New project! FInally I pulled myself away from my horrible Jackson correction that made modeling seem like a chore, and bit into a kit from my stash!
I am building the Trumpeter 1/35 AS-90 and I will have pics soooon.
Anything I should know about?

Hi mate, if you can, get some aftermarket goodies. I´ve done that one before, and it´s a very nice kit, but some PE and stuff like that will make it look much better. Other thing, I personally dislike the MAG MG from the kit, I replace it for one from a Italeri Leopard 2A6.

Cheers and happy modelling.

Some people have complained about the stowage bins not lining up with the roof, thus creating problems with the cammo basket on top. I was not aware of this, but knowing in advance that the basket had to go up there, made the necessary adjustments during assembly, and it worked out fine. Agree on the MG. Not good.

the canon sleeves (accordion ) was too stiff..the actual sleeves kinda droope in the middle. accurate armour has the correct version though we don't have that brand over this part of the globe.

Not a bad kit OTB, but you'll need a razor saw! The gun barrel is too long; it needs around 2cm removed from it. Also, the gun cradle is too high and also needs to be chopped & slammed. FSM did a blurb on this conversion in April 2005:

Hi,
I don't know about the barrel length but the travel lock is good if you choose the long barrel (52cal) instead of the short one (39cal). Sorry if I'm wrong with the correct barrel length

The turret upper bin was a pain to fit on my kit, the ammo boxes on the roof aren't that realistic, the cast is "heavy".

olivier

righto, my mistake - I assumed he'd be building the 39 cal one. BTW, the gun as it comes in the kit, without adding the inserts, appears to be the 52 cal barrel.

About the FSM issue, I stare at the artical time and time again, and I would have to say the caprions don't explain everything (or I'm just a complete moron- and then Graeme Davidson quotes me "Ur just a moron" lol)...
hopefully, I will be able to cut the barrel straight so it wouldn't looked like it went into a steel wall barrel first.

The accordian cover thing was way to horrible for me, and I don't have th money for accurat armor's upgrade set, so I am thinking about leaving it off and substituting it with a brass rod. When I was google imaging, I found some AS-90s with the cover off in desert conditions... hmmmmmmm

Hello,
I am too currently, for the past six months+, working on the Trumpeter AS-90. I recently completed for a friend a Tamiya M-60A3 and it too had the "accordian thing" around the barrel. I found a way to eliminate the seam. I joined the piece with liquid glue and then lightly sanded it after it was dry for a few days. Then went back and put on more liquid glue to the seam and let it dry for a day or so and light sanded again. I think I did this 3 or 4 times and the seam vanished under the paint. Hope this was some help.

Best Wishes,
Walter

haha, I wouldn't say that

I sent FSM around 4,500 words for that article, which they had to pare down to around 1,500. No doubt some of the intent got lost with that degree of editing. I might still have the orginal word doc here if you want I can email it to you & hopefully it will answer some of your Q's

Whoa!!!! My modeling hero is in the forums!!! (literally I think ur builds r awesome!!!) I should have said Mr. Davidson srry... lol
Sure, I would love that! If only the magazine formatting wouldn't hack so much precious things off...
Thank you very much

oh and my E-mail address is [email protected]

cheers for the kind words, I found the original text & emailled it to you. Hope it clears things up a bit,

GD