Here is my E-25 project. Hopefully quick and painless.





Got here in 2 hours and saw a major error that is easy to make. I put the wrong drive spockets housing on each side resulting in the drive sproket siting way too high. Cursed Trumpeter for a few minutes and cut them off. Will have to re-attach later. This could have been avoided in their design process.









This looks a little off. The hinges could stand to be replaced.



Also an odd seam that should be removed. The little loops for camo attachment (?) should also be replaced.





So far a little frustrating, but maybe I am just too careless....

More soon.

Is this a "paper panzer"? Or did a few actually make it into combat. Not the t.v. show.

This is as paper as it gets! Even the kit includes 4 vatiants of what could have been...

Having just built the kit I know of all the *mistakes* as well.

Seriously I had to build and rebuild the suspension 3 times, The instruction sheet should really be clearer in this area...I got so angry at the kit I nearly flung it against the nearest wall.

But...I eventually did finish it.

Ill get some photos of it soon...hopefully.

Nice subject matter for a kit. But considering the poor instructions and basically the kit just being a shell with no interior or other things in the way of "goodies", in my opinion it was not worth the near $50 USD I paid for it.

Call me disappointed.

I saw this yesterday at the LHS, looks like the rear of it is various T34 fittings. Interesting subject though, I would build it just to do some crazy splinter camo job or something like the flakpanzer Collian. I like all the wedge shaped tank-killers

Man Trumpeteer has gone downhill since the Sturer Emil 1/35 kit. Of course this isn't as bad as the Dust Game kit Schwere Kampf Laufer "Gunther" i paid 50.00 for that and it was horrible...soft details and just bad in general....still built it well. Good Luck.

Most trumpy kits I see are in the 25-30 range, did they jack the prices recently?? You can get a premium Elefant or Panther from DML for $42-if not $32 with full etch, 700+pieces and aluminum barrel, no way I spend $50 on a trumpeter kit. The KV and LAV kits that are the best overall they make are under $25.

$50 - you've got to be kidding... I ordered mine from Great Models and including shipping only paid $38

Just got mine for $40.00. I hope I'm not disappointed with it.

Hi guys, no update today, just back from work. Maybe tomorrow. Overall, I think $40 is a bit too much for this type of model, but we'll see how it looks in the end. Dmitry

Nice start so far, good heads-up regarding the drive sprocket housings...always appreciate the tips here and there...was going to add this to the pile, but it may go on the "maybe" list...will have to see how your build goes!

Thanks...Cheers!

Tim

A little more done. No real surprizes. The fit is OK for the body panels. These pictures are pre-sanding, so you can get the idea of the seams. The manilet assemply has another vague-ness that I cought early - dry fit it before ading glue to not make the same error.








The rear is next and then the detail parts. I am thinking of using Friul Panther tracks for this due to the ease of assembly, but am hesitance to invest another $30 into this project. Does anyone know if they fit?

Dmitry

Don't bother with the added expense of metal tracks, the kit tracks look fine as is. Of course this is just my opinion. But why dump more cash into a very "basic" kit.

Ill get more photos asap.

That looks good. Sadly panther tracks do not fit. Will have to go with the kit tracks. Dmitry

Here where the hull is.




The tracks are OK, not great. I had easier time cleaning up dragon's T-34 and Pz IV tracks in the past. Their fit lso seems a bit loose and hard to pisition prior to glue application. I am trying to clean them up today. What a waiste of time!!!



Maybe next post will have the tracks on the wheels. I goal is to have tracks and wheels remain removable for painting. Will see if the fit is snug enough to allow me that...

Dmitry

Well the tracks were hard. I cleaned up one baggy of 2 sets of track linls thinking that it would be enough for one side. To my surprise it wasn't, as one beg has 3 and the other 4 sprues of links. So there I was will all the links in a row with glue finding out that I needed 5 more... In any case no a very good job on that side. I was never too good with indi links, but there, I think, are not that easy. Probably would have looks better with the rubber band tracks. Maybe mud will come to the rescue. We'll see.

Looks good so far Dmitry. I can it looks like its not a cut and dry model to build. And could use some spicing up with some of the basic details provided by Trumpeter. You may find the track assembler of great use, from www.westcoasthobby.com (Im of no affiliation) the price is certainly worth it. I can assemble indi links with ease, usually both sides assembled in a half hour or less. anyway, cant wait to see your fantastic paint work on this one.

Looking good Dmitry, even though there are some tough areas that you've encountered. I think the one side of the tracks that you've completed look good, don't be too hard on yourself! If all the kits were easy, how much fun would that be?

Just credit it to exercising your superior building skills to overcome those nuances!

Cheers!

Tim

Nice how they treat you to sprue tabs and pin marks on every track link! At least they are proud and pretty easy to be rid of them. Well it looks good and its moving along pretty fast. The relatively simple lines of german tank killers don't really look much different between superkits and basic ones, it really comes down to clean building and good paint/finish work in the end. I have two Dragon Hetzers and the full set of Voyager etch set with fenders, I may just do one box stock to get it on the shelf and do the uber version later. Cant wait to see you get past the pesky building part and on to the painting

Regarding the problems you are having with the E-25 tracks,here is a possible solution.Contact Accurate Armour and purchase their resin E-25 tracks.They come in three inch lengths.I do not know if they will work on the Trumpeter sprockets,but then you could also purchase the AA white metal sprockets.I have used the tracks and sprockets on both of my resin E-25s The AA sprockets are a different design than the Trumpeter sprockets.Just another possible solution.Not cheap,but good.AA also has great service.

That should be a very nice looking kit when your done. I'll be watching.

I received the kit yesterday. I'm looking at the vinyl tracks and they don't seem to be any less detailed than their plastic counterparts. The instructions claim they can be glued. Here's a wild idea, how about a "link-and-length" combination track, using the vinyl on top and at the bottom of the wheels and the plastic around the sprocket and idler?

Yeah, I know, I'm always looking for the easy way out. :-)

Hi Dmitry -

I think you are doing a wonderful job here, very nice step-by-step. The tracks look good to me and think the effort is well worth it. Apparently there is a new indi-link track building device available. I saw it at Mission Models last week but forget who made it. It consisted of two large white plastic guides that you clamped together to keep each run straight, something along those lines but perfect for this kit, or an old Dragon Sherman.

I can't wait to see how you paint this one! Keep up the great work my friend and lovely photos (I am the only who sees them squished sideways - using Safari and Mac?)

Best,

Mike

A little more done. I am way behind my schedule. The second run of tracks was a lot less painful (as always). What really helped is sanding down the teeth of drive wheel to about half the size. This makes the tracks fit a lot better and you really cannot see what I have done. I am becoming a believer that you really must build 2 kits at the same time to catch all the little tricks that make building better. I left off all the tools, jacks, etc. Next will be the hindges on the hatch, tie downs and texture. Then I think I am done.

Well here are the pics (new light setup again, if you notice):