G'day all,
my birthday has just passed and out of my goodie basket i fetched this as a treat for my self,



first kit impresions are good so i started last night and heres where I got:


Thats as far as I got, I used excess cable from my Dragon flak 88 for the winch and left the fuel tank out for painting reasons.

Just a few questions for my build. what is the cylinder bulge on the right side... as you have to make two but i left the second out so my winch assembly can dry are they commpresed gas cylinders????

also what colour would the fuel tank and "cylinders" be...

any praise and criticisms are accepted
Cheers,
Mat

Looks good so far...Ive been thinking about picking this kit up some day, so ill be watching your build!

Russ

thanks Russ,
more pics tommorow my camera is fighting me all the way lol. ive just sprayed the chassis and and brush painted the winch drive and cylinders. now i'm working on super structure.

here we go it decided to work a bit dark though... i'l take better ones later.
idecide to paint the cylinders feild gray for a bit of colour contrast. theire was error in the instructions on step 15 for the left return roller adjustier (A 27) it is pointing to the hole on the topleft of the back plate as the spot, but it should mirror the other side in its location on the adjuster i'll post a pic to show veryone later.
cheers
may

heres the problem i found in instructions.




and some better pictures



more later any constructive criticisms and praise are most welcome
cheers
Mat

Nice work in this one, Matthew!

I too have seen this one at my LHS and thought about picking it up. Was wondering though if Great Wall was going to do this one so I was thinking I should probably wait. However, with the prices those kits of the SWS will command I guess this would be better price-wise. From your pic, quality seems to be good as well!

Good work in this!

Rob

Hi Mat,
nice start on the s.W.S. Keep us posted.
greetings ro

I have the original Italeri release of this so I'll be watching your build with interest!

thanks for the kind comments, the kit is a absolute ease to build but alas.... to every pro there is a con ie. sink holes.
They massacre this kit which has been free from flash and most other annoyance's.

sorry for poor pic quality I had a hard day at work before realising i had a build log.... and the others were with the flash on.



the to of the roof plate on the 'face' side had a few deep sink holes that needed filling as well as the hatch's which are both a common trait to italeri and revell kits which is a shame for such well established companys. I Opened the front intake and raised one of the sight blocks to give the kit a bit more life, and left the hatchs and side gaurds open.



the ammo box looks complicated and is also plagued by sink holes but strangly went together very easly. and beside a seam on the back edge it was farly square.

#One note to make is the back plate of the box it should be higher than the other walls. ( to allow correct fitting of lids) but it must be level on the bottom of the box which isn't possible in its propper postion so i'll have to fill that too.


rather bleak to be honest but i havent found a pic of the intirior yet so maybe some gizmology is at hand
cheers,
Mat

That looks good!
One year ago, I didn´t know what an SWS is. (sorry!)
My idea was, to buy (and build) one of the Sd.Kfz.7 versions. (I built a german artillery gun, which was drawn by this)
I saw "Great Wall´s" very interesting box arts and had some ideas for an SWS.
But for this I would use a "civilian" scene.

greetings...
Soeren

nice build I have just finished one myself (same kit) just watch out for the tracks as they are rubbish

cheers

Keith

just realised why the back of ammo box won't fit...it was upside down i'll post pics when i fix it.

doh!
Mat

Hi Mathew. Looking good so far. Seen one of these built up recently, and its a pretty decent kit with a little bit of care and effort.

Back again, time to show my progress.

after searching and searching i only found on picture of the cabin interior and it was a post war reconstruction with only the gear sticks, pedals and steering wheel present...
so his my extra add on a 'radio'



The fixed rear plate,


don't worry chaps the wheels are only dry fits.

more ejector pin marks

a front view (i think it looks good right now)


my planned variant/ boxtop version, at least revell didn't copy the 'Flak' gun on their referance vehicle

(the above image is only for disscusional purposes and i in no way accept ownership of the photo) i lost the site this photo came from but it gave me a laugh it a sws with a optimistic flak 43, the one revell decided was great variant???

Till later,
Cheers,
Mat