The Kit
I ordered three kits directly from Asia and they arrived quickly. The box art, by Fleischer is well done and one either side a suggested finishing scheme was illustrated using colored CAD drawings. The instructions were underneath the sprues and well illustrated on a glossy paper. The first impression was quite favorable and not that of a limited run kit.
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This new kit contains two individually plastic wrapped sprues with 68 parts on Sprue A and 58 parts on Sprue B for a total of 126 parts. Some of the pieces are quite tiny yet well molded. The plastic is of a slightly translucent yet high quality polystyrene. None of the parts fell off the sprues during shipment on any of the three kits bought.
Slide molded has been used on three areas which allowed the spent shells, stake brackets, ammunition boxes, gun barrel to have hollowed or detail openings and/or sides. The gun shield is commendably thin although there was some slight flash in the gun sight slit. See detail photos.
Aside from slight flash, there are several raised pin marks to remove but these are all on areas which will be hidden once sanded. These are the wheel slices which are used to create a tread pattern and the bottom of the stabilizer legs. The latter items get the spikes, parts B24, after the pin marks are removed and sanded away.
Assembly
Assembly of the kit seems to be straightforward.
Accuracy
Comparing the kit parts to the photographs on the CD, in books, and on the web, some items have been simplified but not in a manner which makes the kit look less detailed. Some areas need fine weld beads added such as the foot well of the gun shield. Others, like the misplaced bolt on one of the wheels, needs correcting. My plan is to use epoxy putty, placed over a lightly oiled surface of the wheel, covering two bolts and part of the hub. Once the epoxy putty is dry, it can be removed revealing two bolt impressions and part of the hub.
Using heated sprue, I squash mold one bolt and carefully shave it off the sprue. Then I place the new bolt into one of the impressions of the epoxy putty mold. The wheel has the misplaced bolt removed, is sanded and washed and allowed to dry. Now, add thin (not watery) glue to the base of the bolt which was placed back in the epoxy putty mold and use the impression of the empty bolt and partial hub to properly place the new bolt. I will try to take photos of this process and add them to the forum or Paul's blog.
Conclusions
A very nice first effort from Vulcan Models. The price listed is from Stevens Hobby which will be distributing in the US. The second release has already been announced and will be a crew for this gun. I look forward to the next upcoming releases and hope the misplaced bolt on the wheel becomes a thing of the past.
References
- Toadman's Tank Pictures #10 British World War II Anti Tank Guns CD
- http://www.toadmanstankpictures.com/2pdr.htm
- http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/2pdrwm_1.htm
- The 2-Pounder Anti-Tank Gun in Canadian Service by Doug Knight; Service Publications, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 2008