4D DUKW & Sd.Kfz. 7/2 with 3.7cm Flak 37

I just received two of the latest offerings from 4D Models. The first model is a GMC DUKW 353 ("鸭子" 两栖作战车; "Duck" amphibious combat vehicle).

There are two different versions of the DUKW model made in ABS plastic.

The No. 1 version is supplied with a canvas tilt.

The No. 2 version comes with a sprue of supports for a canvas tilt.

The upper and lower hulls come attached to each other, but prying them apart will make the assembly process easier. The models go together very quickly, and look as good as diecast DUKWs.

Altaya vs 4D

The Altaya model uses the same mold as the Russian Tank Collection model.

Amercom vs 4D

The rudder is attached through a clipping mechanism that allows it to rotate.

The rope boat fenders are not textured in any way, but the models are still very nice, and ready for a load of cargo.

Comparison of the 4D DUKW with Altaya, Russian Tank Collection, and Amercom DUKWs.

I will probably try to get a few more of these to make versions with the machine gun mount, 105mm howitzer, etc.

The second model is a 3.7cm Flak 37 Sd.Kfz. 7/2 (八吨半履带防空裝甲车; 8-ton half-tracked armored anti-aircraft vehicle). I ended up with a model in tan plastic, but there is also one molded in gray plastic.

The undercarriage and front wheels are made of ABS plastic, but I think the rest of the sprues are polystyrene.

The seller included a handwritten note indicating that the parts on the sprue were fragile, but I didn't find that to be the case. Some of the parts on the A sprue are definitely small, but they are thick and robust.

I believe that polystyrene is weaker than ABS, so there is more of a possibility of breakage if force is applied when attaching the parts, but my recommendation is that if a part does not fit, file down the attachment pin until it fits, then glue it in place.

Assembly is not particularly complicated, but there is definitely an order that needs to be followed to make things easy.

Assembly of the undercarriage and wheels is essentially the same as for their earlier Sd.Kfz. 7.

The interior of the cab should be assembled first. The instructions are a bit messed up because it shows part C5 being installed upside down.

The armored cabin should be added next, hiding all of the interior detail that was just assembled.

The bonnet should be attached last, but the fit is not too good, and a significant gap is left between the cabin and the bonnet.

Parts of the Flak 37 are painted gray, but will need touch-up after being cut from the sprue. The parts also have a lot of awful ejector pin marks, but I didn't bother removing most of them because of the toy-like nature of this model.

Attach the Flak 37 to the base only after the upper and lower hulls are put together. The gun doesn't fit very tightly, but I don't think it's a major issue.

The side panels of the bed are molded in an upright position, so the Flak 37 is not really able to pivot, but the barrel can be raised and lowered.

The model is very similar to the previous 4D Sd.Kfz. 7, but it has separate lights and bumper guides, which (despite their chunky appearance) improve the look of the model.

Two other new 4D models that I didn't get are the 9A52-2 Smerch-M and the Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Ausf. C Wurfrahmen 40.

Pictures of the sprues for the Smerch-M can be found at moxing.net and bilibili, but I didn't really find anything on the Wurfrahmen 40.

Little Bulldog

The M41 Walker Bulldog is an American tank that has not been represented in 1/72 scale by the plastic model companies despite its widespread use by many nations.

I have three types of diecast models of this tank. The first picture shows the War Master M41A3, and the Amercom M41A3. I believe that the Amercom model is identical to the original Altaya version, so that is how I will refer to it from this point forward.

The War Master and Altaya models are similar, but despite the superior finish on the War Master model, there are certain aspects that are better with the Altaya model. I believe that the hull of the War Master M41 is a copy of the Altaya model, but some of the surface details seem much softer.

The turret of the War Master M41 does not have the softness of the hull, and seems to be a new tool with a more accurate commander's cupola.

The most objectionable part of the War Master model however, has to be the road wheels, which are all connected to each other by plastic strips. I guess these make the model easier to manufacture on the assembly line, but they look horrible. I'm going to see if I can cut them off without damaging the model at some point in the future.

The next comparison is of a Hobby Master M41A3 (of which there are now 10 different versions) and the Altaya M41A3.

The finish of the Hobby Master model is excellent, and details like the headlight guards are not overly chunky like on the Altaya and War Master models. The downside of the Hobby Master tanks however, is that they are very expensive.

Finally, a comparison of all three tanks.

The overall dimensions are pretty much identical for length, width, and height.

Japanese Tank Collection

While looking at Japanese blogs, I stumbled upon an entry in the Strange Mecha Blog (いろものメカ雑記帳) that cleared up some of the mystery around the "Precise" tank models from my last post.

The models were announced during the Summer Wonder Festival in 2008, and were actually produced for distribution by CaféReo. I'm not sure how the name Precise came to be attached to them, but maybe that was the company that did the manufacturing for CaféReo, or maybe it is the company that held all of the old stock.

