Well, I gotta say it, I’m thoroughly exhausted from this kit.
I’ve read great things about it, and I can’t say that it’s all bad…some of the details are awesome…but I can’t help but wonder whether I’m just not the modeler I once thought I was.
The first few steps of the assembly–road wheels, mainly–went smoothly. After that, it was hit or miss as to whether I would be able to find the locations for the parts. The instructions were no help–they may as well have been cave drawings.
Now to the baffling part:
This is without doubt the best-looking armor kit I’ve built to date.
Yep. True. I was frustrated through about 60% of the build, struggling to determine from the instructions just where the tool boxes were supposed to mount to the side of the turret and such, and on more than one occasion I thought I had been robbed of my hard-earned cash.
But in the end, it came together, and in spades. The engraving work on this kit is awesome, but it doesn’t really shine until you do that first dark wash at the beginning of the aging/weathering process. That’s when you start to appreciate the “realistic weld details” (which I had decided was a total lie until the burnt umber hit the styrene). The drybrush that followed pulled even more details out, and with just a little skill (not a lot–I don’t have a lot) this tank began to take on the look and feel of its venerable big brother. I made only a few corrections and modifications (I’ve never been a rivet-counter, so I left some things incorrect) but the overall look of the thing is a wonder.
As recently as a week ago, I would not have recommended this kit to anyone, and I’m glad I didn’t have the time to sit down and fire off the missives I had stored in my head, because I would now be eating my words. Maybe I’m just spoiled–I’ve built so many Tamiya kits that I sort of expect to be able to pour the glue in the box and let the kit build itself. I still wouldn’t recommend this for a weekend build between a moderately-experienced dad and his 8-year-old, but for anyone with a little glue-time under his belt and a little patience, the payoff is great. The few ounces of extra effort translate into several pounds of satisfaction in the long run.
I’ll post pics as soon as the finishing touches are added, but I wanted to pop in now and say thanks to everyone in this little forum community who expounded on the virtues of Trumpeter’s kits–this has truly been a great experience.
