Andras Donaszi reviews, builds and finishes the MiniArt ''US Armoured Bulldozer'' in 1/35th scale.

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Thanks!

Very nice review, thanks for sharing.

Excellent report. Could you estimate the actual 'on the bench' time it took you to assemble this monster, say, to the point of painting the subassemblies? Thanks for the great photos, too!

Beautiful job and very informative article...

but looks like an Himalaya to me, I just hope Tamiya will do such a US dozer one day.

Any way, Many thanks Andras for sharing.

And a little inspiration ...

Bulldozer of US 237th Battalion Engineers, First US Army, VII Corps, clears road ...HD Stock Footage

Thanks Andras for a very good review, and what a kit, great detail and crammed full of parts.

Very thorough review! Thank you for sharing. I have one ordered and not sure if I am up for the challenge...

Thank you all for the encouraging comments...

Joel

I've got it at the end of November, and started the work in early December. I was finished in a little more than a month. I did it in a speed-building fashion, though, so I'd say 2-3 months are more than enough -if you can devote hours every week. I was pressed for time (review), and my fiancee was busy with her course and job, so I had no real social obligations...

st Miller, James
It does feel like climbing a huge mountain, but if you're reasonably seasoned veteran (have been in the hobby for a while), you should be OK. The tiny plastic parts that break can be replaced with wire (as I would have done so had it was not a review sample), and the real difficult issue, the tracks are not that difficult, either. And -I'm going to say sacrilege here- so what if you can't/won't attach some tiny part to the engine? (I've left out the decals for the dials; because of the cab, you can't see them at all. You can simplify the build considerably by only building the parts that are visible -for example you can just put the floor plates down, and then glue the levers in place... I did the whole shebang because of the review, but if you wanted to, you can cut some corners.) And to be honest, it did give me a lot of sense of accomplishment. Normally you build a kit, and it just the same: glue turret, hull, damnthoseannoyingtracks, weathering, done, get me the next one. This I felt I actually finished something difficult... so I think it's worth jumping into building one (Be prepared though: the model will not look like a dozer until the very last minute; you keep working on it, and the progress is not visible. It can be a bit demoralizing. But once you start putting it together at the end...) I'd be curious how the competitor's model compares. I really liked Miniart's "purist" approach: everything in plastic.

The cab, unfortunately, does obstruct a lot of the detail, though...

Mike

Thank you for the link


As a last note: the suspension's top cover CAN be left off to show off the suspension; I found a photo online where a D7 has been serviced with the cover off...