1/35 Russkiy Renoe

Katya Hodgson
You know, for all the hype I have heard about Meng Models, this has surprisingly poor fit.

Holger Kranich
I encountered the same problem with Mengs Whippet.

Katya Hodgson
I just wonder sometimes... The area could have been two parts that fit together, but instead they give you 5 parts that you then have to try and align perfectly, and they just don't fit quite right, and you end up with a mess like this.

Holger Kranich
Well i think, i screwed up the Whippet.😄 All the other mates had absolute no problems, only me. But i am with you - two halves would have been enough.

Holger Kranich
I see, you got a lot of gaps there. 😮

Katya Hodgson
Yep, i'm going to have to try and fill all of them. 🙁

Katya Hodgson
That was some of the most fiddly and complicated suspension I have ever done...

Katya Hodgson
Suspension and running gear are on. This thing really doesn't fit together that well...

Holger Kranich
But Looks nice - so far.

Katya Hodgson
I assure you, it looks far worse in person. Gaps, cracks, and alignment issues galore.

Katya Hodgson
That's the turret built, again the fit wasn't great, but I did the best I could. Really missing that Hobbyboss T-18 right now...

Katya Hodgson
There we go, I think that's most of the gaps filled. Hopefully it all looks ok once it's painted.

I'm pretty sure the running gear splays out at an angle towards the front, but nothing I can do about that. 🙁

Holger Kranich
Looks indeed a Little bit weird...

Katya Hodgson
It's just another problem with how the kit goes together. I'm hoping it will be less noticeable once the tracks are on.

Holger Kranich
My prayers are with you!😉

Katya Hodgson
Well thank you. At least the painting should be easy...

Holger Kranich
Oh i think monochrome painting is not as easy as it sounds!😢

Katya Hodgson
At least it's green and not white again...

Katya Hodgson
Yep, the suspension definitely splays out at the front, it's even more obvious with the tracks. 🙁

Holger Kranich
Oh hell... What to do now? Leave it as it is or burn it and Dance around?

Katya Hodgson
I'll have to finish it as is, and just hope it looks ok from a distance.

The upsetting thing is, I was really looking forward to this one, so now i'm very sad it has turned out this way...

Holger Kranich
Same with me and my Alpha Jet from Wingman. I was so looking Forward to build it and it turned out terrible.

Slavo Hazucha
It's a nice little cutie with all those rivets & stuff - is it not possible to take the whole suspension-wheel assemblies down and balance it out?

Katya Hodgson
Sadly not... I think the problem is Meng's desire to further complicate the kit by adding metal parts for the suspension with no plastic alternatives, and said metal parts don't fit too well against the plastic. If I position the tracks ok though it's not as bad as I thought.

Started priming too, having the usual troubles with my airbrush, fighting to get it to work right, but hopefully it will be ok. It would probably have worked better to paint the suspension and hull seperately and then join them, but considering the current fit issues it's probably good that I didn't. The primer seems to be doing a good job of hiding some of the flaws too, so that's a positive at least.

Katya Hodgson
That's the priming done! Pretty sure I got everything that was visible, there might be a few bits here and there that I missed, but if there are they are likely not visible.

Katya Hodgson
Now it's green!

Katya Hodgson
I painted and attached the exhaust, and now working on the tracks. I'm actually very pleased with the effect I achieved with the exhaust, I managed it using careful light layers of different paints. 🙂

Katya Hodgson
This thing is adorable!

Nigel
It's looking much better now, Katya. 👍

I'm gonna haul mine out of the stash this week, and see how it goes together.

Katya Hodgson
I wish you luck! Be REALLY careful with cutting the parts off the sprues, and fitting them together. I found much of the fit rather poor, but perhaps taking it more carefully would yield a better result.

Katya Hodgson
The decals worked!

Katya Hodgson
Well, I finished it. I'll take proper photos tomorrow, but for now here it is alongside my 1/35 T-18 Mod. 1927 (Hobbyboss kit).

Donald Dickson II
Very nice!

Katya Hodgson
Thank you. 🙂

Derek Huggett
A delightful duo - well done Katya! 👍

Katya Hodgson
Thank you. 🙂

Still have the display base to potentially build, it shows a snippet of a trench assault scene. Not quite what I had in mind for the Russkiy Renoe, but maybe I could put the T-18 on it...

Katya Hodgson
Base built, and i'm actually nearly done painting it now. 🙂

Rui S
Nice Looking pair 👍

Katya Hodgson
Finished now, just uploading the album. 🙂