Well, I've gone and done it. After an all too long absence, the urge won. I've been modelling vicariously for the past 7+ years and decided to get back in the game. This is going to be a slow build due to several constraining factors, but hopefully, an enjoyable one for you folks as well as myself.
The goodies:
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To say I went slightly nuts is an understatement. A kind soul decided to part ways with the Italeri kit and some extras for a very very reasonable sum, thank you. I picked up a bunch of aftermarket stuff and of course some books. Not pictured are the Tamiya Gepard and Heller 1A2 which I got for the turret (cheaply to boot I might add) for future projects.
The Italeri A4 is going to be a Finnish what if and haven't decided what the A5 will eventually be. I started with the Tamiya kit. Not the greatest, but certainly not the worst kit out there either. For an old kit, it holds up well. Little to no flash, fit so far is generally good (particularly the barrel), detail is not bad considering it's vintage. A quick comparison to my refs and the Italeri kit shows that it is reasonably accurate. The road wheels are a bit wide compared to Italeri. Not a big deal because this is a test bed of sorts so I'm not going to worry about every little detail being spot on, plus they will be partially hidden by the side skirts any way.
Build pics in the next post
Cheers