Tom & Rick,
I've been working on my 1st Tasca kit, the M32B1 TRV, and was just blown away with the bogies. The 1st one was a nightmare as I didn't follow the instructions correctly (they're really confusing for a 1st timer). Once I figured it out, I had to very carefully take it apart after the glued had dried overnight. Got it back together, and everything just fell into place. The final bogie is just outstanding. As for those rivets, I tried, I really did tgry to install them, but it was an exercise in pure frustration. They should have molded them on the wheels. Definitely at case of over engineering. At my age (65) the eyes aren't nearly what they once were.
Joel

Rick, just finished the full build thread. Simply and outstanding build. The weathering is just right, not to heavy, not to light.

One question as someone else commented as you did on the issue of the tracks not holding paint very well. The M32B1 instructions (my current build) calls for a lacquer based primer. Then lacquer based paint. Personally, once the primer is dry, I can't see why any acrylic or enamel paint wouldn't work. Did you prime the tracks as suggested, or just went with acrylics?

Ever since I got into armor modeling a few years ago, the painting of tracks, and keeping the paint on has been a real issue. I've found that Tamiya gray lacquer primer easily flaked off the DML and Hobby Boss tracks. I've since gone to priming with Tamiya acrylics, and the paint seems to adhere the best that way.

Joel

Conor,
If you are planning on a Firefly you simply can't beat the Tasca kits. This one is simply superlative, just might be the best model I have ever built in my 35 years or so of building seriously.

Joel,
I used Mr. Surfacer 1000 as a primer, a fairly 'hot' lacquer based product, but it still never held very well. The only disappointment in an absolutely superb kit.

Well here is the finished product. I added a bit more weathering, the hessian netting on the barrel and the rear deck, installed some shiny new headlights and called it a day for the vehicle. Next up will be a couple of crewmen, I am using the Tasca figure for the commander figure and I think I will end up using the figure out of the Tamiya Cromwell for the crewman. I'd prefer one of the Alpine British AFV figures but with shipping the price jumps to near twenty bucks, a little to steep for me to justify one figure.

Here are several shots of the finished model, sans figures.

Your Firefly turned out Fantastic. The weathering is just perfect...not factory clean and not an old wardog. The addition of the netting is really an eye catching detail.
Top marks all the way around. Bravo. Bill

Just had to post this one last pair of photos, this is the Firefly in its final configuration with a couple of crewmen and on a quickly constructed base. The figures are both stock plastic crewmen; the one is from the kit and the other fellow is the figure out of the Tamiya Cromwell.

Thanks for taking the time to take a look here.

Cheers,
Rick

Rick, your Firefly IC just came out perfect. Your weathering is what I strive for: Used but not abused. Love your two figures. I just have to take that next step and add one figure for scale to my current build. The Vignette really came out well.
Joel

Rick! Congrats on a sweet build I`ve built a dml 1c hybrid lately and it was the usual obstacle course. But you did convince me to try out tasca, wich I wanted for a while now.. but you know, 2 dml for the price of 1 tasca...

Conor, you should absolutly get a firefly they are a superb beast to add to your display.

Thx again for sharing rick!!

Phil.

Phil, I'm currently building my 1st Tasca kit, the M32B1, and I've never experienced anything like this before. Truly a full step above any other kit makers. I guess you get what you pay for. Does this mean that I'm only going to build Tasca kits? Nope. My wife would surely kill or commit me.
Joel