Here is my entry. Parts count is 674.





Hope to have it finished in a month, Christmas at the latest..

Nice choice! Tight time plan

Mark - Is your Panzer IV a crane made for loading things like heavy shells? Was it improvised locally or a regular production item?

I finally got into the long delayed Hobby Boss T-50 kit last night while watching the Arizona Diamondbacks defeat the Colorado Rockies on the boob-tube. Steps 1 & 2 are done and we are already into the PE for the idler sprocket rims. I'm gunna have ta up my PE game to complete this one . . .

For those not familiar with the T-50 it was a light tank powered with a 6 cylinder engine and equipped with the potent 45mm gun and sloped armor. The Soviets only built 69 of them and dropped the idea of light tanks to concentrate on what would become the war winning T-34. It has been said that it was nearly as expensive to produce as the T-34 and not nearly as useful. No matter, its a cute lil bugger!

Paul,

This vehicle is a converted Panzer IV designed to haul the shells for the 60cm Karl Moser mobile artillery piece. The box art shows the front end of the Moser next to the ammo hauler. Each Karl Moser had two ammo haulers assigned to it.

I was just getting ready to built both the Karl Moser and the Panzer IV ammo hauler when I saw this campaign starting. With such a high parts count, I thought I would start this kit first and collect a ribbon. Two birds with one stone.

Hey fellas, lookin to enter this one as well. Want to enter with a Hobby Boss PLA ZSD90 APC. Looking around for a parts count but the best I could find (from their site) is that it's 440+. Wondering if this one fits the bill?

I'm afraid that's a bit too far away from the limit of 500... Sorry!

Alrighty then, I guess it's the Trumpeter Tiran 6 then. The trumpy website states 610+ parts.

That sounds much better! Thanks for your understanding!

Good Luck - especially if you plan to use the etch where a lot of the parts count is! Not sure how much time you get to build, but for an average modeller's time at bench, it will take that long to fill the knock out marks and sink holes, fill the holes under the cargo bay that are seen between it and the fenders, trim off flash and mould seams, trim parts to fit, etc, particularly if you leave the cargo compartment open.



Being serious though, a couple of tips.

The kit says you can build an Ausf D or E. You can't. The Ausf E had some different fittings such as bumper stops and glacis hinges, etc, tools mounted a little differently. Build it as a D and therefore only use 6 bolts around the drive covers not 10 as per the instructions (10 only for the E). Check online references for tool placements. (BTW the tow hooks are the wrong style in the kit, they should be the 'S' type. If you have any Dragon Pzr IV kits, you might find some spares in amongst the surplus parts.)

The thread included is way too thick. If you try and use it, the etch shrouds that fit around the pulleys will not fit correctly (and it is not easy to get it to hold to begin with). Get some good quality thinner thread to replace it.

Test fit everything. The fit of parts is not always good, notably the cargo bay panels and doors, the 6 braces that fit to the chassis under the compartment, etc.

Some of the etch is very hard to bend even after annealing. The Ammo cradle etch is a prime example, the main beam has to be bent around 180 degrees to make one thicker piece, but it does not bend well.....or evenly.

Some parts have pins to fit in holes, but the holes are bigger than the pin and there are gaps to address.

I don't want to put you off it, just making you aware of some issues that hopefully will save you some heart ache and time. This pic will give you an idea of what I mean by filler - my build in progress


I found the Trumpeter running gear lacking in detail so I used a Tristar running gear set I had floating around. I also used a few Dragon spares to replace the weak Trumpeter ones too.

Yikes, Peter, you're giving poor Mark an early Halloween Nightmare!!

I thought that it was the late night Pizza that gave you nightmares.

I am enrolled in a couple of other builds I need to finish and the Operation Crusader build about to begin. However, I hope to jump in here and build this kit before times up.

I think I'm safe with the parts count



Clayton, when New Year's comes up, force me to take a resolution to stop joining builds.

