MiniArt Pz.Kpfw. III Ausf.B
Opmerkingen
17 June 2016, 10:13
Fabian D.Overengineered? Terribly, my dear, terribly. I'm really glad they switched to torsion bars in the Ausf. E.... oh you're talking about the kit?😉
It's not really MiniArts fault, the suspension of the Ausf. B is complex. They've done a good job capturing a great ammount of detail without making it an impossible puzzle.
I haven't found any parts that could be simplified without sacrificing detail, slide moulding is used when needed. Bogies and wheels will remain (at least sort of) functional, which makes sense as the tracks are workable as well. (More about the tracks later)
But to be fair: It is kind of annoying to clean up and assemble the same ten parts over and over again.
17 June 2016, 15:14
Holger KranichAh ok, i understand. (erased from wishlist)
And to your last sentence - Thats what stops me from making shipmodels😄
18 June 2016, 05:10
Fabian D.I have to rant here for a bit.
The instructions are crap, at least the labelling of the parts. In about every step there is at least one part either mislabelled, switched with the mirrored equivalent, on sprue C instead of Ca or somewhere entirely different. It´s not really an issue to find the correct parts, but just extremely annoying.
The plastic is extremely brittle, some parts snap into three pieces simply by looking at them. All three MGs broke exactly at the same spot, the sight for the turret ones is probably shattered beyond repair.
Concerning the tracks: I got a kit from one of the first production runs, yet the some of the moulds seem to be worn out already. I have about 5 sprues with exactly the same pattern of filled in guide horns. Might have to rework several of those to get enough links.
Back to the progress report: Lower hull is almost finished, only some tools on the fenders missing.
27 June 2016, 08:03
Rui SThank s for the heads up Fabian, but this is the only 1/35 Pz.Kpfw. III Ausf.B around, right?
27 June 2016, 16:07
Fabian D.@Rui there is a full resin kit, other than that it's the only kit in this scale.
Finished construction a few weeks back, but had a bit of struggle with the tow cable mounts. (See pic 8 and 9) Not sure how to bend PE18 6 times without ending 6 different shapes. There are no bending indicators given, it's basically just a tiny sheet of metal. wettringer-modellbau..;attachmentID=204781 PE20 is just another mislabelling, one should have been PE19. Ended up replacing it with spares altogether. On a side note there isn't any kind of cable included.
Painted it all with the AK modulation kit, decals went on surprisingly well... good news for a change, I guess. 😉
18 July 2016, 14:01
Fabian D.Alright, this one is done as well. Kept the weathering simple and added just a little dust.
Looking back, I'd say it isn't really a bad kit but it's far from perfect. There are apparently some issues with rear deck, but most of the issues I had come down to MiniArt's inability to keep track of the part numbers, their brittle plastic and sometimes badly designed PE.
The only thing that really stood out were the tracks. Really enjoyed putting them together and playing around with them. (I haven't managed to break any of the bolts either.)
All in all, I'm probably in for their 0-series StuG III, so the lower hull wasn't that bad.😉
21 September 2016, 19:18
Moritz FentzahnNice result. I like the understated wearhering. Looking forward to your next projects
21 September 2016, 19:44
