A huge box packed with tan plastic! The parts count is as much, if not more than the Hobby Boss HETT kit. What was cool was that the clear turret and hull top cam in it's own box to help protect from scratches and such.
I won't bore you with whats in the box and things like that here in the build blog, but will mainly concentrate on the build and instruction corrections if any.
First thing I did was go through the huge instruction booklet and decide what version I was going to do. I opted for the 1945 version so that way I didn't have to cut a lot of stuff off from the clear turret top.
This build definitely has to be built in several sub assemblies for ease in building and painting. So with that, I hadn't decided how I was going to display the model once finished and started the build where the clear hull top and turret top wouldn't come into play yet. I started with the engine, transmission, and hull bottom.
Step 53 starts the construction for the engine. The engine could be packaged as a model itself with all the parts that make it up. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THE CARPET MONSTER during the construction because there are a few small parts. Also take care when removing the hoses from the trees, they are fragile, but a sharp X-Acto knife will make it easier to remove.
All the parts went together well and no putty was needed because all the seams were in natural places and not noticeable. A couple of notes I managed to find out during construction. In step 55, attach the completed muffler(J48, K64, K65) before you attach parts J50, J85 and J74 to prevent breaking the dip stick. Also in this step, leave off the hose, part K30, until Step 58. That way it will align better with part J73 in Step 58.
In Step 59, make sure the completed air filters are going the same way when attached to K69 and K70. Also make sure K69 and K70 are in the right direction as compared to the top of the engine and part K31.
Other than small pieces that can be easily lost, the engine construction went with out any problems.










Need to clean up some seam lines and then I will add some paint to this engine. I will show you what it looks like with paint later tonight when I post next update with the transmission and lower hull.