Friday, March 21, 2008

First completed models of the year

My building progress has been abysmal the last few years, and I've finally been able to finish assembly of some kits that have more than a dozen pieces.

The Jagdpanzer 38(t) is the 1/76 Fujimi kit, while the LT38 is the 1/72 Attack kit.

The Fujimi kit was a breeze to put together, though I had some problems with the tracks causing the rear return rollers to bend outward. I somehow lost the MG34 for the kit, so used one from a Kubelwagen in its place. The only scratchbuilding I did was to add a saddle drum to the MG34, and a periscope. I tend to build kits mostly OOB since I'd like to finish all of my kits sometime during my lifetime. Unfortunately my rate of accumulation is faster than my rate of completion.

The Attack kit was something I started several years ago, but never got around to finishing because I wanted to give it Slovak markings. I finally found some decals from Aleran for vehicles of Axis Minors, which included the Slovakian cross, and got motivated enough to finish the kit. The turret numbers are Archer Fine Transfers. I did add a few details to this particular kit, since it seemed to be missing a few pieces that appear on the real tank.

While the two kits are supposed to be in different scales, they are actually pretty much the same size when built up. The Jagdpanzer 38(t) is somewhat wider than the LT38, which is how it is in reality. I recently purchased a UM Flammpanzer 38(t) kit, and will have to do a comparison to see how it matches up with the Fujimi kit.

The UM kit is supposed to be the most accurate in terms of dimensions (see Missing Lynx discussion on UM v. ESCI), but I have often heard that the Fujimi kit is very close to 1/72. I'm not a terrible stickler when it comes to scale, but I prefer to keep my models as close to 1/72 as possible for consistency.


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