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In-Box Review
135
Gimel Detailing Set
IDF Sho’t Kal Gimel Detailing Set
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by: Darren Baker [ CMOT ]

Introduction

When AFV Club released their IDF Sho’t Kal Gimel there was very little highlighted as needing work. Legend Productions has now released a detailing set for this model in resin and photo etch. In this review we take a look at what Legend Productions felt needed special attention.

Contents

Inside the typical Legend Productions box you will find 2 Ziploc plastic bags, inside of these you will find;
47 resin parts
1 photo etched fret
2 sizes of wire
An instruction sheet

Review

A look over the contents of the box tells you from the off what a good job AFV Club did with this release, I have that opinion because of how few parts are in this set. The resin castings look good and free of problems such as air bubbles or warped parts. The main parts replaced in the set are the tank mantlet and its canvas water proofing, into this Legend Productions has supplied a sagged barrel cover which sits right at the base of the barrel. It is these two parts that make the biggest improvements visually to the model, however the mantlet does require some pretty radical surgery takes place to the front of the turret, if you are worried about cutting models up this will concern you.

The covered smoke dischargers/launchers for the turret are a nice inclusion and do provide an interesting looking option. Legend Productions has supplied replacement brackets for the engine deck, these are the sort of parts that I cannot make a decision if they are worth the effort or not. The machine gun ammunition boxes and storage bins are a very good addition to the set, the sort of improvement a modeller notices even if no one else does.

There are two 5 gallon water containers included in this set; these are very nicely moulded with just a little flash need to be dealt with inside the handles, these are further enhanced via the use of photo etched strapping and retainers. As resin parts go the last real addition is a resin stretcher folded as stored and retained with photo etch straps, this has also been supplied with separate handles which prevents upset modellers due to broken mouldings.

The photo etched parts are surprisingly minimal. The photo etched parts as is usual for Legend Productions are quite thin, this makes shaping easy regardless of the bending method you use, but it does mean you need to take care when removing parts from the fret. In addition to the photo etched parts already mentioned you do get the chance to make some improvements to the bustle rack in the form of the mesh. There are 4 sets of 3 casting numbers for you to use, but I do not know if these are random numbers or researched.

Conclusion

This is for the most part a very good upgrade/detailing set for the AFV Club IDF Sho’t Kal Gimel and I suspect the Dalet as well. Legend Productions has provided what I as a modeller consider a thoughtful product; one of the things I am not keen on is the sets that change things for the sake of it, presenting modellers with smaller and smaller parts that just make the modeller struggle. This set does not do that and offers parts that look to me to genuinely improve the parts they replace. Legend Productions has supplied a single sheet of pictures to work as instructions and while better than nothing it could be much better and easier to follow.
SUMMARY
Highs: Logical part replacement rather than a case of ‘Just because we can’.
Lows: Poor instructions that may catch out the unwary and turn the air blue.
Verdict: If you like to add improvements to models this set does have the ability to please.
  Scale: 1:35
  Mfg. ID: LF1294
  PUBLISHED: Mar 30, 2015
  NATIONALITY: Israel
NETWORK-WIDE AVERAGE RATINGS
  THIS REVIEWER: 87.04%
  MAKER/PUBLISHER: 87.61%

Our Thanks to Legend Productions USA!
This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.

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About Darren Baker (CMOT)
FROM: ENGLAND - SOUTH WEST, UNITED KINGDOM

I have been building model kits since the early 70’s starting with Airfix kits of mostly aircraft, then progressing to the point I am at now building predominantly armour kits from all countries and time periods. Living in the middle of Salisbury plain since the 70’s, I have had lots of opportunitie...

Copyright ©2021 text by Darren Baker [ CMOT ]. All rights reserved.



Comments

Thanks for the review. The surgery for the mantlet cover is painless - for easier than it was for Legend's earlier Gimel Conversion Set: Here's the underside: What the instructions don't mention, but what you will soon find out, is that you need to do some further refinng or else the turret cannot sit flush on the turret ring,which is raised: While obviously a fan of Legend Productions, I DO wish they had replaced the inaccurate Blazer armor that the kit comes with. In fact the aforementioned Gimel Conversion they did a while back indeed had the correct Blazer armor in it: The cement residue is from inaccurately using the additional armor plate, which I had to remove later. Cement residue has since been sanded as well.
MAR 30, 2015 - 03:56 AM
Rob I just meant as a first time slicer and dicer. I know the first time I took a saw to a model I was worried about the result.
MAR 30, 2015 - 05:12 AM
   
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