Back from our little Hawaii vacation! It was a short but sweet trip. Didn't do too much except touch base and spend time with friends and family, which is always nice. The weather wasn't the greatest with lots of wind and some intermittent rain as well. Not the bright and sunny Hawaii that we normally get.
As reported from abroad, the Meng kit finally arrived at my doorstep while I was away. I made my daughter send me a pic of the package to confirm its arrival... that's how much my mind was on my modeling projects at home!
Now that I'm back, I'm going to present a look at the kit contents. This being my first tank model, I don't really know what I'm looking at in terms of individual components, except the obvious. The Meng box has some interesting notes, which includes an association with the Tank Museum in Bovington. I assume that means that some of the details on the kit were provided in consultation with tank experts at the museum.
The kit is molded in primer red, an interesting and probably not too popular choice. I always question any variation from Neutral Grey when molding a kit. Here is the hull, which is a one-piece tub. There are a bunch of little square holes, which I think would be utilized by the Interior Kit, which is sold separately by Meng. Although I originally intended to build the kit out-of-box, I'm having second thoughts and may opt to purchase the interior kit. It'll double the price of the build but I part of me reasons that if I'm going to do a tank, why not go ahead do the WHOLE deal?
Sprue A, which there are two of, holds the spoked drive wheel and the other unspoked wheel (idler?) on the back end of the tracks.
There are four sets of Sprue B, which contains all of the overlapping road wheels and the tracks. The tracks are a mixture of molded segments and individual link elements. The detail is nice but again, I am eyeing another enhancement kit by Meng that allows the modeler to build a working suspension as well as tracks comprised of individual links.
Sprue C has a lot of the exterior components as well as the end caps for the road wheels. There is a documented issued with these end cap pieces giving the road wheels a distinct non-perpendicular camber.
Sprue D holds the major topside hull pieces. The exterior parts are not completely smooth. They have a slight texture, which I assume is to simulate the rough cast iron exterior of a tank. I'm not an expert but the effect is very subtle and may not show up very well after a few coats of paint.
Sprue E has the turret components. The track looking piece is actually a jig to assist the modeler in creating the correct sag along the top tracks. More of the cast iron texture is visible on the turret.
Sprue F contains the turret top as well as other turret components including the 88mm gun barrel. Unlike the Meng Jagdpanther kit, there are no internal components to the gun, which is another reason I am contemplating picking up the interior set... I'm interested to see what the gun looks like. The first batch of kits offered a metal gun barrel but there is no such option here.
There is a small sprue of clear parts, although I have trouble picturing the use of ANY clear parts on a tank model.
The kit provides a couple of crew figures, molded in grey plastic. These can provide some dynamics to a static model as well as block any visibility into the empty hull from an open hatch. The molded detail on the figure is pretty nice although a notable step down from what you'd find on a resin equivalent.
The kit also provides a small photoetch sheet including mesh covers for the engine deck.
The decal sheet is also small, which is understandable since these tanks had little in the way of markings.
In addition to the black and white construction instructions, Meng provides a nice color guide to the four camo choices.
So that's the kit in a nutshell. Stay tuned while I mull over another future purchase... to include or not include the interior and working suspension on this build.
