Post by rustybaer on Jan 27, 2023 13:26:02 GMT -6
Now that the Takom M48 kits are out and getting excellent reviews, I thought what better time to pull an old Tamiya kit out of the stash and beat through it, right? Along with that I decided to build a Dragon kit I picked up an Winterblitz for a very reasonable price, possibly because the vendor also had a stack of Takom kits.... so I'll build the Tamiya kit with all the fixes I know and use as much AM as I have laying around, including a knock-off of the Legends turret sandbag "castle" seen on a pic or two of an M48A3 "B" in Vietnam. I'm thinking I'll build the Dragon kit, also a Model B, as IDF. I have a few pics of them with Urdan cupolas and the 105mm gun, during the Yom Kippur war, Sinai front.
The Tamiya kit needs the nose of the hull fixed, so with Aves putty and lots of MrSurfacer, I'm close. Tamiya made it too blunt and has the profile, as viewed from the top, too "pointed". Here's an initial shot, compared to an unmodified Tamiya hull:
The camera angle makes it look asymmetrical, but it's actually not.
And compared to the Dragon hull:
IMG_3834 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
Filling holes to prepare for better detail parts. The suspension is also lowered by 3mm...
IMG_3836 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
The turret with the funky sandbags. I had to remove and re-do the track links it's all supposed to be resting on, and the pics of the real thing show more track links hung from the turret grab rails too, to be added:
IMG_3837 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
A little later, the detail parts going on. I used a Dragon engine door assembly which required a spacer to fit, otherwise went in easily, a credit to Tamiya's initial kit. The hull depth is off though, probably since it had to contain batteries, a motor and gear box....
And the Dragon kit: it's going together easily, good fit and very nicely detailed. The only thing I've changed is the roadwheels: Dragon skated on the outers, not doing the rim reinforcements at all, so I'm using wheels from a spare Takom Brave Tiger kit that I've already robbed for parts on another build.
IMG_3838 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
I'll also use the final drives and sprockets from the Takom kit, much better parts. In the pic following, it's hard to see but I cut reliefs into the Academy roadwheels I'm using on the Tamiya kit to give a hint of the actual shape of the rims.
IMG_3841 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
I still have a full set of the Tamiya M48 wheels that I may do once I fab up a better cutting tool. For the ones above, I used a sharpened miniature screwdriver with the wheel chucked onto my motor tool. I had to go slow or the plastic would melt and ball up.
I have built a few of the Tamiya M48 kits, some as US in Vietnam, some as IDF, but I've given all the US models away and have a gap in the IDF builds, so I figured it was a good way to use a Dragon kit as a "model" to correct a Tamiya kit. Now I need to think about the last Tamiya kit in the stash, still in the wrapper....
The Tamiya kit needs the nose of the hull fixed, so with Aves putty and lots of MrSurfacer, I'm close. Tamiya made it too blunt and has the profile, as viewed from the top, too "pointed". Here's an initial shot, compared to an unmodified Tamiya hull:
The camera angle makes it look asymmetrical, but it's actually not.
And compared to the Dragon hull:
IMG_3834 by Russel Baer, on FlickrFilling holes to prepare for better detail parts. The suspension is also lowered by 3mm...
IMG_3836 by Russel Baer, on FlickrThe turret with the funky sandbags. I had to remove and re-do the track links it's all supposed to be resting on, and the pics of the real thing show more track links hung from the turret grab rails too, to be added:
IMG_3837 by Russel Baer, on FlickrA little later, the detail parts going on. I used a Dragon engine door assembly which required a spacer to fit, otherwise went in easily, a credit to Tamiya's initial kit. The hull depth is off though, probably since it had to contain batteries, a motor and gear box....
And the Dragon kit: it's going together easily, good fit and very nicely detailed. The only thing I've changed is the roadwheels: Dragon skated on the outers, not doing the rim reinforcements at all, so I'm using wheels from a spare Takom Brave Tiger kit that I've already robbed for parts on another build.
IMG_3838 by Russel Baer, on FlickrI'll also use the final drives and sprockets from the Takom kit, much better parts. In the pic following, it's hard to see but I cut reliefs into the Academy roadwheels I'm using on the Tamiya kit to give a hint of the actual shape of the rims.
IMG_3841 by Russel Baer, on FlickrI still have a full set of the Tamiya M48 wheels that I may do once I fab up a better cutting tool. For the ones above, I used a sharpened miniature screwdriver with the wheel chucked onto my motor tool. I had to go slow or the plastic would melt and ball up.
I have built a few of the Tamiya M48 kits, some as US in Vietnam, some as IDF, but I've given all the US models away and have a gap in the IDF builds, so I figured it was a good way to use a Dragon kit as a "model" to correct a Tamiya kit. Now I need to think about the last Tamiya kit in the stash, still in the wrapper....
