Ok, so i've just sent my review in for the new Kinetic M-ATV kit and decided to get the blog page up and running (mainly because I needed the link to insert in the review).

This will be a mainly out of the box build of the Kinetic kit, apart from the wheels which will be replaced with items from Def Model. Frankly the kit wheels are unusable.



Updates will follow shortly, hopefully once the review is made public


*See the review here:

looking forward to seeing this!

Good luck Rob

I'll be following along with great interest Rob as I just started mine too. When I first began building this one I was heard to say "what the &%*#" quite a few times but now I'm really getting into it. I'm awaiting the def wheels too, as replacements are pretty much necessary.

Right, finally ready to post some work!

The kit begins with suspension units, which thankfully means getting the tedious stuff out of the way first. Both the front and rear suspension units are made up of parts from sprue F, of which there are two identical sprues, with different parts being used the front and rear units. As I mentioned in the review, theres a fair bit of flash and mold lines on the parts, so a fine scalpel and sanding sticks will be useful.

To illustrate what I mean, here's a picture of the spring:



Construction begins with the front unit:



As we turn over the pages to step 4 there are some errors in the instructions to be aware of. First of all watch out for the incorrect placement of the suspension spring:



The major concern though is that that in the middle of the page the instructions state that after part F53 is fitted, part F51, the shock absorber, should be fitted next. DO NOT fit part F51 until F53 has been glued in place:




If one tries to fit F51 before F53, its impossible to stick F53 in place:




I made this error, thankfully it was easy enough to correct:





The other issue to be aware of is that the instructions call out for the fitting of four hexagonal huts:



Initially I looked all over the sprue and could only see three of them. Later on i realised that the fourth nut was to be taken from the other sprue F (containing the parts for the rear suspension) as only 2 of these nuts are required on that unit. Anyway, before I realised this I improvised:




In theory the wheels can be made to turn, as you will notice in the above picture. Unfortunately after these pictures were taken I managed to spill a blob of glue on the steering arms and glued them solid, luckily they were aligned straight.

So thats the front unit done. As you can see, it looks ok, but the detail isn't as crisp as i'd like; extensive clean up of parts is required; and all of the bolts are missing from the exterior face of the plates, where the unit attaches to the chassis frame.

Next update shortly......

Nice 1 mate i'm just waiting to recieve my M-ATV, it builds into a great model when finished.

Thanks Rob
Then, I will take less time for my build.


Cheers
Seb

Thanks very much guys!

Should have some more updates soon, as well as some more errors I need to point out....

Thanks for sharing your experience Rob ! It will certainly prove useful to a lot of us.

I just can't believe why nowadays there are so many errors in the instructions of a lot of manufacturers. It's a real shame on their quality control.

Olivier

Great start Rob! Just a note, it appears that Kinetic has corrected at least some of the errors in their instructions, as the kit I ordered has this part location taken care of:



Looking forward to seeing more!

Looks good so far.
I'm building the Panda kit,and it looks like your instructions are as bad as mine.

Right guys, time for an update!

I have been slowly working away on this, I just can't seem to find the time to update the blog. Anyway, hopefully that will all change now.

Ok, so first up some issues from my previous post. James has pointed out that it appears Kinetic have corrected the instructions in some of their kits, which is pleasing to see. If however you have the incorrect instruction like me, there is one fault I forgot to point out. At step four, I stated the suspension spring F12 is located wrong on the instructions, well one also needs to be aware that the top part of the spring needs to locate into the right hole of part F53, not the left hole as my instructions state. Compare my instruction photo with James to see what I mean.

Anyway, moving on I made a start in the rear suspension unit, which goes together fairly easily. The same issues with the incorrect instructions did arise once again so take care with these parts.




The biggest difficulty with the rear suspension is definitely the hydraulic lines. Its great that Kinetic included them, but be aware they are all numbered incorrectly in the sprue, I can't remember what the exact problem is but its something like the numbers on the sprue correspond to the opposite side to what the instructions state. They are also incredibly difficult to glue in place, and while the rubber adheres well with super glue its imperative to hold them in place with tweezers while the glue sets, otherwise they just spring out of the place. The stage nearly drove me crazy, but the result is quite pleasing.

