Thanks for posting the Prime portal link Andy, that's exactly the reference I use.

I see we are now talking about the Meng kit.. Having put together the suspension components and attempted to get all eight wheels vertical and touching the ground, I can only say, "I hope the Meng kit is better". I have also noticed a pretty major omission on the kit.. Trumpeter have not included any of the quite visible steering gear situated under the drivers cab. Meng have!!

I'm pleased the Prime Portal pictures are of use to you Nigel. I took them over a period of about 3 years, as my ambition was to super detail & correct the Dragon kit. I took photos of 2 different machines. Both were imported to the UK by A.F. Budge Ltd. I was lucky to have full access to them. One ended up at Duxford, and one went to the Jacques Littlefield collection in the USA. I really enjoyed taking the photos, and became a bit obsessed with capturing images of all the details. I regret that I took few of the interior.
Needless to say, I never made the model. The thought of doing so was just too overwhelming. I am following your build closely, and really like what I see. I will wait till Meng bring their kit out before I decide which one to purchase. I have additional pictures if you want them.

Hi Tim,

This kit is very nice indeed, however the suspension is not easy to set up as there are so many joints in it. They give us accuracy, and it makes it difficult to build, they make it simple, we moan... the poor manufacturers cant win!!

Still, the suspension is all lined up and sitting flat now. Getting the wheels square to the ground, sitting flat on the ground and parallel is no easy task!!

I have bid on one that's on e-bay at the moment, I suspect I won't win though, and will probably go with the Meng one.

Has anyone as yet gotten their hands on the Meng offering to compare the two???

I am following you, not sure why you have no following or interest in this kit. I too have the Dragon version and lost interest when I discovered the lack of detail and bad construction. in 2002 I visited the MAZ factory plant in Minsk Belarus to see the construction of Maz trucks at a point when they needed to look at ways of incorporating commercial road trucks and using MAZ military truck platform for cranes, tankers and dump trucks. So I was always interested in kits of these vehicles and waited for the release of two detailed kits this and the Meng. At this point I am still not sure what to do get the Trumpeter or wait for the Meng that's if it ever surface, keep up the good work. Dave London UK