The MMK bulkhead flatrack kit arrived today.



Manufacture's website:
http://www.mmk.cz/en/

At first blush upon opening the box the kit appears to be a fine and delicate resin casting job with minimal flash. The kit certainly contains A LOT of brass etch. (3 sheets of etch!) Instructions come via a full size computer disk. Also plenty of decals and placards available in this kit.

The four shipping crates are a very basic 5 panel affair that looks like they will build up nicely as well. The crates come with their own separate set of placard decals.

By the way:

If you go to the MMK website you will find that this kit is offered just about every which way but loose.

Flatrack alone.
Flatrack with Crates.
Crates alone.
With the M1076 Trailer.
With Trailer, Crates and Flatrack.
Trailer alone.

Any combo you want!

F.Y.I. - Link to earlier announcement on Armorama of the availability of the M1076 trailer:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/267843&page=1

Here is an interesting video posted some time ago by arleighburke:

First of all it shows a HEMTT LHS with a mid-ships mounted crane - something I thought was not possible. The HEMTT is loading a folding bridge system that is at least partially containerized and functions and loads using the standard LHS system.

Hummmmmmm - a very interesting load !*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR0q6MykzHk

BEGINNING THE BUILD:

The corner posts are (I guess we can say) the corner stone of this build.

.

The connection between the end bulkheads and the base flatrack is very tenuous (on both the real thing and on the model.) You can see daylight under both bulkhead walls all the way across the bottom except at the corner hinges. I would have expected something much more substantial on the real thing such as some sort of piano style double acting hinge stretching all the way across the end of the platform but no.

There must be some serious metallurgy going on in the composition of those hinges to hold and resist that much bending force when lifting or loading a full bulkhead flatrack!

One criticism of the model - the corner posts do not fit tightly into any sort of lower fitting on the platform. A realistically small hinge structure has been cast into the platform in case you want to pose the bulkhead in the folded down position but otherwise the corner posts just float loosely around these small platform hinges without any kind of firm connection. Some shims will be required here to achieve the necessary strong connection. I am also considering adding some shims all across the bottom edge of the end bulkheads to close up that open space I mentioned earlier between the bulkheads and the platform just to make the connection that much more substantial.

As it is, I feel that if you were to pose this model, loaded, as though it were being slid onto a vehicle, the bulkhead flatrack might almost fall apart from its' own weight. I may be over-reacting here. We will see as things progress.

BUILDING UP THOSE ETCHED CORNER POSTS:



I added some 3/16" Evergreen angle inside the posts to allow me something substantial
to super glue that final open 90 degree corner together for a good tight closure and a stronger post.



The scoring fold lines are very good on the inside of these etched posts so no special tools should be necessary to accomplish these bends. (In other words - Don't bother waiting to buy an "official" etch bender before taking on this model! - Reasonable dexterity with metal etch will be enough to get you thru.)

. . . Russo-Soviet forum . . .???



KL

That was an error Kurt. I am not sure just how I might have caused that. Trying to get Admin to correct that now.

Oh - it now looks like the correction has been made!

Thanks to Fred for that!

BUILDING UP THE FLATRACK FOOTER BLOCKS:





The footers build up rather nicely with a lot of super glue applied during the step-by-step/fold-by-fold process.

If you don't happen to fancy this etch process you can always check out Mike Goldberg's creations over on the Shapeways site and pick up a set of 3D printed container connector blocks for cheap.

WORKING NOW ON STAINING THOSE LARGE AREAS OF WOOD GRAIN:



I started here with a base coat of rattle can "Desert Sand". After that I have been building up multiple coats of various washes. Red/Browns and Black shaders from my favorite supplier; CITADEL.

Citadel is perhaps not so well known among Armor Modelers but their line of shaders is second to none.
(p.s. F.Y.I. - Their brass/gold paint is amazing and looks better than the real thing!)



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An example of Cidadel's great brass/gold paint:
The whistle is real brass, the pop valves are Citadel gold painted plastic:

Other examples of Citadel's fine shader products being used to produce wood grains: