I bought a Hobby Boss VK 601 at a show last year.

Seemed a little unusual, from a good maker, and at a good price.

Just thinking of starting it but luckily did a bit of research first to find that it is a seriously flawed kit.

Dimensionally it is inaccurate but I can live with that.

The cupola is said to be too small - 35cm real diameter - you would have to be one skinny German to fit through that. But again, I'll close the hatch and live with that.

Weld seems are missing - I can live with that.

The biggest problem is the tracks. From what I have read the teeth on the sprocket and the corresonding holes in the tracks are at different pitch. So the track doesn't fit round the sproket.

Some modellers have suggested getting the Friul after market tracks but to be honest they cost more than twice what I paid for the kit. Under normal situations I wouldn't do that but given the model is such a compromise in other areas there is no way I will buy after market tracks for this one.

So what to do?

Is there a cost effective solution or do I just bin the kit.

Fortunately, I've not started it so haven't wasted any of my time.

Pretty unimpressed that HB could let this happen in the first place. Even more unimpressed that they sit back and continue to sell the kit - I certainly won't be buying anything else from them.

If I had bought from a local store I would be taking it back but unfortunately it was from a show and I can't remember which store it was from.

Cheers,

Nigel

Nigel,

Here's one you may consider -- same issue, though a different kit and scale:



I opted to cut out the sprocket teeth in the section where it should be embedded in the track run. Probably not an elegant solution but it neither made me bin the kit nor spend anything more to get a fix.

Cheers,

Tat

Thanks I might try that.

I also read of a similar solution which went a bit further of gluing the tips of the teeth in the sprocket holes once the tracks had been added.

Probably too much like micro surgery for my old eyes. The track links are small enough as it is.

Cheers,

Nigel

I am glad I read this. I looked at this kit a couple times and would have eventually purchased it, totally unaware of these problems!

Nigel;

There's been some grumping about with this kit. May not be the best that HB has put out - but don't bin it!

Cutting those sprocket teeth OFF is actually OK - and just cementing the points into the track when you set it on will really look pretty nice. A little tedious, but not really bad. Speaking from experience with this one... The tracks will actually look pretty good, when all done.

Actually, IMHO, the kit is otherwise pretty workable and will build up looking nice with only a little fiddle work. That cupola hatch looks to be quite small... Being, well, a bit big myself, I was perhaps more sensitive then some to this and momentarily rather "stunned" by how tiny it looks. But... When I looked at the few pictures available on the Web of the real thing - looks like it did indeed have a rather small top hatch! I cannot say why this was, but the kit actually looks pretty correct in this regard. IF you are going to have its top hatch open and nobody squeezed in there... maybe shave a little out in the opening?

Other complaints have been around that main gun. But the real thing really did look like a plain pipe - no evident taper nor muzzle-brake! Rather boring, but the best would be to simply use a piece of similar-sized brass tubing if you don't like the styrene item. The co-ax MG could be well replaced by one of those reasonably-priced RB MG-34 tank MG barrels. Drilling it out will be a fair simple fix-up.

The louvers on the back deck were, I believe, a fixed casting and rather thick on the real thing.

The weld seams are easy to fix using a little stretched sprue cemented in and nicked with a knife for the weld bead. That's how I fixed that, at any rate.

Hope this helps and lends you some encouragement! It is an odd and interesting little machine and, while not altogether best-served by this kit, will come together respectably with a little TLC.

Bob