Attached are a couple in-progress pics of my UM Hetzer build and the steps I've taken to correct a couple of glaring problems.
In the first pic I show the revised gun housing where the height of this structure was a bit too tall. Using Evergreen and CA glue I rebuilt the forward part of the mantlet to be shorter. Though not quite as short as where it accurately should be, it's a vast improvement over the original piece which stretched to the red line I've drawn on the image.
The second pic displays a broadside view of the Hetzer showing my attempt at correcting the bend which occurs on the rearward portion of the upper hull sides. The red triangle I drew in is to show where the original UM hull bent before my revisions using, again, Evergreen sheet plastic and CA glue. Although I could have used the rear deck plate provided by UM I've created my own to be able to accurately scribe in the hatch division lines. UMs rear deck plate sports lines which rest atop the plate rather than cut in. Making my own rear deck also gave me the opportunity to replace the hinges with scratchbuilt versions since those supplied are a bit on the thick side.
I also spent some time reshaping the vision block, which in its original out of the box state is fine, but again it too could use a bit of reshaping. Next up I'll be opening up the hatches and replacing them with scratchbuilds.
Obviously the kit will build into a fine model without any of these revisions, but its fun to be able to tweak and get just that much closer to the level of detail found in larger scales. It is in the end, all about the journey.
Peter
