#21
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Are the treads inside and outside pieces, and the inside pieces are smaller so they'll be the same when they wrap around?
Overall I think you are doing a great job getting a decent looking vehicle out of this kit so far. It's definitely an interesting thread to follow
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-Dan |
#22
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Quote:
I've been thinking that I'm going to try and finish this kit "as supplied" and then see if there's anything that can be done cosmetically afterward. I'm hoping there's enough wiggle room in the half track constructions to finagle a better finish. There aren't the compound curves of the roof and body, so I'm guardedly hopeful! Maybe the worst is behind me? Chris |
#23
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Plugging onward. I'm past the shock of how bad this kit is and am enjoying it more.
I've started the track gear; The fit is really appalling on some of the pieces and quite honestly, there are pieces here that simply cannot be seen at all. The wheel centers have axle holes two different sizes; smaller on the outside, larger on the inside. This is not in the diagrams (they are both numbered the same) and someone not paying attention could easily mis-glue them. I can't believe I didn't do that one! The assembled wheels are also a good 3/8" too wide for the axle and frame and require some delicate, well, crushing. The frame itself is designed to be a single thickness of paper, I doubled it and probably should have tripled it. But it is coming together and if the entire track assemblies work out, maybe it'll give me the confidence to try a few tank models.. eventually. Chris |
#24
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Nice work on those wheels, Chris, It's really beginning to take shape.
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#25
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I'm starting to fall in love with this kit. It's almost a surreal experience. Just discovered it's missing eight pieces. Thought I was going nuts at first; went over it four times. The designer miscalculated somewhere. Fortunately they are all duplicate pieces and I can just print another sheet, but I hate to think of the poor Polish kids who got all excited about this kit and then had to actually deal with it. Amazing. I guess MM must have had a real chore cranking out a model a month, so Quality Control never even entered into it.
Chris |
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#26
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It's possible the instructions tell you to duplicate pieces. I have seen it happen before, but they were always formers.
Anyways, I don't think quality control was the issue. To me, it seems like these models were merely templates. Oddly enough, this is "Little Modeler - the monthly publication for youth" (with the added subtitle of being published by the League for the Defence of the Country, pardon the crummy translation) The "adult" one, Modelarz, is merely plans and schematics and you do everything yourself. Looking at the Polish card modelers, you do encounter huge repaints and fixes giving some credibility to that. Doing this as a kid and neglecting all resources, it always bugged me when it told me to make parts of out modeling clay (which boils rock hard, don't know the English name) or appeals to go check out other resources (mostly Modelarz) if you want to implement more detail. I think it's necessarily a question of approach rather than quality. Edit: Hmph, I've been writing an essay the past few days... all that writing and no gluing made me write even more. The horror!
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- Kuba |
#27
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So what you're saying is that we should add Warsaw Syndrome to Stockholm Syndrome?
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I'm not making it up as I go along, I'm establishing precedent |
#28
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I'm sure you're right, Kuba. There's probably a lot of good assembly info in the instructions that I can't read.
I do hope I can get this one together without too much more difficulty. So far, other than the frame and hood, everything has fit poorly to really horribly. The smaller wheels cannot be built as diagrammed without trimming them down considerably. Not sure I'm going to that effort on 24 wheels faces. This is one of those kits that cries out for putty and paint, most certainly, and if I were to do this one again (and I won't), I would definitely cut many of my own replacement parts rather than use the originals. I suspect that's more of the approach you're talking about, Kuba? Chris |
#29
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Despite of the difficulty you are having those wheel assemblies look really good. You have overcome and conquered those bad boys.
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#30
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You have really done some fine work with the undercarriage, Chris. You are overcoming the problems nicely.
From Kuba's explanation of the nature of these kits, it seems reminscent of some of the model kits of my youth, where for airplanes you were provided a couple of pieces of wood and/or cardboard, a pair of turned wheels, a plan, and left to get on with it. And a locomotive kit might be a white metal boiler casting (drill your own holes) and some wheels. Ships were a little better: a hull (always exactly the same hull, whether you were building a destroyer, an ocean liner, or a submarine chaser) made out of molded plastic wood, a few strips of bamboo, and printed balsa for the superstructure. I still have several of those kits. Don |
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