Peters and found some interesting mods he did on the commander and gunner hatches and I’m doig the same. I give all the credit to Jan for the idea. His stunning build is here (PlanetArmor – Jan Peters E-10).

I’m very close to a initial coat of primer but as usual I need to do the second track run and finish some little bits n’ pieces.

Painting

What paint scheme will I do? I have yet to decide that. Somehow a Dunkel Gelb white washed scheme is my favorite right now. After the almost disaster of the Pz III I need to insist. I won’t stop till I manage to do a good white washed paint job on a model.

I have a lot of good examples to improve my skills. And I’m going to follow them.

The other option is another of my personal favorites – the ambush scheme. Not easy to do but amazing if done right. We’ll see as the build develops.

Primer done and now it’s just the fun part. I really like the little details I added. The model looks plausible and I just hope that the paintjob won’t spoil the result.

In a couple of days I’ll have a few more pictures of the progress. Stay tuned.

Base Coat

The base coat is done and ready. But not without some troubles. It seems that the painting process is becoming my worst nightmare. I decided to use Tamiya paints and Tamiya Enamel thinners. All seemed perfect after the brown/yellow coat but when I started to apply the base color it started to go downhill. For some reason I can’t really explain the top of the model became rough like an anti slip coat.

I’m not sure if it is the shortest drying time of the mix but it looked really nasty. The matt paint was rough and grainy and I had to decide a course of action. Fine sand paper was the solution and I pretty much saved it, but more trouble was waiting with the application of a gloss coat.

The Tamiya clear varnish didn’t work at all. It just turned the base color in a multitude of odd shades of yellow and much darker than the original. I had to paint the base coat again. At every attempt the grainy effect was there. It was becoming a real mess. In the end a coat of Vallejo gloss was the only thing that saved the paint job but not without a multitude of coats to get was can be described as a mild satin look. The Tamiya matt color was sucking the gloss varnish like a black hole. Amazing. I would never expect that kind of thing to happen.

After several hours for painting a one color base (with 3 different shades but a one color nonetheless) I managed to find the result acceptable. Geez. The things I think will be simple have the tendency to turn into complicated and painful exercises. This seems a test from the Gods to make sure I know what I’m doing.

Chipping, Washes and Filters

I did the chipping with a lighter color than the base and a brown red color over it in corners or areas where some wear is expected to happen. A few spots here and there and I tried to keep the model a little worn but not ready for the junkyard.

I used some oils diluted with turpentine to enhance recesses and areas that I wanted a little darker. I applied the oils in spots and then they were blended with a soft brush and turpentine. A pin wash with raw umber oil was then applied again on the recesses and details to create some additional contrast.

Weathering

In this model I used all the tricks that I know and some that I didn’t know. The underside of the hull was coated with my mud mixture – lightweight wall filler with pigments. Over that dry coat some dry pigments of different shades where later fixed with MIG Productions pigment fixer.

The front and the back were done with pigment diluted in white spirits and to give that dirty look and some dry pigment applied on top and fixed with the same product.

The wet look on the wheels, front and back were done with the MIG Wet and Damp effects. I did some splashes with a brush wet with pigments diluted in mineral white spirits and that was it.

The figure

It’s by Miniart from the Winter Crew set with a Hornet head (they are the best no doubt about it). It has a very good pose for it’s intended use and it was just a metter os some adjustment to make it look very good. It sure compares with a resin figure and after all we only see the top half, so it’s a cheap and good alternative.

The figure is the only thing still waiting for the last painting details. I don’t want to handle it too much because the parka was painted with oils and takes a lot of time to dry. Then I will paint the belt, gloves and the inside of the hood with the Oak Leaf camo pattern.

Final Veredict

Price
Accuracy/Detail
Build
Extras
Instructions

The instructions are clear and complete even for a tank that never existed. I change quite a few things, from the fire extinguisher to the tracks but the detail of the included parts was at a good level.

Discussing the accuracy of a kit based on a tank that never existed is a little ridiculous, but the overall lines are very well depicted and some details are very plausible. The Accurate Armor version has a more sensible exhaust location if we think about the design principles of this tank. Th rear hul could be opened to remove engine and transmission in one go. For this reason having the exhaust on the top deck seems logical, but this design could have existed even with my imaginary exhaust.

I recomend this model to anyone that wants to spend some time doing a fun model open to all sorts of creative freedom. Go for it.

Specifications

Panzerkampfwagen E-10

Type : Tank Destroyer
Length : 6.91m
Width : 2.86m
Height : 1.76m
Engine : Mybach HL101 (550hp) X 1
Armament : 75mm Pak39 L/44 X 1

Pictures

Italeri relaunched the Fiat Ansaldo L6/40 in a limited Edition kit. The most noticeable change is the addition of link and length tracks (something that the M13/40 should have) and the booklet with pictures and history of the tank. An interior is provided and a small etched brass fret complete this very nice kit.

