Hi all,

with my 1/72 Stryker steadily progressing in the final weathering stage, I thought it is time to melt some plastic again.

After a little consideration, I decided to buy Trumpeters SA-6 Gainful, but the actual name of the vehicle to be build is the 2P25 SPU Transporter Erector Launcher which is based on a GM-578 chassis.

The TEL is part of the 2K12 system, a mobile low to medium level mobile air defense system, which did considerable damage to the Israeli air force during the Yum Kippor war. In addition to the TEL, the 2K12 system also consists of a 1S91M2 Straight Flush radar (which is a rather impressive piece of machinery) and the 2T7M transloader vehicle as well as some other equipment, like lorries carrying extra missiles.

On the website of Air Power Australia, some nice pictures of the three major components of the 2K12 are shown.
http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-Legacy-SAM-TEL-TL.html

I always like to do some research about the kits I will build, both for some background information, as well as to learn about the quality of the kits. When reading reviews, it was obvious that the missiles had to be replaced, as the kit ones appear to be training missiles. Now this wouldn't be much of a problem for me, but it appears that the missiles included are slimmer than the actual missiles and as this kit is all about missiles pointing to the sky aggressively, it is the bigger the better that counts.

The missiles have been discussed on Armorama before and there are several options to replace the missiles, like SP-Designs for the Ukraine and HAD models from Hungary. I decided to buy my missiles from SP Designs and after a bit of mailing with Sergej, the guy that runs the company and who is very responsive, my missiles quickly found its way to the Netherlands.

Decals of the missiles are not included in the kit or with the missiles from SP-Designs, so these were bought from HAD models, who also has a set of correct missiles.

Finally, for the sake of brackets etc and the fun of working with PE, i also bought an PE set from Eduard.

To start my build, first a kind of bad picture of the contents:


As I have Christmas holidays, progress will come soon!



Jelger

I look forward to watching your build. I built this kit myself sometime ago, and enjoyed it very much, although how the missiles in the kit got to be so long and skinny I do not know. I wish I had known at the time there were replacement missiles available besides scratching new ones myself. Can you share a link for HAD or SP Designs?

Glad you for taking your time !
I made the HAD improves , stickers , signs. I weighed the original missiles, and made ​​the basis of the SEF . Szergely 3D drawing done the same thing . They are manufactured in another pan bottom , because, unfortunately, the roller is in the very back Trumpeter kit . The launcher ( technical term : artillery section ) also needs to be defective in many places , the front two exchange component box ( in missiles).

http://www.hadmodels.com/mugyanta_termekek_58/jarmuvekhez_60/135_70/resin35001_3m9mesa_6_missiles_3_pcs_1251

http://www.hadmodels.com/matric%C3%A1k%20/j%C3%A1rm%C5%B1vek/1:35%20matric%C3%A1k/hj35011_3m9mesa_6_missiles_stencils_1216

http://www.hadmodels.com/matric%C3%A1k%20/j%C3%A1rm%C5%B1vek/1:35%20matric%C3%A1k/hj35013_sa_6_hungarian_czech_slovak_1218

Dear Mark and Gabor,

Thank you for your replies.

In addition to HAD Models of which Gabor showed nice stuff (I bought the decals for the missiles), SP Designs also make missiles.

You can buy products from SP Designs here:
http://saammodels.tripod.com/

and this is the website of SP Design:
http://afv1-35.wix.com/spdesigns

Yesterday I started with my build. The instructions indicate to build up lower hull and upper hull separately, which is a bit odd I think and not very useful when you want to mate both halves with all bits and pieces on it. So the first thing I did was adding the hulls together, which went without any problems. On each side of the lower hull, there are about three points to which the upper hull rests on the lower hull and on these points superglue was added to have a strong bond between both hull parts. When dried, the rest of the hull was glued together with Tamiya thin cement.

The next step was to add the axle stubs to the lower hull. The front four and the back pair have three contact points, so these will attach without much movement. However, the axle stubs in between can still be moved a bit after gluing, which can cause inaccuracies with the alignment of the road wheels (some may end up a bit higher or lower than the other wheels). To avoid this, I first attached the front four and back pair axle stubs and let it dry. After that I attached the 6 other axle stubs, making sure that they all touched my work plate. In hope this way, alignment is correct.





This is allowed to dry for the night, so I can continue tomorrow.



Jelger

What is the #number of your EDuard set?

BTW, Spaarndammer, I love your avatar!--isn't that Lord Flashheart circa WWI?