Heres the other side:



(some squadron green filler was used to deal with a few gaps and poorly fitting parts)

And with the dreadful wheels temporarily in place, note the mould seem running along the tire.


Both front and rear suspension:

YOU ARE MAKING ME AFRAID I WANTED TO START THIS MODEL TO BUT YOUR "GOOD LUCK ROB' MAKE ME THINKING IS SO HARD TO BUILD THIS KIT?

Bringing this back from almost a year ago because I just got the kit a couple of weeks back.Mario,if you haven't already picked it up,be VERY afraid.Rob's posts here only begin to describe the flaws.The instructions are a nightmare,most parts don't fit well,you have to hold them in place until the glue begins to harden and a lot are so tiny it's ridiculous.Thank God for UTUBE on this build.If your going to attempt this kit watch videos by Norm Lajoie.He's done a series on the build and will save a lot of time and aggrevation.It's been almost 2 weeks and I'm just starting the upper portion.I really wanted the Canadian RG-31,but won't buy Kenitic again.I had a choice at my LHS in the Panda or this.Not being a fan of PE I chose this.Huge mistake.

Tom

My apologies guys for not updating this, unfortunately my ability to build anything has seriously been hampered this past year living in a small flat without any modelling facilities. I've managed to set aside a small corner of our living room for a model bench and hope to update lots of my builds soon.

Tom: the kit is indeed a bit of a nightmare (one of the reasons this stalled), but i'll update you all very soon on where im at with it.

Hi, Tom

I heard Panda's much worse than that , but it has better detail and the right size. Kenitic Rg31 should be a very friendly build from all the feedbacks here.

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/8908

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/203239

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/205383&ord=&page=2

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/210221&page=1



Jay

I'm still very leary of their kits.This has been the worst I have ever attempted.Anyway,I'm stubron and won't give up.Hopefully I'm past most of the mistakes.Here's some pics of the sub assemblies I've done.

Tom

Fair play to you: it's looking good despite the flaws/issues.

I wonder how much it will be improved when they re-release it? The reviews of both the Kinetic & Panda versions put me off but it really is a vehicle I'd love to do.

Hey Sean,
I choose Kenetic because I didn't want a ton of PE parts.There's a fellow named John that has just posted his Panda build and does'nt seem to be much better of a build.With this Kenetic it really pays to watch all of the videos I've mentioned earlier.He goes step by step and warns you of all the mistakes.It was a desperate move for me to find them,but it was either that or a $60 kit was going in the trash.I mentioned on his post that it's too bad Trumpeter or Tamiya didn't release this vehicle.

Tom

Hi guys, did anyone use DEF wheels on Kinetic kit? Someone posted a pics sometime ago it look bit weird on the Kinetic kit as It is out of scale and DEF wheels in right size..... Any review or comment on that?

To me PANDA kit is more complicated, more details.

Choose the tire size/proportion you like, and roll with it.

Tom very helpful info you gave us concerning the videos! Thank you very much! I watched every single of them and wrote my notes in the instructions at each step! I hope these will reduce the headache and my enervation as soon as i will start building the kit!

Trust me,they're well worth the time to watch.
I've ordered the DTOYS driver and passenger so I'm now optimistic on getting this one finished.More work tonight and some pics tomorrow.

Tom

Sorry for the delay,my 10 year old Canon finally died on me and had to get something new.Actually a good thing.Just have to figure it all out and get usued to it.
Anyway,I'm getting closer to the finish line.Still the worst kit I've ever built.After all the videos I still found some mistakes in the instuctions.Parts also don't fit very well and you actually waste alot of time holding them in place till glue starts to harden.Most of it together now.Got the dtoys figures today and will put some photo's on later.In the end I think it will be OK,not great,but OK.

Tom .


Photobucket is srewing things up again.

Tom, if I may make a suggestion - start your own thread on your build, or even post on the 'MATV Discussion' thread. This is Rob's build log and it's considered poor internet etiquette to 'hijack' someone else's thread.

Jim