This is the new CH STZ 1942 kit. All was well, until this huge gap appeared in the back. Tell me I screwed something up and this is not a kit error!













Dmitry

Dmitry Kiyatkin
Baltimore, Maryland
http://www.ww2models.com

Just to show that the front is normal.

Dmitry Kiyatkin
Baltimore, Maryland
http://www.ww2models.com

Hi Dimitry,

I would first like to say that you are a fantastic modeller, and your finishes are absolutely brilliant!

(insert wayne's world "we're not worthy"! here) but I feel this could indeed be user error.

let me try to explain/describe:
The transmission housing round part is integral to the hull rear, the lower back plate has to be glued in, on the pictures it seems the top of the lower plate is glued flush with the top of the round extension.

I seem to remeber from my model 1940 that the round hull extension should be centered exactly around the whole perimeter, so also at teh top it shoudl extend somewhat (this woudl make the lower backplate sit somewhat lower).

I hope you understand what I tried to describe (I'm dutch) (and taht this is even possible on the chktz version).

hope this helps somehwat, seems that adjusting this, if even possible is a passed stadium though, but you are certainly capable of fixing this to good result, im sure!

krg Wouter

Dmitry, Without having the identical kit in front of me I cannot say for sure, but what I'm seeing certainly looks like a major mis-match. The top edge of the rear plate remains flush, as does the bottom edge, and the armor interlocks seem to mate accordingly .... so that leaves the resultant gap unexplained. It almost seems as though some detail is missing ... like a fender section. Curious ...?

Mike Kirchoff

Well, I almost lost sleep over this...

Here are the pictures of the real transmission housing (?). It seems pretty flush:





Here is how the front looks. There is a big gap there too:







Here, just for fun, I glued the back plate to the upper hull:





Still very crappy fit. Guys I think I may not be as stupid as I thought (except for buying 2 of these kits without reading any reviews):









Here the same bottom hull is paired with a regular 1940/41 Dragon upper hull and the fit seems perfect. No gaps in front either either:









Someone else ought to try this.

Dmitry



Dmitry Kiyatkin
Baltimore, Maryland
<a href="http://www.ww2models.com</a" target="_new" rel="nofollow">http://www.ww2models.com</a>;

Their existing m. 1940-41 kits? I built one of those when it first came out a few yars back and had no problems. I would think the basic hull parts for the rear and drive housings would be the same?

On most T-34 kits I try to deviate from assembly instructions and glue the rear hull panel (with hatch and exhausts) to the upper hull then fit the lower panel so that the top hull fits properly. I find it harder to glue the lower and rear panels to the chassis then fit the top.

IIRC the gaps at the front arent a big problem becuase of the hull front cap

David, As I tried to show, the 1940/41 hull top and back upper plate fits very well on the STZ bottom hull that I made. the top hull looks totally retooled, the bottom hull seems a lot less modified. But all involved parts are new. Someone else has to try to do this and tell/show us the result.
Dmitry

Dmitry Kiyatkin
Baltimore, Maryland
http://www.ww2models.com

I ordered 6 of the T-34's but they didnt ship yet (shipped now) as I had ordered some of the Raketenpanzer IV's and they decided to ship them together. When I get my kits I will fit one together to see how it goes (if someone else doesnt first)

i am looking forward to someone else trying this. Dmitry

Dmitry Kiyatkin
Baltimore, Maryland
http://www.ww2models.com

i think you've identified the problem. what if the hull in your new kit is the wrong hull for this kit? you tested against an older hull and the fit was just fine. so this could be a Dragon production/packaging problem if they are including the wrong hull in the kit boxes. why not contact them and see what they have to say?

Gray Creager
asicsuccess@86yahoo.com - remove the "86"

If I am correct and this is an error, I think contacting them for a refund is a worthwhile idea... With the excellent CMD conversion, there is just no reason to get this kit except for the upper hull. And if the upper hull will be so painful, why bother?
I want to wait for PMMS review before I cast my final verdict though. I screwed up the Trumpeter E-25, until someone set me straight...
Dmitry

Dmitry Kiyatkin
Baltimore, Maryland
http://www.ww2models.com

.

With most kits I buy at least two (one to build and one to save) In this case I figure I might want to build more than one in the future, and also got one (maybe two) for friends. Its also easy to resell the kits if I didn't want them in the future. Better safe than sorry.

That is why I have 3 of these now!!!

Dmitry Kiyatkin
Baltimore, Maryland
http://www.ww2models.com

In the few minutes before I had to take off for work I tried the same parts fit tests as you, Dmitry and had the exact same results. We certainly have another problem here.
I was able to tweak the overall fit in a bit closer but only by pushing upper and lower hull and parts R5 and R29 out of place. Also, everything fits fine if you leave off the lower rear plate (R5) .
I haven't compared the '41 parts to the '42 yet and wasn't able to ID just where the problem lies (upper hull, the rear plate (R5), or the upper plate (R29) in the time I had. Will look at it some more tomorrow unless some one here does it for me

Mark

I think that is our answer. I am glad I am not alone in this, but I am sad that the kit turned out to be a disappointment. I am putting this back in the box now. I doubt Dragon will retool the hull for us on this one. I am off to built my first T-55 and I just heard that Tamiya IS-2 is in stores somewhere...



Dmitry Kiyatkin
Baltimore, Maryland
http://www.ww2models.com

Dimitry,
After looking at your photos...I think what you did was quite obvious in terms of the rear plate placement!
Since you eagerly removed the fenders you should've attached/adjusted the rear plate and the lower plate at that time….it looks too pushed in!
Since removing the back fenders, too...you removed an area which would normally have the rear plate sitting at a proper height.
You can see by the side fender strip retaining ..that it should line up!
Here are some photos to explain in better detail...
hope this helps for now..

Nick

I still have not exactly figured out how you got it like that, but I like it. I feel a little stupid, but I must say that I did try to do this with fenders in place and still got the same results. Thank you, I will go back to the new kit to see how it works.
Dmitry


Dmitry Kiyatkin
Baltimore, Maryland
http://www.ww2models.com

I still think there are some fit issues. The fenders are still on mine copy and it's going to take 3 or 4 hands to line it all up... DML could have done a better job on this.

Greg

looks like not that great of a fit anyway.