Alan McNeilly provides an in-box review of the 'UK Tank Accessories No. 1' by Resicast in 1/35 scale.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Thanks for the review Alan,

I have this kit and am using it alongside the 'UK tank accesories no.2' set to help detail up a Churchill at the moment and it is a great set.

However, there is a flaw with the set, and one that from your pictures is not just confined to my own set.
The longer runs of Churchill tracks (7 and 4 link sets) have triangular holes which shouldn't be there on the side of the cleats where the resin moulds are very thin. I have tried to clean these up several times with filler but it is very difficult (in fact almost impossible in places) which is a real pain, particularly when they were one of the main reasons I bought the set. (along with the antenna bases which are excellent).

Now I love resicast, they cater for the british/commonwealth modeller probably better than anyone, but despite the excellent quality of 95% of their sets I always find there is one part of their sets that seems to have casting flaws. Now I understand resin casting is difficult to get perfect every time, but I feel resicast could do with some quality control methods that mirror their customer service, which like the majority of their castings, is excellent.
On two occasions with different resicast sets I have found problems and approached them, Graham at resicast is prompt to reply and will send out replacement parts up to their usual excellent standard with no hassle. I applaud him for this, however, I just wish that perhaps the issues could be spotted before sending the kits out to avoid the issue?

Perhaps I am being naive and its not that easy, but seeing your set has the same problem I thought perhaps its worth a mention.

Don't get me wrong I love resicast and will continue to purchase their products. I just wish I didn't have to e-mail Graham afterwards.

Thanks for the review,

James

Hi James,

Thanks for the information. The last picture (the one with the track) is one I got from Resicast, as I had already used my track on my Churchill Mk VII. I've had a look again at the tracks I have (using my watch makers eyeglass) and I can't see any holes on the set I have, so either I'm not picking up what you say correctly or my set doesn't have them.

I'm not a track expert on the Churchill or any other tank, but the set I have seems to give a very good representation of the track. I bought the set for the same reason the extra track for my build.

Shrinkage and distortion can happen during the casting process, and the moulds can get damaged or closed too tightly. I'm no expert there either, and I understand that it can be frustrating, but these things occur in all models to a greater or lesser degree to the best of my knowledge.

As you point out Graham gives excellent customer service, which others may not.

I don't know the Resicast production set up, but most resin manufacturers are small in people numbers as it's a very specific process. Items are cast individually, in small or large batcches depening on the demand I would think. I imagine that it would take someone with considerable skill and knowledge of the parts to check each part individually, not to mention the time it would take to check what must be thousands of parts, so I'm not sure how practical that might be, but it's a fair point.

I don't believe I've ever had a perfect kit, I'm not sure if that is possible as there will always be something that's not quite right, but the stuff Resicast produces comes very close IMHO and I agree with you they are one of the few manufacturers who cater specifically for the British/Commonwalth modeller and have a range of items that are PDG and can't be had elsewhere.

You can tell I'm a fan too lol, lol.

I honestly don't have an answer for you James, but the quality of the castings is normally first class, the clean up minimal and from the recent sets I've built designed and engineered with with the modeller in mind. Given that Resicast will replace any item that is not up to standard without any hassle, then I don't know how much more one could aks for.

Sorry for your frustration, but I'm glad you're enjoying their stuff as much as me.

Al

Hi Alan, Don't worry I wasn't looking for an answer from you!

Also please don't think I was disagreeing with your review. Hands down it is an excellent kit. I just noticed the holes in the pic and knowing I wasn't alone thought i'd raise the point.

Knowing the pics are from resicast is interesting as the tracks clearly have the same issue as my own, and you'd presume they wouldn't want to put these out. However, I must admit I didn't notice my own at first, and you have a valid point that checking every part would be a massive (and likely time and cost consuming) process.

Knowing yours are fine is good news, im sure I have just been unlucky with a couple of sets, and trust me i'm well aware that its rare to get a kit without one flaw or another! If anyting its more surprise that a product of such a high standard can be flawed in any-way!

Anyway, I thought its perhaps best to let Graham have a say, here's his very prompt (within 5 mins if not sooner) reply to my e-mail I sent after my above rant made me get of my behind and take a pic of the issue to send to him:

"Hello,
Sorry about this. It seems that too much pressure has been applied to the mould and thus what was very thin has actually become too thin.
Please provide me with your snail address and I will get some good ones to you.

All my apologies,

Graham"

It seems in Resicast's mission for scale thickness they have come unstuck!

As mentioned, their custome service is excellent, and I have no doubts that within a week i'll have some absolutely perfect ones sitting on my modelling/coffee table (No SHMBO is not that pleased about the current arrangement)!

As I said before, hats of to Graham, he seems a thouroughly nice guy who has a (well deserved) pride in Resicast's products, if only the entire industry was made up of guys like him. I'd also like to say that I will continue to buy and recomend their products in the future, regardless of small issues like this.

James

Hi James,

Good news then, I've have exactly the same kind of service from Graham.

Producing that level of detail in 1/35 on some of those tiny fittings just amazes me.

He takes a great pride in his models and rightly so, even to the point of delaying the RR release at Euro so that a couple of small issues could be corrected, other manufactiuers would have rushed ahead just to grab the lime light.

Look forward to your Churchill and keep those British/Commonwealth vehicles coming.

Al