CaféReo is primarily known as a distributor of anime character goods and 1:144 scale gashapon aircraft. The tanks were part of a proposed 1/72 Japanese Tank Collection (1/72 日本戦車コレクション) which, for whatever reason, never came to fruition. There were actually a total of  9 models in the collection (as opposed to the 8 that I mentioned in my last post).

The complete set consists of three Chi-Ha medium tanks, two Ho-Ni SPGs, two Chi-Nu medium tanks, a Ha-Go light tank, and a Chi-Ri medium tank. The two additional tanks not shown in my previous post are a Ho-Ni in camouflage, and the Chi-Ri.

I started assembly of the Shinhoto Chi-Ha tanks first. The few small parts supplied on sprues are easy to remove and glue in place, requiring only a bit of touch-up for the paint. There was one piece I could not really identify, and have no idea of where to place it.

Attaching the tracks was the most difficult part of putting these models together. The vinyl tracks were all bent and twisted, and needed treatment with a blow dryer to get most of the bends out of them.

Because of some recent bad luck with joining rubber/vinyl tracks with my soldering iron, I decided to try out Shoe Goo to test how well it worked on the tracks.

I cleaned off and roughened the surfaces to be joined. I put a bit of Shoe Goo on each end, and then pressed them together. I think that the trick is to make sure not to press the overlapping ends too hard and squeeze all the Goo out from between them.

After the Goo set, I removed the upper hull of the tank. I stretched sections of the track until it became long enough to go around the drive sprocket and idler, then gently worked them around the road wheels.

The tank on the left has the pre-1942 camouflage style (which may not be accurate for the Shinhoto Chi-Ha), while the tank on the right has the 1942-43 China/Home Islands type camouflage, with markings from the Moeyo! Tank School (萌えよ!戦車学校) manga hand-painted by yours truly.

The next picture is of the Chi-Ha with 120mm (L/12) short naval gun (sometimes referred to as a howitzer). I haven't seen any pictures of the tank with markings, but I added the IJN/SNLF anchor because it looks cool.

Assembly of the Ho-Ni is very similar to that of the Chi-Ha. It comes with a very rudimentary interior that seems fairly accurate in layout.

Judging by appearance, the gun is the 75mm Type 90 field gun. Making the model a Type 1 Ho-Ni I. The gun itself is pretty crude, and can move on two axes. Unfortunately due to it being front heavy, the barrel cannot really stay in an elevated position.

I tried drilling out the underside of the breech block and adding some metal to act as a counterbalance for the barrel, but it didn't do any good.

The tank on the left has the Japanese "parched grass" base coat color, while the one on the right is in 1942-43 style camouflage.

The Chi-Nu was a little more work to assemble. The headlamps need to be adjusted to the proper length before being attached, and the pick needs to be attached in a way that does not interfere with turret rotation.

The tank on the left is in the 1942-43 style camouflage, while the one on the right has the Japanese base coat color.

The tracks of the Ha-Go were the real test of effectiveness for Shoe Goo. The overlap between the tracks were very short, so the Goo needs to be pretty strong to maintain the bond under tension. The tracks can be quite a struggle to get on, since the two halves of the rear idler were almost too close together, making it difficult to fit the teeth of the tracks between them. The Goo did hold up though, so I think that for rubber band type tracks it will be my method of choice for attachment in the future.

The Chi-Ri was the easiest of the tanks to assemble. The tracks are the most pliable of the bunch, and go on a lot easier. Unfortunately, they do not fit around the drive sprockets easily, though with a bit of work I believe that it could be managed. There are locator holes are present for attaching a machine gun and a jack, but these parts are absent from the sprue.

I scavenged the machine gun and jack from other models to complete the tank. It is in base coat color with no markings.

A comparison of CaféReo, and Altaya Shinhoto Chi-Ha tanks. The Altaya tank (right) is one of the old metal models. The hull of the Altaya model is slightly longer than that of the CaféReo model.

A comparison of Chi-Ha and Shinhoto Chi-Ha tanks. The two tanks to the left are early Chi-Ha tanks with the 57mm gun from AmerCom and Dragon. The two tanks to the right are the Shinhoto Chi-Ha tanks from CaféReo, and Altaya. The AmerCom, Dragon, and CaféReo tanks are nearly identical in dimensions.

A comparison of Dragon, and CaféReo Ha-Go tanks. The Dragon tank (left) is the Manchurian version fitted with auxiliary wheels. These were added because the tank had problems crossing the ridges and furrows of ploughed kaoliang fields.

The two are near identical in size. The one major difference that I see is that the rear deck of the CaféReo tanks sits higher than that of the Dragon tank.

A comparison of a Panther, the Chi-Ri, and a Jagdtiger.

My final impression of the CaféReo models is that with the proper enhancements, they can be made into great scale models. The tracks are particularly bad (in part because the drive sprockets are sometimes assembled crooked), and could do with some Dragon DS replacements. Unfortunately, I'm not that ambitious, and even getting them to the stage they are currently in is already a great accomplishment nowadays. I do however have some damaged models that I may one day use for such a purpose.