As I have previously announced I’m gonaa be doing some kit reviews, this is my “pilot” one, so tell me what you think.
Model: Morser Karl Gerat 040/041 Initial Version.
Maker: Hobbyboss China
Parts: 100 something, vinyl tracks and decals.
Having built ZHobbyboss’ 1/48 scale T-34/85, I had a very good impression of this company. THe Morser Karl Gerat was built in 1939, primarily to take on the Maginot line. Assembly starts out with the idlers and road wheels. The constructions goes fairly well, but the fit of some of the parts is a bit tight: the bars you put in fron of the wheels hold on without any glue. THe instructions say to attach the tracks then, but I left them off until later. Next come the upper hull. I assembled parts of it, painted, and then assembled the rest, it is made like a “sandwich” but there were no difficulties, as I anticipated. The exhaust pipe is a bit fidddly, it has no place to reallly attach, and is made in thwo peices. The same thing applies for the rails, be careful when removing them from the sprue, mine came broken in the box. Attaching them to the hull is a nuissance, becuse the do not hold well. Next comes the Gun assembly, options are provided for the 60 and 54 cm version, but the options are not explained too well. assembling the gun is a bit difficult, as the pins inserted into the inside kept falling out, but I got it on the fourth or so try. After that, there were no problems with the gun. Next came putting the two hull parts together. Care must be taken when alligning the two, as there are no reference points for it. When it does fit, the fit is great. There are two panels for the front and the back. There are a shovel and some other tools on the front one, but they are molded on. Attaching the gun to the hull is easy and there were no fit issues here. This is when I decided to attach the tracks. They were a bit too short, and did no wrap around the wheels on the first try. After some patience and force, the were wrapped around the wheels. Two decal options are provided: for the Adam and Eva vehicles, but there are painting instructions only for Eva. Overall, this was a good kit, and I would recomend it it to any modeler with some experience. I spent around twelve fun hours on what turns into a nice representation of the Morser Karl Gerat.
Now you need some work on spelling and grammar. There were way too many errors for me to believe that you proof-read it prior to hitting the “post” button. Also, you might want to add a few more details in the header like price, a more accurate parts-count (100-something could be anywhere from 101 to 199, and THAT’S a big difference).
Your lead-off was rather short as well. A bit more history about the vehicle itself would be in order here. I don’t mean that you need to write an entire history of it, but something along the lines of what’s written below would be much more informative and would help your German armor fans decide if the vehicle is of enough historical significance to go out and buy one (if that is their motivation, rather than just a vague parts-count, who made it, and that you liked another, unrelated kit you built previously from the same company)…
That’s a bit more interesting for the reader than just typing “THe (sic) Morser Karl Gerat was built in 1939, primarily to take on the Maginot line.”, don’t you think?
Overall, I think you’re on the right track, you just need to “flesh it out” in places and also go into more detail about some areas, like the track problems you had and how you overcame them. They were rather vague and confusing as to what you actually meant (It was ok for me as an experienced armor modeler, since I figured out what you meant, but someone who’s a beginner or just branching out into armor might find it troublesome.).
One more thing, you might consider writing your reviews with another program, like Word or something similar. That will allow you to perfect the review and then you can just copy and paste it in here, without running the risk of losing all your work if the net or site hiccups…
Excellent advice, Hans! I completely agree with what is posted. I am not an armor-builder, so it took me a little while to figure out what the heck a “Morser Karl Gerat” was… [:S]
Good photo. Now do it with a neutral backdrop. I prefer using white or sky blue posterboard… You’ll want it to curve rather than bend though, so get one big enough to set the model on, and still allow it to go up behind and out of the frame (mine was a skoshi-bit short here)
And when your taking photos for a review when you are talking about something specific, lets say, the barrel’s instillation for example, take photos of that.
