Started this one over the week end.
ICMs' new Studebaker kit.


Starting off with the nicely detailed engine.

Next step is constructing the drive train. This is mostly one large part, with smaller details added.


You can see the two different colored grays used for the parts. Fit was excellent, with only a tiny amount of filler needed on the transfer case.

Next step is building the frame, this is a pretty detailed assembly, and went together without any problems. Only a tiny amount of filler was needed on the frame, a little more on the fuel tank, spare tire holder, and bottom of running boards.


A little deviation from the instructions in order to try to keep everything is a logical sub-assembly order.

Nice door details, the handles are very small, and fragile.


I built the cargo body next, again assembly was straight forward, and I ran into no problems.



Notice the lack of ejector pins markings, there were none, only 4 spots where the body sides connect to the floor section. Be careful with the hoops during clean up, they are extremely fragile

I then started the cab, knock out pins are faint, and just a little sanding was needed to get rid of them. I didn't worry about any in the under hood area, as I plan on having the hood closed. If you plan on leaving your open, you'll need to fill a few, and add some details to the firewall. Only thing I added was some tissue to the seats.




The only tricky or troublesome seam I've had, is the one running across the interior. Since the cab interior needs to be painted before assembly, this will have to be handled after it assembled. I left out all the shifters etc at this time and will install them after the cab is completely assembled.

The dash was white glued in place, and after that dried, I glued the steering column to the dash. I'll remove this later and paint separately.

With careful forethought and fitting of parts, the frame and running gear come together with no problems, and all the hanging linkages actually all lined up.


Continued dry fitting eveyrthing together:




The sidewall details on the tires and wheels are excellent,

But I'm afraid the mold maker must have a few too many when doing the ND tread.


That's it for now.
Will post more as the paint and finishing comes up.

Great work so far. Looks like it's nicely detailed model.
I have one Studebaker booked for me in LHS and I can't wait to pick it up.
Have you chose decals you will use? I'm going to use Polish Army .

Looking good so far Dave.

Excellent - I've been waiting to see someone review/show what the kit looks like.

I'm interested in seeing how it all finishes out.

Looks great. Now here is the question: Does anyone make a set of replacement wheels for it? If not, would wheels from a CCKW work on it?

Thats a sharp looking truck Dave, I want to see the tissue after painting, should look pretty darn cool

Whats wrong with the wheels Gino? I think they look ok

Good work Dave. Will we see the cargo area filled with Russian Soldiers or equipment?

No resin replacements yet, that I am aware of. I'm sure some intelligent and enterprising resin caster is hard at work, or one of the resin guys are adapting a set they already have for one of there resin kits already on the market. Master Productions and Real Models are two that pop into my mind at the present time. I haven't checked any other kits yet to see if any of them will be a drop in fit yet, but (and this is just a guess at this time) the axles are pretty hefty, and the Tamyia polycaped wheels just may slip on. (again-haven't tried that yet-so can't say yes or no!) Maybe even one of the resin sets already on the market- the ones with chains will fit, I don't have any of these sets so can't check.
I was amazed at the few ejection pin marks I had, very little flash, and extremely tight fit of the parts. Most were really tight push fit, and the alignment of the frame can't be beat. A little careful clean up- don't over sand anything, and the framed turned out true and square. Just do the old test fit, and test fit again as you build. So far the only low point for me are the tires. I can honestly say this is the best ICM kit I have ever built, and hopefully they will take this kit, and do a few other versions, besides the U3.

Marcin, I really haven't decided on which decal option to use yet. With 6 options, all in lovely OD, it a hard choice.

EDITED--- I tried the Tamyia wheels last night before heading for work, the polycaps are a little too large in diameter for a snug fit. Perhaps a few slivers of .005 strip will bulk up the axles enough for them to be used.

Its actually the tires. The tread is misaligned. On the kit tires, the tread meets in a point in the middle of the tire.


The actual tire is called Multi-Directional Tread. The tread should be offset to each other, making a zig-zag where they meet, like this:

It might be a little tricky to keep it straight but maybe you could cut the wheels in half and re-align them. If ... you really want to fix all 11 tires. But then that might make the tires a little on the thin side. Plastic sheet in the middle maybe. Just a thought. She looks great. Surprised to see so much detail. Nice to hear that it all fits together too. A very important detail.