The first inspection of the kit shows a very good surface detail, especially important on a vehicle such as this with rivets everywhere.

The model is small, very small which is good. Not too much space and a fairly easy build.

Description & history

The L6/40 was a conventional light tank design of riveted construction. A one-man turret in the center mounted a single Breda Modello 35 20 mm main gun and a Breda Modello 38 8 mm coaxial machine gun. The driver sat in the front right of the hull. Armor was 6 to 30 mm in thickness. In armor and firepower the L6/40 was the rough equivalent of contemporary light tanks.

Interestingly, the vehicle was designed by Fiat-Ansaldo as an export product, and was only adopted by the Italian Army when military officials learned of the design and expressed interest.

The L6/40 was the main tank employed by the Italian forces fighting on the Eastern Front alongside the L6/40-based Semovente 47/32. L6/40s were also used in the North African campaign.

L6/40 light tanks were used by the Italians in the Balkans Campaign, in the war in the Soviet Union, in the latter stages of the North African campaign, and in the defense of Sicily and Italy.

The L6/40 was the main tank employed by the Italian forces fighting on the Eastern Front. The L6 fought alongside the L6/40-based Semovente 47/32.

The kit

Let's start by saying that if you expect the precision of a Dragon, AFV Club or Tamiya you are not going to get it.

Upon first inspection the caramel colored sprues have a very nice look. The detail is OK, although a bit softer than other brands, link and length tracks, nicely molded suspension and wheels and a nicely done interior.

A small PE fret includes some parts that will refine the model to a better standard and a set of well printed decals.

However, things are not that nice when you start putting things together. And it was a total surprise for me, knowing how good the Staghound was or the modeling world appraisal for their excellent Autoblinda and Sahariana kits.

The reason might be on the "re issue" of an old kit. Something is still there and it shows. The lack of precision on this model is totally incompatible with what these brands can do today.

Building

I started by the lower chassis assembling the two sides, bottom and rear panel. And this was where it all started. In order to match the sides and bottom I had to sand everywhere. The gap was big and the parts didn't sit flush as they should. Somehow Italeri could not anticipate how thick the bottom panel would be and this has to be corrected by sanding the stops on the panel sides or, as i did, thin the bottom panel enough to sit flush with the side panels. Even doing this some putty needs to be used to close some gaps if you really care about the underside of the model.

Once I did this, the rear panel also needed adjustment. Either that or use some putty to close the gaps. But because this is a riveted vehicle and there are rivets very close to every seam, I went to great lengths to avoid using putty. In a couple of cases I didn't succeed and I had to remove rivets and place them later.

The worst part to fit was the engine cover (until now, and I still have some challenges to face). It just didn't sit correctly (sanding again) and it was narrower than it should. I had to glue a strip of plasticard on the right side to adjust the width.

After all this trouble I found that the stowage boxes disguise this flaw almost completely, but when I decided to do this I just didn't fit them in place just to check.

It's a good practice when dealing with a kit like this. Test fit everything before just to check what needs attention and what doesn't.

The detail that surprised the most was the fit of the fenders. They fit very well to the hull sides but to my amazement, the brackets at the rear that have a part on the fender and another on that back vertical surface showed a huge gap. 

On the days where we can do almost anything in plastic with the advanced molds and CAD tools, making this kind of error is absolutely childish or at least negligent.

The only solution I found was to remove the parts on the fender and make them in plasticard. This is one of those details that could be done easily in PE and could be included on the PE fret that comes with the kit.

The gun was another challenge. It looks kind of OK (I'm still considering finding a metal barrel) but the conical flash suppressor (can we call it like this?) had the hole off center and way to small. Drill in hand and I had to adjust it and make it look like the real thing. However this suppressor is not shown in the versions that we can build OOB but appears on the photo booklet that comes with the kit (and this booklet is a major point in favor).

Suspension

The build is progressing slowly but I did the left side suspension already. Enough to know that the seams on the arm halves need putty and some interesting details are engraved on the arm hubs.

It's a strange kit. On one hand the fit is poor and parts that should fit together can't do it without adjustment. On the other the detail in some of the parts is quite good. Are those better parts the result of retooling of the old kit? Maybe.

I ordered a set of Friul tracks for it because after inspection the link and length tracks detail seem a bit soft.

Turret and Hull

The turret was a riveting affair (literally). Some of the rivets were missing on the front plates and the other rivets were way to small. That's the puzzling aspect of this kit. The hull has excellent detail and correct size rivets, but the turret has some missing and the ones that are there are incorrect in size.

