Armorama :: Am I the only one?

Armor/AFV
For discussions on tanks, artillery, jeeps, etc.

Hosted by Darren Baker, Mario Matijasic

Am I the only one?

Hederstierna

#247

Nordjylland, Denmark
Joined: January 03, 2008
KitMaker: 1,102 posts
Armorama: 1,018 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 - 08:44 AM UTC

AARGHH

I'm in the middle of the construction of AFV Clubs Sd.Kfz. 251 D. All the intirer is painted, and now for the assembly of the upper and lower hull parts. It should be an easy task for a skilled modeller, but no, everything seems to be out of line. nearly every angle seems to be wrong, and the fitting is close to non excisting. Am I the only one, who have had this problem with this kit? Normally I like AFV Club products, but it's the last time I ever buy a 251 from them again. Sorry AFV Club.
Jacob

Headhunter506

New York, United States
Joined: December 01, 2007
KitMaker: 1,575 posts
Armorama: 1,509 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 - 09:49 AM UTC

Your membership card is in the mail, Jacob.

I ran into the same problem. In order to preserve what little sanity I allegedly possessed before I bought the kit, I ended up ordering the Aber upper hull PE sets. That worked. I'd much rather deal with tird degree burns on my fingertips after soldering the parts than figure out where to hack or add styrene.

Biggles2

Quebec, Canada
Joined: January 01, 2004
KitMaker: 7,600 posts
Armorama: 6,110 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 - 11:32 AM UTC

Not surprising. DML and Tamiya also had problems fitting the top to the bottom.

panzerconor

Massachusetts, United States
Joined: February 08, 2012
KitMaker: 1,271 posts
Armorama: 1,253 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 - 11:43 AM UTC

I've got this kit on deck. Couldn't wait to get at it, but now I think I might wait hahaha.

PantherF

Indiana, United States
Joined: June 10, 2005
KitMaker: 6,188 posts
Armorama: 5,960 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 - 11:46 AM UTC

I didn't know they had fitment problems?

~ Jeff

Headhunter506

New York, United States
Joined: December 01, 2007
KitMaker: 1,575 posts
Armorama: 1,509 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 - 11:55 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I've got this kit on deck. Couldn't wait to get at it, but now I think I might wait hahaha.

Laugh now and get it out of your system. You too, will fall into this insidious trap. Do you want the Aber PE set numbers for the upper hull now or after you start yelling at inanimate objects?

Hederstierna

#247

Nordjylland, Denmark
Joined: January 03, 2008
KitMaker: 1,102 posts
Armorama: 1,018 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Thursday, April 04, 2013 - 07:04 AM UTC

Well, glad I'm not the only one, and I'll take that membership card, and NEVER buy ANY AFV Club 251's again. A real shame though, 'cause AFV Club do have some nice versions to choose from.
Jacob

PS: My "anger" only goes out to this specific model, and not everything else that the compagny has produced

Headhunter506

New York, United States
Joined: December 01, 2007
KitMaker: 1,575 posts
Armorama: 1,509 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Thursday, April 04, 2013 - 07:16 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Well, glad I'm not the only one, and I'll take that membership card, and NEVER buy ANY AFV Club 251's again. A real shame though, 'cause AFV Club do have some nice versions to choose from.
Jacob
PS: My "anger" only goes out to this specific model, and not everything else that the compagny has produced

I also have the 251/20 laying around. I had nothing better to do; so, I compared the searchlight parts with those from the Great Wall sWS IR searchlight parts. WHADDYA KNOW??!? Same damn parts! Sharing parts trees among friends, or what?

MLD

Vermont, United States
Joined: July 21, 2002
KitMaker: 3,569 posts
Armorama: 2,070 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Thursday, April 04, 2013 - 11:41 AM UTC

Part of the problem is the locators inside the upper hull/hood area.
A fix that went past waaayyyy back when the first kit came out was to carve those away and get the upper and lower hulls together FIRST, and then add the stowage boxes and fenders.

There is a multi-part video on the AFV Club facebook page that has a guy (speaking chinese..no subtitles, sorry) showing off his amazing 251/9 build and he carved those bad boys right off..

I wrecked at least one before I was turned on to that trick.
Checking my membership card in the wallet, ohhh look my member number is in the low 2 digits...

Mike
who still ahas SEVERAL AFV Club 251's on the shelf.

McKeever

New York, United States
Joined: October 14, 2012
KitMaker: 246 posts
Armorama: 172 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Thursday, April 04, 2013 - 11:51 AM UTC

I am building the 263 kit and man is it tempermental. Over engineered. Had to scratch the lower hull and chassis, mothball from a 232 kit I bought on special. These AFV club kits are not easy.
I will have to review the Hanomag kit instructions but am glad you guys gave me the heads up.
Do these problems pertain to teh 251 1 (c) kits as well?

Headhunter506

New York, United States
Joined: December 01, 2007
KitMaker: 1,575 posts
Armorama: 1,509 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Thursday, April 04, 2013 - 12:38 PM UTC

Quoted Text

I am building the 263 kit and man is it tempermental. Over engineered. Had to scratch the lower hull and chassis, mothball from a 232 kit I bought on special. These AFV club kits are not easy.
I will have to review the Hanomag kit instructions but am glad you guys gave me the heads up.
Do these problems pertain to teh 251 1 (c) kits as well?

It's a problem inherent with all of the AFV Club 251 D's. Regardless of the inconvenience of the uncooperative hull parts, AFV's 251's scale out more accurately than the dragon offerings.

