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Unboxing: Meng A39 Tortoise

Jim the red triangle is on the vehicle at Bovington tank museum but it is only a plaque that tells you "Caution unarmoured". If they have included decals then there should be in white "P1" with PE 3530" under that with one on each side of the vehicle, the only other marking is a number plate "JLR 98" which is on the front of the vehicle only.

Meng do not provide any decals in this kit - they say to paint that triangle (which is a raised cast) red. I presume that they think most modellers will build it as an "in service" vehicle -- ie a Whiff & put their own markings on ? I've had my kit for a few days & had to wash the sprues 3 times to remove the mold-grease. Molding & design etc look to be as good as Tamiya quality. A build-review indicates the same -- LINK

Just a word of warning to all of you who have ordered or are ordering a Tortoise. Mine arrived over the weekend (off an ebay seller) and I have found a few discepancies: Part B2 (this appears to be a small access panel that fits on the wheel bogies). At least 5 of mine were missing from the sprue. The bags and box were still sealed and there were no missing parts loose in the bag. Strangley it looks as if they never ectually filled in the cavitiy as there is no indication that the parts moulded and then broke off at ejection stage. The same goes for part B44 (smoke dispenser tubes). Again I have at least 4 missing. Luckily the tubes can be replicated and the access panels are unseen once the side skirts go on. Lastly, the spare track lnks have the support brackets (which are welded to the turret on the real thing) moulded as part of the links. On at least two of my spare track links these parts had failed to mould properly. I have to say am pretty dissapointed although there are fixes to all these problems. On the plus side the mouldings that are there are superb and congratulations on Meng for taking a punt on a vehilce like this. Apologies but had my laptop stolen recently so am unable to add pictures showing the mould faults.

I reviewed our sprues and there doesn't seem to be any missing parts or serious issues. There is a very small, odd impact mark (or something) on the lower hull, but otherwise the quality looks great. Are you sure you didn't get some kind of pre-production test shot??