Well,considering the aging releases by ESCI, Airfix and Hasegawa the Braille scale world has been aching for a modern kit of this important machine for quite some time. Well – here’s DML’s attempt.
The kit contains 70 parts:
68 in grey plastic
2 runs of DS track
Oh I hear your cries about NO PE parts, but rest assured – this is a non-issue with the kit.
There are two main hull components, cast as separate parts – the upper one represents the top deck and the fenders, and lower part is the slide-molded hull tub.
Hull tub bottom – a look from front to backHull tub bottom – aft end
It is interesting to note that there are fuel can racks at the aft end of the fenders, and Dragon has included two pairs of British-style 2 gallon cans to be posed there should the modeler so desire.
I painted the entire composition with Revell enamels – 79 being the main color and 57 as well as mixes of the two used to vary the shades in different places. I also added the white rectangles on both the Horch and trailer fenders, but these almost disappeared under the dust I applied later.
Seats were brushed with Revell 381 and given a thin acrylic wash to accentuate the molded-on uneven surface (again a nice touch by Dragon). Tires were sprayed Revell 78 to simulate a bleached/dusty effect, and then added to the vehicle body and the trailer. The exhaust pipes and muffler were basecoated with Revell 37 to simulate rust and glued on the vehicle. I then proceeded to add some metal chips by drybrushing Tamiya’s X11.
Since I got the kit to build as a reviewer for Armorama I started almost immediately after taking the pics. Here’s how the build went through.
I started by adding the lower engine compartment/radiator face and the firewall to the vehicle body.
Horch front
Other than filling the seam line in the front wheel arches these fit fine.
Wheel arc seam
Next step was the suspension. After carefully studying reference images I glued parts B9 and B10 first, and then proceeded to add the suspension arms.
Frame and suspension
Please note that all 4 parts are labeled B7, but the parts intended for the rear axle have an extra pair of locating pins. With these fixed I glued the 8 springs (parts B8) to parts B10 and B11. So far fit has been very good. I cut off the representation of the rubber mudguards and replaced them with thick aluminum foil.
– windows in the doors, attempted imitating seals with acrylic gel and paint;
– weathering, and a lot of it. An experiment with a new technique went so far as to lead to completely strip-down of the paint on the hull/cargo bed assembly.
In the first part of the build I basically completed the lower half of the vehicle and the cargo bed. Back to the crew compartment.
The AT-T’s front lights reside at the very front of the bonnet/hood on metal supports. In the kit these are PE parts, which supposedly butt-join the resin engine compartment, and on top of which the lights are glued. Images of broken-off detail in my mind lead me to soldering a piece of wire (in red) through each support like this (looking from the front):
I started construction with the chassis tub. First thing to do is gluing the back wall. Next I cut the suspension arms out of the casting block and it turned out the holes for their pins are much too small. Off with the pins, arms are drilled through, as is the tub itself – naturally observing the locations of the original holes.
I decided to use thick copper wire passing through the whole tub to make new pins. This would ease me in terms of affixing the pins and make the whole thing stronger.
“An old soldier, but not faded away yet” – that’s the way the fate of this kit can be summed up – at least in my own collection.
It all started up about 5 years ago with the impulsive purchase of the kit. Nice details, simple construction, interesting decal options (both shark-mouthed), and a comprehensive weapon set at a very reasonable price. A few months later it was destined to become the cure for a modeller’s block. Then it was cutting the flaps out, then some scratchubilt details in the cockpit. Guns are replaced with needles of two different diameters, filling and sanding of fuse seam are in order. So far so good (that’s middle of 2007):
The AT-T (Russian “Artilleriyskiy Tyagach – Tyazholiy”, Artillery Tractor – Heavy) was developed in the late 1940s using elements of the T-54 MBT (notably the running gear).
The main purpose of the vehicle was to tow heavy artillery pieces like the KS-30 130mm AA gun, the S-23 180mm gun and the B-4 203mm howitzer, so the machine got a 415HP version of the famous B-2 V-12 tank diesel. The standard 5-roadwheel chassis was used for a number of recovery and engineering vehicles. Extended versions (7 roadwheels) include the P-40 „Long Track” mobile radar, and an entire family of polar expedition vehicles.
As pointed out in the review below, building this kit has been a small hell. Truth be told I started building it twice, but only the second attempt is now finished. This has been the single most frustrating kit I’ve ever worked on – investing so much time and effort yielded an average-looking model – “Good from far, but far from good” as they say.
Closing the weapon bay doors, cutting out their inside frames to add supports for the doors and filling this whole mess flush was the single biggest filling-sanding challenge. I am totally not proud of my first attempt at the vertical stabilizers – ended up in different angles and gaps, with filler constantly cracking on me. Potholes down joining lines due to the plastic melting under regular Humbrol modelling glue. Two nose jobs on my second attempt due to the same reason. Sanding the **** out of the nose and arrestor hook cover. Rescribing multiple zones more than once due to lost panel lines. Landing gear unstable at best. Multiple strip-downs and resprays for various reasons and about 10 meters of Tamiya tape lost in the process.
One of the earlier kits of the mighty Raptor, Italeri’s offering has often been accused of representing the YF-22 which it totally isn’t. In case the Italian company made a scale model of the prototype this kit is NOT it – the fuselage shape shows well in the images below.
Sprue A has most of the smaller details, as well as the armament on it. Nothing spectacular here, but those separate weapon-bay doors are designed with them posed open in mind. And whether you pose the bays closed or not – use all the parts to increase the strength of the model – after all it’s some 23 cm long and you don’t want it twisted.
