I always liked the look of this tank destroyer, but wasn't about to pay $29 for it. I found this kit at a bargain $7.59 at Model Expo. Just couldn't pass this one up. :-)

I will be building this one out-of-the-box since there is very limited amount of references. The kit looks very good. These is the usual flash, but nothing too bad. The assembly is broken down in 4 parts: chassis, driver compartment, gun and cab. The only let down of the kit are the typical stiff Italeri tracks.

Time permitting, I will complete one step each day and keep you guys updated.

Step 1: In this step we build the basic frame of the chassis. Clean up of parts was minimun. In order to keep the whole assembly square I first used liquid glue, which allowed me to adjust the parts to one another. After everything was square, I hit the seams from the inside with CA and accelerator. Fit was very good, but a couple of gaps occured. I filled them with CA (my favorite gap filler) and sanded smooth. Earth red was used to check the finish on the seams.


Cheers,

CDT Reimund Manneck
U.S. Army ROTC

I built the RSO cargo tractor over 10 years ago. The tracks are a pain in the posterior region, I had to use thread to hold the things down on the top return side. Another thing to watch out for are the grease fittings buried in the flash and mold seams on the side pieces---right in front, inboard of the front sprockets.

It is a nice kit have about 3 of them. Somebody did a conversion on it really great
(:-)

Step 2: Continuing with chassis assembly. The wheels were a pain to clean up. All eight of them had alot of flash, specialy in the spokes. I took me about an hour of work to get them clean. Italeri instructs you to install the wheels first and than glue the nuts on the center of the wheels. I followed the instructions but found out that this doesn't work, the nuts won't fit all the way in. I had to snap the wheels out and glue the nuts to the wheels and than the wheels back in the chassis.



More chassis assembly to follow tommorrow :-)

Cheers,

CDT Reimund Manneck
U.S. Army ROTC

Mind me asking but thta Red stuff is that thinned putty or paint?

Its paint. I used it to check the fit and clean up of parts. Also, I plan on primming the kit with earth red, and some of those spots may be a little difficult to reach with the AB later.

Cheers,

CDT Reimund Manneck
U.S. Army ROTC

Really good so far.I have built the wood cab towing the gun,and the first RSO.I highly recommend you use ModelKasten tracks,I did,and they make a heck of a difference.
Don't forget to add brake lines.

Steps 3 & 4: I have now finished the chassis assembly. These steps involved assembly and instalation of the front and rear sprockets. The front sprockets are alright, but the rear ones have a couple of deep sink marks in an area impossible to reach. I think I may have to muddy up the chassis to hide those sink marks. There were also some gaps on the front cover, however I think it is supposed to be this way. I tried to fiddle it for a better fit, but the piece will only fit one way.



Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying it so far.

Cheers,

CDT Reimund Manneck
U.S. Army ROTC

Still looking good. Paint that is cool are you going to hog out and use the Fruil model tracks as I know the Italeri ones are tight plus they do not stay together to good (:-)

I don't think I am going to go the aftermarket way on this one. I believe that ingenuity shall conquer the Italeri tracks . Or maybe I am just crazy #:-)

Cheers,

CDT Reimund Manneck
U.S. Army ROTC

Can't say I blame you it is getting bad when you get the kit for $5.99 and have to put $100.00 into it.

Well if you can get your hands on them, the new WWII Productions ( Ex-Anvil) tracks are Amazing!
I just got 3x sets of the 250 and 2 more for the Panther. A local guy has connections in Australia and gets them pretty easliy.

I might just get weak and grab that kit from Model Expo and the tracks.

Mike