(Login toadman1) Registered Users from IP address 75.7.0.87
And overall, I like it. I don't really care for how the turret is done but that's just me. The rest of the kit looks fine. I'll be building this one OOB with the one after it superdetailed. I'll probably get to work on it later this week as part of a kit review.
Do not like the turret interior and at least my copy has a very rough surface on some parts, fenders for example. Otherwise I like it and might follow your idea, build one as is and fully detail another one. We'll see.
I won't be building this out of the box, but since the PE is very well done on the hull, I can't correct the width without commissioning new PE. So, I'm building mine with the stock hull and turret, modified slightly, and then a bunch of interior details from the Tamiya German infantry set. I'm taking the driver's seat from the old Bandai '251 B, since those seats are actually for the '251 ausf C/D. The stock hull is close enough to the prototype in shape, even though a bit narrow,that it isn't worth trying to fix because of all the angles in the hull armor. One thing I will do is lower the rear engine section top plate a bit - it's a bit narrow and high on the hull. Again, I'm nuts - do not try this at home.....
The turret has always been the problem with this kit. It is a bit too narrow and also too low, and the front armor panels do not extend above the sides and rear as they should. An aftermarket turret and proper mount would be a real help, but I am working on a fix for the adventurous. No voodoo, just good clean fun..... Dan Snelson is leading the way, so we have a pioneer to take care of the hostiles......
The low turret actually is a boon, since cutting off the turret ring to allow correcting the turret leaves you without a floor. Adding the floor to reset the turret ring part allows you to raise the height the .030" (.75mm) you need to raise the turret. Those who do NOT want to rework the turret can just glue .030" thick strips of plastic stock to the bottom of the turret shell, and the turret will magically rise to the correct height. Add .010"x.010" strips to the tops of the front four armor plates, and you are good to go. Again, if you'd rather not do this, the closed PE gills will hide much of it. Note that the front four large panels for the metal grills were open: no screens - this as to allow the crew to use the sights without obstructions. The two very narrow screen panels (next to the 2cm gun barre) did have screens.
In short, while we would have been somewhat better off if ICM had ripped off the Tamiya 1/35 SdKfz 222 as they did with the Tamiya 1/48 P-51B/C Mustangs, this kit does have potential and, built out of the box, can be a very attractive model worthy of a place on your shelf.
Regarding the grenade screen, it is straight across the back but Toadman's pictures show a curve also an interior brace and an exterior bar that looks like it is hinged.
here is the hull, lower section. I moved my rear wall from the center line to the back line. the forward line is where I had put the interior seam, which I moved to the center line.
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here are a pair of my gun unit. I changed the pedestal to a rectangle and forward instead of behind the seat bars added the site, and behind the gun is the bracket that the gun is attached to the turret.
also there is a bar sticking out from the gun shield just below the 2cm barrel that is NOT on Toadman's prototype picture
maybe a production variation. I'll have to check references when I get home. The hinged bar on the outside of the screen is for the canvas foul weather cover that could be mounted on top the turret.
All of my reference photos show the rear of the screen to be curved like the Littlefield 222.
As for the bar under the barrel, I found mixed results in my reference pics. It seems to be prevalent on 222's armed with 2cm KwK30's. The Littlefield one has a 2cm KwK38. To be honest, I'm not really sure what it is. Maybe some sort of gas tube for the recoil system?
I decided to build the one ICM '222 I have as a modified stock kit. I'm making a number of cosmetic and detail changes and (hopefully) improvements to make it more accurate in appearance, but I'm not going to go nuts because I can't really correct the basic shapes without starting over. I will, however, put in a complete interior, because I'm rebuilding the turret and its interior detail. Overall, I believe a little effort will result in a very attractive model. It will not be completely accurate, but the total effect should be impressive. IF I can get more ICM kits at really steep discounts, I'll get them for the chassis basics, fenders and other details, to convert into other variants. I have a very good interior layout for the SdKfz 223, and the SdKfz 260/61 can be built with tarps over the top screens as this happened a lot in bad weather. I think this sow's ear has a decent chance of becoming at least a faux silk purse....
The review sample I have quietly been working on for the site since receiving it last week is done (well, nearly, still have to finish adding some detail to the cut down grenade screens ). It turns out you can correct the kit turret if you want, and it is not that hard. The revised turret you see here was completed in one – yes one – afternoon of modeling. The entire build you see here, detailing and all, has taken one weekend and a couple more extended sessions over the last two days to finish – overall a great fitting kit and easy to build.
To illustrate the kit’s potential I have added details here and there, nothing I couldn’t make out of a soda can, some stretched sprue or sheet styrene (with a couple scrapbox bits here and there). I also used drills, micro chisels and scribers to carve detail into the kit parts here and there. No surprise, the biggest issue I have discovered with the kit is the one-piece turret, including the overall height, the location of the gun mount the kit gives you and the height of the grenade screens, but stay tuned for the full review which I hope to have up in a few days. Just for giggles I have included most of the tools I used for this build in the picture.
Good job in pressing on with this little beast. I am through with my writing class, and intend to do this kit first. Like you, I'll make some cosmetic changes to make the thing look better, but it's all pretty simple. Will keep in touch, and this looks like a good article in the making.
Glad you like it so far Bruce – not a perfect kit but eminently buildable and lots of fun
Cheated on the corner finders Dan – they are actually .010” piano wire with small tubes rolled out of left over .005” brass PE fret on the bottoms and tiny balls of 5-Minute JB Weld on the tops (the surface tension will round them out if you blow gently on them with a straw as they cure – the damp warmth of your breath softens the epoxy enough early in the cure cycle to make that happen). The mounts they are sitting on are made of stretched sprue discs though
Konrad
This message has been edited by koschrei from IP address 76.173.65.244 on Apr 30, 2008 12:48 PM
I blew up the photo you emailed me so the '222 is most of the picture; the little swine looks even better than it does here. I'm starting mine today and hope to have it done within a week or two. As I mentioned, I'm putting in the interior, since I have a Bandai '251 B as a parts donor. I think this may actually be fun. Of course, if Tamiya were to release one of these, it wouldn't break my heart, but I definitely can work with this.
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