It will be at least few months until I have time to start working on this model, but as it arrived today I couldn't stop myself from unboxing it and having a first look.
The model comes in a rather large box with some beautiful images on most sides:
The box is large enough to fit a cat (see below), but surprisingly full. This is due to a large amount of sprues (18 if I counted right, plus some loose body parts on their own), most of which are packed in separate foil bags, but not only that - the body parts have their own dedicated compartment in a box, and there is also a cardboard box filler that ensures nothing shifts in transport (visible behind a cat).
Besides sprues, there is an instruction manual, two small sheets of decals, four rubber (I think) tyres, and a box with goodies. This is a truly multimedia kit, although could probably be improved even further with inclusion of some photo etched parts. Because of the specifics of this model, there is not a single clear part in the box.
Manual is clear and well-drawn, and includes a part identification sheet - useful! The decals are but a few. On the photo below you can also see the body frame spruce - it's quite large, almost 40cm long. The moulding quality is wonderful, I could hardly notice any flash, and most of the ejector pins marks are on the sprue or in places that won't be visible.
Bodywork has a very nice quality, lots of details, panel lines and rivets. No visible sink of flash, some ejector pins marks on the inside of the panels that will require some filling and sanding. Surprising amount of sprue that might be tricky to remove though - it's all along the edges of some parts, and in the instance of side panels it's quite a well-attached, hefty spruce right between them (top left part). There is a page in manual dedicated to explaining what needs to be removed. The tyres are soft and well moulded, with lots of crisp detail.
The goodies box contains: a small sheet of leather imitation, some wires and conduits in different gauges and materials, some electrical wire, thread, rods and pins, lots of small springs and an assortment of screws.
Some assorted sprues:
The most intimidating is this sprue, provided in 5 copies. It contains a lot of individual parts making up a workable chain:
Some details of engine (you probaly can't see it at this image size, but the screws are beautifully moulded with crisp hexagon heads), springs, front grille, and other parts. The last image shows the single instance of sink and the worst instance of flash I've found so far. The thing you can't see from the pictures is the most left-hand side part of the grille is about half a cm thick, but all the holes are perfectly even, clean, and the whole thing has a very solid feel. Love it! If I had a photo-etch to replace it, I'd have to really consider whether or not to do it.
And the last one is the sprue I like the least - moulded wood imitation. Might make sense to recreate this one with the real thing...
It's a lovely kit, very well manufactured, and should be a pleasure (and challenge!) to build. I'm glad I got it, and recommend the same to anyone who would like to have it, before the stock is gone.
Approved by cats.
Any images I post on my personal builds are free to be used and shared under Creative Commons Attribution license, which means you can do what you want with them, on the condition you mention I'm the author.
Happy building :-)
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