Voyager Models has been releasing detail sets for over five years. In the beginning, you could find packages with this web site's URL printed on it. As a new company, they did not mind asking for assistance and began offering affordable sets following Royal Models example of including various materials dependent on the item being portrayed.
Now they have several items which can be called luxury lines with this one, High Technical, being their multi-media barrel sets.
A new blister package with a fitted foam insert cradles the parts and allows the vendor to stack or hang the product. The pleasing orange, gray, and black tones do exude quality. Being clear, one then sees the product pre-assembled in a cellophane envelope within with a second envelope holding the photo-etched parts in clear view.
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After removing a staple, the parts and a single sided instruction sheet are extracted. Taking the parts out of the tight fitting envelope disassembled them which is OK as the PE parts need to be added.
Assembly is straight forward with a notched brass collar added to the aluminum tube first. This represents the locking collar which held the gun tube to the sleeve.
A smaller diameter locking collar is added to the end. It is followed by a photo-etched locking ring and the rear half of the muzzle brake.
For ease of assembly, I placed the machined brass baffle to the front half of the muzzle brake and soldered the halves together. Note that soldering brass to aluminum is not easy and Gator's Grip Glue was used in these instances.
A photo-etched locking tab and nut is folded and glued into a machined slot on the muzzle brake and this whole gun tube assembly is then slid into the armored sleeve of the mantlet.
The resin mantlet represents an early type well enough. There were many variations of these mantlets and many of the included details are firsts for a model. While the sealing screws have been included before, the same is true for the drainage hole. There are nicely done weld beads and a hollowed out coaxial machine gun flash hider. The binocular sight openings even seem to be correctly stepped.
The top of the mantlet has an early casting number added and a limiting pin which a modeler may accidentally remove if unaware of its significance.
The mid-late production mantlet represents the type well enough with the reinforced binocular openings. Unlike the early mantlet, there are no casting numbers visible but again there is a limiting pin which a modeler may accidentally remove.
Yet, the shape of the gun tube does not look right to me. While the dimensions are correct according to Tiger1.info, the area of the locking collar and the puckered end of the muzzle brake leave me unconvinced. Note that this is the early type of muzzle brake and not the lightweight one introduced later during Tiger production. Also, joining the muzzle brake halves caused an unsightly step which I filled and filed with solder.
In the end, it is a very nice barrel. I will not use the metal parts, preferring another brand, but the resin mantlet will surely be used with my Dragon kit from which the mantlet was obviously based on and therefore designed to fit. Fitting to other kits is surely possible but expect to work on it and use a strong glue to keep the weight of the barrel from snapping off.
Thanks to Voyager Models for such nice mantlets.
Now they have several items which can be called luxury lines with this one, High Technical, being their multi-media barrel sets.
A new blister package with a fitted foam insert cradles the parts and allows the vendor to stack or hang the product. The pleasing orange, gray, and black tones do exude quality. Being clear, one then sees the product pre-assembled in a cellophane envelope within with a second envelope holding the photo-etched parts in clear view.
------------------------------------
After removing a staple, the parts and a single sided instruction sheet are extracted. Taking the parts out of the tight fitting envelope disassembled them which is OK as the PE parts need to be added.
Assembly is straight forward with a notched brass collar added to the aluminum tube first. This represents the locking collar which held the gun tube to the sleeve.
A smaller diameter locking collar is added to the end. It is followed by a photo-etched locking ring and the rear half of the muzzle brake.
For ease of assembly, I placed the machined brass baffle to the front half of the muzzle brake and soldered the halves together. Note that soldering brass to aluminum is not easy and Gator's Grip Glue was used in these instances.
A photo-etched locking tab and nut is folded and glued into a machined slot on the muzzle brake and this whole gun tube assembly is then slid into the armored sleeve of the mantlet.
The resin mantlet represents an early type well enough. There were many variations of these mantlets and many of the included details are firsts for a model. While the sealing screws have been included before, the same is true for the drainage hole. There are nicely done weld beads and a hollowed out coaxial machine gun flash hider. The binocular sight openings even seem to be correctly stepped.
The top of the mantlet has an early casting number added and a limiting pin which a modeler may accidentally remove if unaware of its significance.
The mid-late production mantlet represents the type well enough with the reinforced binocular openings. Unlike the early mantlet, there are no casting numbers visible but again there is a limiting pin which a modeler may accidentally remove.
Yet, the shape of the gun tube does not look right to me. While the dimensions are correct according to Tiger1.info, the area of the locking collar and the puckered end of the muzzle brake leave me unconvinced. Note that this is the early type of muzzle brake and not the lightweight one introduced later during Tiger production. Also, joining the muzzle brake halves caused an unsightly step which I filled and filed with solder.
In the end, it is a very nice barrel. I will not use the metal parts, preferring another brand, but the resin mantlet will surely be used with my Dragon kit from which the mantlet was obviously based on and therefore designed to fit. Fitting to other kits is surely possible but expect to work on it and use a strong glue to keep the weight of the barrel from snapping off.
Thanks to Voyager Models for such nice mantlets.