@McKeever:

OT, but, you wanted dividers to measure and mark rivet locations. Google "vintage German drafting sets". You can pick up a nice set with various compasses, dividers and sush for around 30 bucks. I bought a set almost forty years ago (paid a princely sum of $10 for it at the old Keuffel & Esser store near Grand Central Station in 1974) to use in my engineering drawing classes. I can accurately mark off .2mm spacing with my dividers. My set is similar to this one:

bulldawg380

Georgia, United States
Joined: August 19, 2009
KitMaker: 347 posts
Armorama: 338 posts

PROFILE

WWW

Posted: Thursday, April 04, 2013 - 12:42 PM UTC

My membership card is 33577321779064 I too had this problem if memory serves I trimmed a little off of one of the parts then got out some shims wedges and the C clamp (yes I am for real) clamped it together applied a generous amount of tamiya extra thin to it and let it then put it on the shelf for a week while I worked on something else to regain my composure

after the week it held

no problems

muddyfields

Scotland, United Kingdom
Joined: February 04, 2006
KitMaker: 884 posts
Armorama: 622 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Thursday, April 04, 2013 - 08:40 PM UTC

Hi
It's Not just you or AFV's kit It's the same with the dragon kit , had terrible fit issues , lots of filler etc.

lukiftian

British Columbia, Canada
Joined: March 12, 2010
KitMaker: 791 posts
Armorama: 592 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Thursday, April 04, 2013 - 09:14 PM UTC

The Ds have some fit problems, but I believe they were corrected years ago. The Cs are fine. You'll hate the kit link tracks too. They don't fit. I swapped mine for Zvezda tracks, I heard they do fit on AFV and likewise.

yeahwiggie

Dalarnas, Sweden
Joined: March 24, 2006
KitMaker: 2,093 posts
Armorama: 1,359 posts

PROFILE

WWW

Posted: Friday, April 05, 2013 - 02:38 AM UTC

Glad I'm reading this!
Still have a AFV 251/20 UHU... Guess I'll have to do some homework first.

Hederstierna

#247

Nordjylland, Denmark
Joined: January 03, 2008
KitMaker: 1,102 posts
Armorama: 1,018 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Friday, April 05, 2013 - 08:05 AM UTC

Ron, Do check out the resdin set from Blast Models for that UHU. The interier in the AFV Club kit is missing a lot, especially the generator.
Jacob

Headhunter506

New York, United States
Joined: December 01, 2007
KitMaker: 1,575 posts
Armorama: 1,509 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Friday, April 05, 2013 - 08:40 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Ron, Do check out the resdin set from Blast Models for that UHU. The interier in the AFV Club kit is missing a lot, especially the generator.
Jacob

Yup, forgot to mention that, Jacob.

DES makes a generator also. I've a link to a site where a guy was scratchbuilding one. Drawings were included. I'll look for the right link.

steve-o

Ohio, United States
Joined: February 05, 2004
KitMaker: 545 posts
Armorama: 295 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Thursday, March 31, 2016 - 01:56 AM UTC

I know I'm 3 years late, but just ran into this thread.

Super helpful, and glad I'm not the only one too. I guess it's time to get sanding... the rest of the kit is great! And I was able to scratch together a decent looking generator from the parts supplied in the kit.

Bodeen

#026

Pennsylvania, United States
Joined: June 08, 2002
KitMaker: 1,744 posts
Armorama: 1,359 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Thursday, March 31, 2016 - 09:03 AM UTC

I had the same problems with the last 2 AFV Club 251s I built. They look great but they are a pain to put together. Lots of clamps and rubber bands.

Jeff

M4A1Sherman

New York, United States
Joined: May 02, 2013
KitMaker: 4,403 posts
Armorama: 4,078 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Thursday, March 31, 2016 - 12:27 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Quoted Text

I am building the 263 kit and man is it tempermental. Over engineered. Had to scratch the lower hull and chassis, mothball from a 232 kit I bought on special. These AFV club kits are not easy.
I will have to review the Hanomag kit instructions but am glad you guys gave me the heads up.
Do these problems pertain to teh 251 1 (c) kits as well?

It's a problem inherent with all of the AFV Club 251 D's. Regardless of the inconvenience of the uncooperative hull parts, AFV's 251's scale out more accurately than the dragon offerings.

@McKeever:

OT, but, you wanted dividers to measure and mark rivet locations. Google "vintage German drafting sets". You can pick up a nice set with various compasses, dividers and sush for around 30 bucks. I bought a set almost forty years ago (paid a princely sum of $10 for it at the old Keuffel & Esser store near Grand Central Station in 1974) to use in my engineering drawing classes. I can accurately mark off .2mm spacing with my dividers. My set is similar to this one:

Info only, no derogation intended:

Grand Central TERMINAL. (I'm a BIG New York Central fan) "Station" refers to a "stop" or a "Depot" along the line; "Terminal" refers to a railroad's terminus, which Grand Central happens to be...

Agree- Locator pins are half of the problems in the "modelling world". If I run into fit problems with ANY kit, the first method of "correction" to the problem is that I will remove the locator pins. Dry-fitting is something that I do religiously before I apply any adhesive, rather than just take a chance...

steve-o

Ohio, United States
Joined: February 05, 2004
KitMaker: 545 posts
Armorama: 295 posts

PROFILE

Posted: Tuesday, April 05, 2016 - 12:59 AM UTC

You've got to be kidding me. I'm excited to add this one to my 251 collection, but man... Next one to buy is a 251/22, and I am NOT getting it from AFV Club.

I'm surprised I have not seen this issue on any reviews.

TOP