DML vs Accurate Armour T28

[Hinksy]

Hi G,

I know absolutely nothing about this particular piece of armour other than it’s release caused quite a stir amongst some og the chaps at my model group as it was right up their street. Anything WWII & allied and they are happy - oddly enough German WWII armour takes the back seat in my group! The excitement when the Meng Tortoise was released was unbelievable!

I obviously didn’t raise a smile at the news as it’s just something I wouldn’t be buying as, 9 times in 10, I simply build German, ideally Eastern Front and WWII! That’s all I need to usually look for in a new kit!

Now then, the one thing they DID debate - A LOT - was tha****t the T28 kit supplied tracks from Dragon are very incorrect. Be this true I know not but I’m sure the guys know their stuff?

I’ve seen the photos of the tracks - has this been confirmed?

Ben [t$t]

[Real_G]

Thanks for the comments, guys!.

I got a little bit done over the weekend:

The upper hull sides tend to angle in, so I glued strip styrene to help with alignment. The front glacis plate is a tenuous butt joint, so I added more strip to proved a secure gluing surface.

I attached most of the hull fittings and suspension lugs. Stuff like the cranes and cupolas are still loose, as I will put them on after painting.

The little rectangular blocks are mounting points for the cranes that are used to remove the outer sponsons. The recesses molded into the fenders are oversize, leading to gaps all around. If I were to to this again, I would scrape off the molded weld beads, shim two out of the four sides of the recesses with 0.010 strip, sand them flush with the fenders, then add the blocks. The white styrene block was due to the carpet monster. I did find the piece the next day while cleaning the room.

The drum shaped objects were meant to be attached ot the sprockets of the outer sponsons when they were being towed. Infantry were to follow the T28, manually pulling on ropes wound around the drums to actuate the brakes! Anyway, the weld beads are larger in diameter than the drums, and the drums are actually supposed to sit on plates affixed to the hull side. Plan A is to scrape off the weld beads and scribe a line around the drum bases to simulate the mounting plates.

A comparison to contemprary standard Allied armor is inevitable. That’s Tamiya’s Jumbo Sherman (another “fatally flawed” kit! [proplr] on the left.) I noticed that on the T28’s instruction sheet, the cupolas are shown attached with the hatch hinges to the right. the Sherman has it that way, but I think the T28 should have the hinges facing towards the rear of the vehicle. The Accurate Armour instruction sheet is proving helpful in identifying the parts and verifying positioning.

I really need to texture the front glacis plate so that I can button up the hull. A session with some sandpaper and Mr. Surfacer 500 will follow, to clean up all the little parts that were added. (I just clipped them off the sprue, gave the mating surfaces a swipe with a knife and sanding stick, then stuck them on withTamiya liquid cement.) And after that, it’s on to the dreaded bogie assemblies!

Despite all its warts, this kit has got me back onto the workbench. I have had the model doldrums for a while now, and nothing seemed to be able to get me out. I spent most of Saturday building the thing, ignoring stuff like laundry, the yard, etc.

[wbill76]

Looks like you’re making good progress on this monster, nice update! [Y]

[Real_G]

It’s been a while, but I have been tinkering away at this beast. A couple nights ago I decided to tackle the mounting for the big gun. DML’s engineering falls totally flat here, as they only provide a small pivot bar that is in the wrong location. The aluminum barrel is long and heavy, so I decided to make a dummy breech assembly with a poly cap to keep the gun in position. I also moved the gun pivot to the back of the hemispherical mantlet, which allowed the armored cover to move up and down without being pushed out. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is the equivalent of four thousand words.

The “tee” bar on top has a sleeve that acts as a stopper, to prevent the gun from depressing. NoTank Viagra for this model, ever! I think the sleeve was a coffee stirrer, which I saved while on a trip. Never throw anything away! The rest of the parts were made from Plastruct and Evergreen tubing and sheet. The poly cap is from some unnamed Japanese robot kit. The “Chopper” cutting tool was really helpful in banging out the bits and pieces.

Note the short plastic sleeve attached to the inside of the armored cover on the left. It really helps secure the barrel to the cover, and is a highly recommended addition.

Lots of space in that huge hull. Note sloppy oversized hole in the pivot plate. My drills were mixed up in the box, so I grabbed the wrong size and didn’t check before boring away. Check twice, drill once. Gap filler CA is my friend.

:

Just to be safe, I will probably attach a bolt with a bunch of washers at the back end of the breech, to counter balance the weight of the gun. That way, the poly cap only acts as a friction brake and does not have to support the weight of the barrel.

I hope to get some serious bench time between Christmas and New Year. Stay tuned!

[wbill76]

I can definitely see why you would need to do something to counter-balance that long aluminum barrel! Nice fix with the breech and polycap. [Y]

[Tojo72]

Real nice progress,and some good info on the fixes.

[Real_G]

A quick update. I stuck a bolt and two nuts to the end of the dummy breech assembly, and now the gun balances perfectly. Gap filler CA (hopefully) secures everything. The gun does not really move a lot, but it is fun to play with. (No snarky comments!) I didn’t do anything to allow the gun to traverse because 1) I am lazy, and 2) It’s not something I wanted anyway.

For those building this kit, you might want to take the time to trim the mounting tabs of all the cleats that attach to the top of the sponsons and hull.

As they come, the tabs cause the cleats to interfere with the sponson/hull fit. I was careless and didn’t notice tnis until the glue set. So now I have gaps. Buggers.

I am finding all sorts of little problems with the kit, but the build continues!