Month: December 2015

ACE Dingo Armoured Car Part 2

~ Colonel Mustard ~ Leave a comment

I built the second ACE Dingo i had in my kit box. This time i learned from my previous attempt and so the construction process was much smoother. It took plenty of extra plastic removal to make sure all the parts fitted without gaps. I was also able to get my wheel alignment much better by getting the suspension on early in the piece. Still i had to cover some dodgy bits with stowage items. A definite improvement on the first attempt at this kit, but i would still try the S-Model Dingos rather than this ACE kit.

I added my AB Figures Dingo crew, one driver and one officer with binoculars. They were a tight fit but really make all the difference!

Here they are scouting out a very fancy French country house!

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Dragon Stug IV Late in 1/72 scale

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Picked up this little beauty at my local hobby store. Unfortunately these days you pay more at the store than on line. Retail shopping is a dying breed…….

Its official I love Dragon kits. Even if I have to pay a little bit more for them compared to other manufacturers, its worth the money. This little Stug was a pleasure to build. Starting with the wheels which are moulded separately making it super easy to paint the outer tyre part black and the inner hub dark yellow, before fitting them together. The tracks themselves are one piece flexible plastic/rubber which I much prefer to the really fiddly multiple part tracks I have struggled with on other kits. I didn’t quite manage to get the sagging weight effect of the top tracks – something I need to investigate further next time.

The top section is excellent and full of detail. Some hatches can be modelled opened or closed, so next time I will add a commander and crew. Everything fitted together perfectly with no issues. I primed and painted the bottom section before gluing on my pre-painted wheels. Then the tracks went on, before I glued the top and bottom together.

I went with a dark green on yellow camouflage scheme, and a dirty brown wash to blend him into the base. I couldn’t recommend this Dragon kit more highly, and will buying a couple of more of these to make up a troop.

Check him snooping around a Normandy village in the following photos.

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Hasegawa 88mm and half track 1/72 scale

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 1 Comment

After finishing my Zvezda 88mm with AB crew, I needed to make sure I had some transportation for the gun to get around. I didn’t want to have my gun and crew base trailing a halftrack round the board so I decided to get hold of a second gun in the limbered position. The two Hasegawa kits, 88mm gun and heavy halftrack, were just the ticket. Bought direct from my favourite Japanese web site these kits are way cheaper than buying Hasegawa from any other source. At under USD 9 each they are such a bargain. If you buy Hasegawa from other foreign web sites they are probably double the price.

The kits are easy to build and I can highly recommend them. Check out the below pictures. I gave them my usual dunkelb treatment, plus added drivers from AB figures. All that is missing is the gun crew sitting in the back seats. I think I will add them at a later stage.

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