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Armor/AFV: Axis - WWII
Armor and ground forces of the Axis forces during World War II.
Hosted by Darren Baker
Meng's Minenraumer
mauserman
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Maryland, United States
Joined: September 27, 2004
KitMaker: 1,183 posts
Armorama: 628 posts
Posted: Sunday, May 04, 2014 - 06:55 AM UTC
Here is Meng's 1/35 Minenraumer that I've recently completed. I have been in love with this machine ever since I first saw RPM's old kit. After attempting two of them I finally gave up and moved on. And then along came Meng. What a world of difference this kit is from RPM's. Parts actually fit, there's no distortion of parts, instructions are legible and the numbering actually matches the ones on the sprues.

Now about the kit. I was pleased to see that the large box was not packed full of sprues. The size of the box is mostly because of the excellent way in which they packaged the parts. And speaking of parts, there weren't that many. And the track links made up about half of them. The tracks are huge compared to other 1/35 AFV's and are workable as long as you are careful with gluing. And while easy to put together you need to be careful when assembling them. Just pay attention, take your time and reference the instructions.

Pay attention to the assembly procedure. For instance the first few steps call for the attachment of the smallest parts of the kit. Leave these off until the very end. I didn't and ended up breaking a few of the hooks attached to the hull. These things are incredibly small and try as I might I couldn't reproduce them. Also, I would paint the tracks before putting them on the wheels and paint the wheels before putting on the tracks.

Finally, painting the beast is left up to your own imagination. They included three variations in the instructions. One is plain grey (I used Tamiya RLM Grey) and a two tone and three tone camo schemes. Since whether or not this machine ever made it out of trials, and that depends on what you read, I chose to paint it grey because I had already installed the tracks and that scheme was easier. And one thing that I remembered while taking the pics was that I had forgotten to apply a coat of Dullcote which I'll get to if the rain ever stops here.

And now, onto the pics.











PantherF
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Indiana, United States
Joined: June 10, 2005
KitMaker: 6,188 posts
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Posted: Sunday, May 04, 2014 - 07:47 AM UTC
Very nice.

I gotta get one myself!






Jeff
Plasticbattle
#003
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Donegal, Ireland
Joined: May 14, 2002
KitMaker: 9,763 posts
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Posted: Sunday, May 04, 2014 - 07:51 AM UTC
Looking good Cary. This on is all about the painting and weathering. Looking forward to more.
AFVFan
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North Carolina, United States
Joined: May 17, 2012
KitMaker: 1,980 posts
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Posted: Sunday, May 04, 2014 - 03:11 PM UTC
Good work Cary! Now that you know how it's supposed to go together you need to retry one of the RPM versions!
bat-213
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Canada
Joined: December 30, 2011
KitMaker: 902 posts
Armorama: 788 posts
Posted: Sunday, May 04, 2014 - 06:08 PM UTC
wow.your build is great.i was building that kit years back,but I got pisd off and gave up. I should get the meng kit and try again. nice work.
AFVFan
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North Carolina, United States
Joined: May 17, 2012
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Armorama: 1,571 posts
Posted: Sunday, May 04, 2014 - 07:36 PM UTC
Hope you don't mind, but I thought I'd post a pic of the RPM version I did a while back. You can compare details between the two kits (the only add on I used was some steel chains for the steering)



It's hard to see in the photo but one of the biggest improvements of the Meng kit is that the wheels actually sit the way they should with 3 pads on the ground. The best I could do with the RPM was 2. The Meng turret is done a bit better. Actually, more than a bit. I had to do some major work to get mine to look as well as it does, but Meng's is still better.... but that's pretty much the story for the whole kit.
mauserman
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Maryland, United States
Joined: September 27, 2004
KitMaker: 1,183 posts
Armorama: 628 posts
Posted: Monday, May 05, 2014 - 05:52 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Good work Cary! Now that you know how it's supposed to go together you need to retry one of the RPM versions!



After seeing Bob's pic of the one he did I know it can be done and done very well. I just don't know if I have the patience or the talent.
AFVFan
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North Carolina, United States
Joined: May 17, 2012
KitMaker: 1,980 posts
Armorama: 1,571 posts
Posted: Monday, May 05, 2014 - 08:45 AM UTC

Quoted Text

After seeing Bob's pic of the one he did I know it can be done and done very well. I just don't know if I have the patience or the talent.



Thank you, Cary, appreciate the compliment. Right now, the only saving grace of the RPM kit is the fact you can find them fairly cheap (I think I paid $10 for mine from a show vendor and, at the time, it was the only game in town.) If I ever want to build another, you can bet I'll save my pennies and buy the Meng version!
mauserman
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Maryland, United States
Joined: September 27, 2004
KitMaker: 1,183 posts
Armorama: 628 posts
Posted: Tuesday, May 06, 2014 - 05:32 AM UTC
How competition changes things. I bought my last RPM version way before Meng came out with theirs. I paid $40.00 for it!
beefy66
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England - North East, United Kingdom
Joined: October 22, 2007
KitMaker: 971 posts
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Posted: Tuesday, May 06, 2014 - 11:16 PM UTC
Cary very well done with your build impressive kit this hope my build turns out as well as yours and Bob,s

Keith
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