Well it’s been quite a while. Due to ‘life stuff,’ I’ve not spent really any time at all at the bench, and tried to satiate my modeling habit by lurking here and there. Thankfully, much of the ‘life stuff’ has settled and I’ve been able to actually put some glue to plastic on the Dragon M2A1. This is one of their 2-in-1 kits, and I built the M2 seven years ago. I’m having another crack at it, this time doing an M2A1 in a winter scheme, XX Corps, Belgium 1945.
Initial session produced the engine, front axle, and rear axle/drivetrain assemblies.
The position of the front axle wheel hub/bearing assemblies (parts A3 and A4) need to be reversed from what is shown on the instruction sheet (yes, true believers…). If they are attached per the instructions, because of the shape of the locator tabs the brake drums will cause the wheels/tires to be put on upside down. The tires have a flat spot, and for obvious reasons this would look most appropriate on the ground. Another problem is that the holes for the tie rod ends would end up facing forward, as would the tie rod, and thus it would be on the wrong side of the axle.
Be sure to still attach A9 to A4 and A8 to A3. The tiny tabs on these will only allow the parts to fit properly on their respective hubs anyway.
I do have to give Dragon credit for some updating of their instructions; the parts shaded in blue clearly illustrate proper location. This did not appear on the original release of this kit.
So here’s what I’ve got so far: much of the chassis, the engine, drivetrain, running gear, and front bumper is assembled. Feels good to be back at the bench.
If you decide to do the roller instead of the winch, know that those two plates with six bolts each on the bumper are incorrect and should be filed off. DML incorrectly mimicked a restoration and not an actual vehicle
Sprue, Gamera, timmy…thanks for the look, and sorry the pics aren’t loading for you guys. I just clicked on my post, and the pics loaded for me, but I’m a tech noob so any help as to the problem would be appreciated so I can get this fixed. I’m hosting the pics on Microsoft OneDrive, which I get as part of my Outlook mail program. I tried to make the folder public, but maybe it just looks that way to me and not others?
Roy- thanks for the info. I’m doing the winch on this one, but I appreciate the help!
Again, thanks for looking guys and sorry the images didn’t load for you!
My Chromebook shows the pics just fine. Glad to see you were able to get the pics up, and that you are able to get back to the bench. Looks good so far.
Many apologies to you all for the failed pic presentation. I’m trying a new image hosting site (Postimage.org) because the old one- rhymes with Microcrap Dumbdrive- is simply too sophisticated for a noob like me to take advantage of it’s functionality. Anyway…here’s a rundown of what’s been happening:
The kit:
The paint scheme (upper right; XX Corps, Belgium, 1945):
Early progress:
Swap the position of parts A3(A8) and A4(A9). Dragon instructions and all, you know. A more detailed explanation is above.
Dragon did revise it’s instructions somewhat for this kit, however. This includes blue highlighted parts that may otherwise be difficult to tell their exact placement; this feature did not come in the original release:
And now, the latest. The chassis/running gear is mostly all together. I chose to leave the bogie wheels unglued to facilitate painting; the bogie arms can be pinched together gently and the wheels and their frames will click in.
I thinned down the frame for the .50 mount over the front seat, and added two small copper sheet right-angle braces, as on the real thing. Also the gas cans and the winch:
Finally I used an Xacto #10 blade, a grinding bit in my Dremel, a sanding stick, and various needle files to thin down the front fenders, to the point where light can be seen through the plastic so I could bend and otherwise rough up the material. There are two very small holes on top of the left front fender. Also, if you notice, the sanding belt is partially off the edge of the sanding stick. I found this technique useful to sand the inner edges of the compound curves.
And hopefully this works. Sorry again about the snafu, guys, and thanks for looking in!
Crossing my fingers you have no issues, the 75mm GMC version of this kit gave me fits. I think it was entirely my mistakes plus horrid luck and not the actual kit though.
Gamera- thanks for the support! Sorry the 75mm gave you trouble. I built this kit in 2010 as the earlier M2, so yeah I remember the particulars about it. I will say Dragon actually re-tooled the gearshift; the original release was basically a straight stick, but now has a more representative bend in it. A small thing maybe, but I’ll give them credit for the effort.
Hunter- I appreciate the kind words! Yeah I dig this kit also; second build of it, different version.
More to come, and I appreciate you guys giving a look!