I never suspected that I had to spend a couple of hours gluing dozens of small rivets to a tiny tank turret. All the rivets were replaced or created. What is also apparent on this turret is the bad molds that produced it especially on the rear hatch. Flash and plastic missing on the sides of the opening. It's not by chance that Model Victoria makes a replacement turret for this model.

With the turret complete it's now just a matter of little things before painting. I'll do a coat of primer on the turret right away, just to be sure that all is in order and all the things blend in correctly.

the hull received a coat of Tamiya putty dissolved in acetone in every seam and it looks perfect. This method prevents sanding to a large extent preserving the rivet detail on the hull.

Painting

I used the Lifecolor paints from the Italian set. At first the sand color seemed really light and I was tempted to give it a coat of a darker sand tone. Then I remembered a build on Steel Masters where the sand color was really light and let it stay. The washes and weathering would darken everything so I guess it was a good choice ob base color.

Doing the green color was a real pain. I could see that the camo was a soft edge but not very blurred at all. For replicating that in 1/35 the airbrush has to do an excellent job. And I couldn't find the spot in thinning airflow and finger control to replicate that.

I disassembled the AB and give it a session on the ultrasonic cleaner. Then things improved greatly. I could do very thin lines but at a very low pressure and with the paint almost from the bottle (with minimal thinning). After a couple of hours playing with the AB I considered it done.

Chipping was next although the suspension was still unfinished. I needed to see the final result. Replicating what I did on the suspension is not a problem. There is mo color mix so that chances of getting it wrong are very slim. Additionally the suspension is only sand color and will be dirtier than the rest of the tank. I still can't assemble it because of the tracks that are stiil in transit and will only arrive in a couple of days.

Tracks

The Friul tracks for this vehicle are probably the best I saw from Friul. The links are delicately cast with all the detail we could ask for. Very little flash and I had to open the holes in very few links.

The set included two sprockets and that a really good thing because there would be no way to make the original Italeri sprockets to fit on these tracks. They are designed for this kit and no adaptation is needed.

It took a few hours to assemble the two track runs (82-83 links each) and the final result is the best we can get at this scale. Nothing beats a good set of Friul tracks when it comes to realism.

I painted them with a mix of Vallejo black and Lifecolor dark rust. A liberal amount of pigments was then aplied dry and fixed with Mineral White Spirits. The contact areas were then exposed to bare metal with sand paper and this is one of the effects than can be done very easy with Friul tracks.

For assembling the tracks I've found out that it's a good thing to put the suspension arms after all in is place, even the tlittle return rollers.

Done!!

It's complete. The final details with pigments, oil effects in the front and back and painting the tools are all done and I consider the model complete.

It was a fun build, especially because of my initial dismay. Seeing it progress from a dud to a decent model was the biggest satisfaction I took from this project. What to do next? Who knows. I have to look at my stash and find something that motivates me.

Final Veredict

Price
Accuracy/Detail
Build
Extras
Instructions

However, the poor fit of some parts with the added work involved, and the omission of some visible details like rivets on the turret and a soft detail on many parts makes me give it a low rating in accuracy and build.

I could probably go a little lower on Build, because this is surely not a kit to put together just by gluing all parts and giving a lick of paint. If you want a good model in the end, you’ll have to work on it.

Some details are from another era. The fender supports or the braces on the front gearbox prompted me to replace them by simple pieces of plastic.

In this day and age, for a kit that’s supposedly new, this has no excuse. The over simplified interior made me decide not to do it at all. What’s provided is good, but I don’t want to spend more on a interior kit from Victoria Models than I did on the kit.

The instructions are quite good and they are accompanied by a booklet filled with photos and technical drawings. Ironically the booklet was the place where I found the inaccuracies of the kit. The decals are good, with good definition and faultless printing and the color schemes and versions possible are adequate. Knowing that the two other possible options are the Victoria Model resin kit and the Tamiya (it’s the Italery kit rebranded) I would have to say that if you really want to build this tank, then go for it. Is either that or 80-85 Euro spent on the Victoria Models L6. You choose…

Accessories

I've collected a small list of items that you can get to enhance this model a little more. Of all those accessories I only used the Friul tracks.

As far as I could understand, the Tamiya kit is exactly the same as this one (Tamiya America page). You can expect these minor glitches to be there too.

The other offer is a complete resin kit from Model Victoria and if you start to add the price of the base Italeri/Tamiya kit with a good set of tracks and a turret (can be corrected but it's not everybody's cup of tea to do that kind of work) you soon end up on the resin kit price. Consider it. No doubt that the build will be a better one. And you even get the compete interior and not the one that comes with this kit and is grossly simplified. I chose to leave it out and keep all the hatches closed.

Pictures