Roman Volchenkov reviews quarterscale sets from Value Gear Details.

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Thanks!

Thanks for editing that, Darren. It is a wall of reviews today

I have several sets of Value Gear. It is outstanding. Clean mold, detailed, just great stuff.

Nice.. I want one for my project - T-34/76

I have to admit that Value Gear is well detailed and reasonably priced, but everything (that I see in the 1/48) is made to go on a flat surface, as the illustrated Staghound. There is nothing curved, for instance, to fit over fenders. Then you have to go and buy a specialized set anyway, ie; Black Dog.

Put the parts you want to curve in hot water, take out, shape as needed, and viola....curved items.

Will that work on thick resin castings, ie., tent rolls, tarps, etc? I know that works well on things like sword blades, scabbards, pole arms, etc., but these are thin items.

I know that this technique is used to straighten bent hull parts from old Varja resin kits...

If the water is hot enough it will bend but you may need to give the part several swimming lessons before it conforms to the desired shape.

In addition to the suggestions about using hot water to bend the resin, you can also use a hobby knife or razor saw to cut out parts.

VG keeps their prices low by creating generic stowage, though their new Sherman series in 1/35 are intended for Sherman back decks (and include field-modified stowage platforms in many of the sets).

If you are trying to bend a rolled up resin tarp over something a curvy as a Staghound fender, it is very, very unlikely to work. Polyurethane resin is a thermoset material, It can be moved a little with head, but is not a thermoplastic like polystyrene. It simply can not be moved that far. If you really push it, it will tear/break along the outside of the curvature.

A thin part may be able to be moved that much, but not a thicker piece. Anything thicker than, say 5ish mm is not going to move enough to drape nicely over a truck fender in 1/35 scale.

Do NOT buy a flat piece of stowage assuming you can move it to any shape you want later. You can't. You can get some movement out of it, but not a lot.

It really isn't _that_ hard to make rolled tarps and the like yourself out of epoxy putty and fit them exactly where you need them.

Paul

You can even keep it simple and make a folded blanket which will fit around the arched surface (or even on detailed areas)and you set the resin parts into this, which helps them fit on most surfaces. I also like the value grear stuff, and a simple trick like that above means you can add them easily and also build them higher, convincigly.
Good review Roman.

Thanks, Frank.

True, it is all about knowledge, skills and time. You can do everything from scratch (if you can), you can combine the best of the two worlds, you can use what is on the market. When it comes to the latter - I would rather take something that is really easy to work with and VG sets are on that list.