Matt

Looks promising!
I have a pic in mind of one in Czechoslovakia in soviet service, loadedd to the brim with all kinds of stuff, and a few Red Army soldiers sleeping on top. (From the book "May 45 in the Czech lands", by Tomas Jakl)

I'm sure with a kit this eagerly anticipated, a replacement resin wheel set will appear in the not too distant future.

Thanks for posting.

Great work Dave! Really is a hell of a nice kit as well. It would look great towing a Soviet 100mm...




That's the bit that pleases me as well. I must admit to a degree of 'nervousness' when this was first announced. The tires I can live with, but, as Dave says, there will be resin replacements round the corner pretty soon....

Looks good, Dave.

Depending on whether you are going to put this in a muddy/snowy diorama it might not be a big problem with the tires.

Anyway, looks good so far. I am looking forward to see it with some paint on it.

Here's a nice reference book to help you with any little details you may like to add.

Not tricky at all if you build a box jig from sheet styrene. Construct a box that the tire just fits into, exactly half the depth of the tire. The edge of the box becomes a guide for the razor saw blade. You'll need to add a styrene shim to replace any plastic lost in the sawing. Tedious, but doable, and you save the cost of an aftermarket set (and you can finish build right now).

I'm kinda with Gerald...in the sense that the wheels/tires have already been glued together. But, Dave, would it have been possible, before gluing, to have "readjusted" the tire halve's alignment? I imagine that there's alignment pins for the tires...if those were snipped off, would it be feasible that the tread pattern could be aligned properly? Looking at the pics it doesn't appear that the rim would interfer with this, but I'm not looking at an actual set of halves...so, I could be off.

I'm interested in your response to this....one, 'cause I'm a "wheelie kinda guy" and this one looks like a really good one I need to get, and two, you've just about "blessed" this one as a good kit...which I deeply respect.

Hoping to hear back.

Mike

Terry Ashley just put up a review of this kit at PMMS. He mentions the tires as well and recommends swapping them with the Tamiya CCKW set, or a resin set. He also thinks the tires are pretty much the only downfall of the kit. Maybe ICM will fix them on later moldings.



Nope, the tires are molded as one piece, not two halves which can be simply realigned. Cutting them in half would ruin the delicate center tread design as well. I would replace them.

You could always get the old Italeri BM-13 Katyusha kit and use the wheels/tires from it, along with the launcher parts and make a proper WWII BM-13 Katyusha. The kit is on a post-WWII Zil-151 chassis. WWII BM-13s were on Lend-Lease Studebaker US6 chassis.

Ahhh, thanks Gino, question answered!

Still a "killer" truck!

Mike

Managed to get a little more done.
Did some painting this morning after work, nothing exciting there, so I won't bore you.
After the paint dried, I added the instrument gauges from the kit decals. Although they appear to be one decal on the sheet, and have one number, they are all separate in real life.
Added them one by one. They snuggled down fine.
Should have used a higher magnification when putting them on, as they appeared straight when doing it, but certainly aren't now, or in the photos. Live and learn.
They are also a little out of register, OK, maybe a lot out of register!
The next kit will remember to do a little micro trimming.

just a wee bit off Probably can't see it on the finished model other then it has gauges. I saw Terry's rundown on the wheels so I see what's wrong. Eh, still will probably look ok anyway.

Kevin, I should have known better, as I normally use old aircraft decals for instruments using a punch set. But since I'm actually trying to do this out of the box, I figured I'd just slip the cluster on... surprise when 5 floated free. More surprising with the lack of excess carrier film.

I'm enjoying this kit so much, I just ordered another one.

Thanks for the build views,Dave. i have one,and just bought a rev-Italeri katyushka (sp?)
I plan on making a franken-baker-ski.That way i can have correct tires,and a rocket launcher.

Working without days off really slows things down sometimes.
Anyway, I managed to get everything together, and some paint on it.
Really had no major fit problems, just careful fitting and trimming of a few parts.
Very little filler used along the rear of the cab seam roof line. Also a weak join there with thin plastic, so consider it a warning, it popped apart on me, and had to do a little repair work on it.

Looks like it is coming along nicely. Can't wait to see how those new wheels look on it. Keep us posted on the progress. I am going to be getting one soon.