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A39 Tortoise

I will not describe the entire kit’s contents as I believe the in box reviews by Jim Starkweather more than covered this; links to these will be found at the end of this article.

Stage one

This stage covers assembly of the rear idler wheels which are left and right sided, with minor surgery being required to the right hand side. The right hand connection point to the track tension adjuster needs to be cut back, as indicated by the instructions. I cut away these two segments with a razor saw. There are some minor mould seams, both on the wheels and the tensioners, which are easily removed with a No 11 scalpel blade. One word of warning during this stage is to make sure you get the tensioners orientated correctly, or you will struggle when it comes to attaching the assembly to the tank hull.

Stage two

This stage covers assembly of the front drive sprockets and the attachment of the rear idler wheels. The rear idler wheels are easy enough to fit via the mounting brackets as long as you put them on the correct side, and get the orientation right during the previous stage. I found it easier to attach the four mounting brackets to the tensioner assembly first and then to the hull. The front drive sprockets are easily put together, the only area where care is needed being the removal of the sprue tabs from between the teeth, although the majority of the attachment lug is behind the sprockets, which does make the removal and clean up somewhat easier.