@Paul: Sorry for missing your entry! That kit is certainly a wolf in a sheep's skin! I wouldn't have expected such a high parts count from such a small looking vehicle.

@Peter: You'll need to work on your way of gently bringing bad news to people! On the other hand, you have chosen a rather exotic subject for this campaign. At least, I haven't seen many of those being built. I hope you'll find the time to finish it in time!

@Mark: I find the subject very attractive so I certainly hope you won't change your mind about building it for this campaign.

Unreal, Peter-I was thinking of building the Trumpeter Grasshopper for this campaign...

Hmm... you are starting to scare me...

Two might start a plague, maybe I should change to this one:

after all its only 750 parts, so I should finish faster

Nah, plague it is

But that was the good news....

Mark. I hope I did not put you off here. I'm sure it will be a fine build and something to really be proud of when you have finished.

I need a challenge every once in a while and I believed it was worth the effort to have this one opened up. It meant more work and, being what I am, I couldn't resist adding the detail, but that is me.

That is an 11 year old moulding and one of the first real multimedia kits released. It deserves to be built.

Peter,

Thanks for the info on this kit. I did print the review from PMMS, Terry Ashley. He seems over all happy with this version of Munitionsschlepper but does point out some important issues that should be addressed. The rear exhaust is completely wrong and will have to be redone.

Mark

Wow, 800 parts where does it all go?

Hobby Boss list 654 parts for this kit. For the Spanish Civil War campaign I'm building the even smaller Hobby Boss T-26 kit. They list more than 900 parts for that one.

i have been beavering away on the T-50 kit and found the PE time consuming. The tracks have really slowed the pace. Pics soon!

Paul

Update on my Trumpeter Kit# 00363, PZ.Kpfw IV Aus. F Muntionsschlepper for the 60cm Karl Morser.

Lower hull is together.

[imghttps://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4505/37733459392_9d1596607c_b.jpg[/img]




Next was to have me add the fenders, so I decided to put the track links together and shape the tracks. Figured it would easier to do it now without the fenders being in the way.





This kit has a lot of flash to deal and a few fit issues that required some putty to correct. The tracks required a lot of clean up due to all of the flash. I was almost ready to use aftermarkets but decided to stick with it.

A couple of more pictures of the lower hull.

Great progress, Mark!

Are those single link tracks? It looks so fragile so, cleaning them from flash was certainly no easy task.

Yes, they were single link tracks and were not fun cleaning them up. I could have done more clean up on them, but I am hoping the paint and weathering will improve them.

The whole kit has flash and fit issues. I may have to start drinking again just to get through this build.

Now you know why I used Dragon Magic Tracks on mine


....and you haven't tried to fit the fenders yet....

TIP: the plastic end mud guards are thick, lack the cut out for the tow hooks and the whole fit is off. You will need to work these over as it is really noticeable. The etch ones are a B***h to assemble. If you go the etch, forget the wee little brass strip along the edge - go styrene strip - and be careful how you cut off the moulded on mudguards or you will have nothing for the etch ones to hold onto. I made a kind of step so the etch ones sat on top of that.

You managed the rest so far, so you should have no trouble taming the rest

Oh, and the cut outs in the side of the plastic fenders where the step goes are too wide. Fill them..

Not sure if you realise, but the reference Terry made on PMMS, as to the muffler, was that it was too narrow and short. It needs to be wider and longer.... and it fits over where you have the box muffler for the turret on the gun version:


You can just make out the long thin tube muffler for the crane engine in the recess on top of the vehicle muffler.

More progress to report on the Soviet T-50 kit. The plastic bits are mostly together & I'm working on the tracks which have proven very slow going. Each link is metal with two resin pins. The metal needs cleaing up and drilling and the pins are VERY tiny. My old eyes can only take an hour or so of this work before going too fuzzy to carry on.

All the PE is done but for the wire mesh intake grilles which look like they are going to be challenging. Here are some pics: