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1/35 Scale Resin Kit
Lanchester Mk. II British Armored Car by PlusModel
	Review by Mike Knecht (MxM) Manufacturer: PlusModel http://www.plusmodel.cz Kit Stock Number: 154 Retail Price $159.95 MxM Price $130.00 Plus Model was established in 1990 in the Czech Republic. The product range is comprised primarily of 1/35th scale resin kits, conversion sets, and accessories which are vacuum cast from resin. SOME HISTORY or WHAT AM I BUILDING? By the time World War II started, the Lanchester was past its prime, being a 1930s design. In 1940 or 1941, 22 Lanchesters went into Malaya, quite why cannot be explained. It is not know, if any of these Lanchesters ever fired a shot but with no doubt they all ended up in Japanese hands. There is now only one survivor preserved by the Tank Museum at Bovington in colors of the 12th (Prince of Wales) Royal Lancers. This turreted 6x4 armored car was produced by Lanchester Motor Co. with the armored body being added by the Royal Ordnance Factory, Woolwich. Its loaded weight was around 7 tons and was powered by a 40hp-6cyl. gas liquid cooled engine able to reach a top speed of 33.5 mph. Armor was in the range of 4mm minimum to a maximum of 9mm. The crew of 4 consisted of commander, driver and two gunners. Armament consisted of two .303-in. Vickers and one .5-in. Vickers. THE KIT The business of this kit involves 83 resin parts along with a small sheet of photo etch parts and decals. The kit comes in a stout cardboard box wrapped with nice artwork of the built and painted kit. All of the parts come in small zip bags that are all placed inside of a large bubble-wrap bag. The resin parts were all well protected and I found no broken parts. This is the first PlusModel kit I have ever constructed. One is all it took to make me a fan. The cream-colored resin casting is flawless with the smallest of details sharply rendered. All parts are numbered on the small casting plugs to match the instructions. This is a step above many resin kits that come with poor instructions and no part numbers. The kits instructions are good and consist of line drawings showing the part number and location. GET IT ON Construction started with the mating of the main body to the frame. Casting plugs were sawed off and sanded flush. The kits frame was cast straight with no warping. Some light sanding on a flat surface was done to ensure a good fit and to give the surface some bite for the cyanoacrylate glue. The matting surface was held together as I feed glue along the joint using a small brass rod as an applicator. The main body casting is a work of art. Care must be taken not to damage any of the thin casting on the hood and sides as you handle it. The next step consisted of the underside of the armored car. The one-piece engine & transmission was attached along with the exhaust system and the front suspension. The location and fit of the leaf springs and front axle were made simple with the aided of a few locator marks cast on the parts. Take your time and make sure the axle is perpendicular to the frame. Work down under continued with the fender supports and a few other smaller parts. Next I jumped ahead of the instructions and attached the beautiful one-piece rear truck bed. The fit is again good with all the details cast right on the main part. This helps make for a fast build. The rear axels and suspensions are also well cast with lots of detail. Fit is excellent and went together just as shown in the instructions with one exception. I needed to trim away about 1/16 from the back of the rear gear box as it mates up against the back of the cross frame. The front and rear gearbox are the same castings that allow for a drive shaft to enter or exit both ends. As there is no sign of a rear PTO, the drive train stops at the back gearbox. Care must be taken to align all the parts before you start gluing things together. The trick with most wheeled resin kits is to get all the wheels to touch the ground! To help make this work I decided to modify the construction sequence so as to attach the unit after painting and to allow for any needed adjustment for a good wheel to ground fit. This was basically accomplished by drilling out the two rear attachment points on the frame and removing half of the resin below the drilled hole with a snips. Next I drilled out the attachment points on the rear axel unit and glued a plastic rod between the right and left sides. The rod would then sit in the notches I made in the rear frame. After painting the tires I would then be able to glue the rear wheel assembly to the frame and have a good fit. This I believe was well worth the extra effort. Care must be taken when attaching the rear fenders, running boards and front fenders. Fit is good but you must check the alignment and location of all 4 main parts so your fenders are centered over the wheels. Once you have it all marked out it goes right together with out any problems. The last part of construction was to attach all the smaller parts to the body along with adding the hatches and guns to the turret. The photo etch parts were also saved for last. They consist mainly of the tool holders and straps. I decided to leave off the straps on the rear toolbox as I would be adding some resin stowage from Verlinden. CONCLUSION I did it! I finished a kit! The subject of this kit is a bit off the normal WWII German stuff I mostly build, maybe thats why I finished it? It was a fun build because of the great fit of the parts along with the clean crisp casting and minimal cleanup. I actually built this kit over the weekend! If you want a change from building tanks this is the kit for you. Its worth mentioning that this kit won 2004 Model of the Year by Hobby Model Fan magazine. PlusModel also received the other "Model of the Year" award from the well-known magazine for their Sd.Kfz. 21 Mercedes G4.
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1/35 Scale Resin Kit
1/72 scale Resin Detail Set
YKM-7201 Yankee Modelworks Type VII Upper Pressure Hull Castings
	Review by Sam Reichart (Thank You!) Manufacturer: Yankee Modelworks 88 Hatch Street Suite 306 New Bedford, Massachusetts 02745 Phone / Fax (508) 996-1760 www.yankeemodelworks.com Stock Number YKM-7201 Retail Price $42 - MxM Price $37 Since the release of the Revell Type VIIc, plenty of aftermarket components have become available for the model. Among many other parts, builders of this fine kit now have the choice of replacing the kit supplied plastic deck with aftermarket replacements in brass or wood. These replacement decks have the advantage of having the deck slots already opened, so that the area of the hull beneath the deck is visible. Additionally, many builders are opening the drain slots in the sides of the hull; this process gives additional visibility into the hull itself. When choosing these options, the builder needs to decide what to do about all that open space inside the hull once the model is ready for display. This is where Yankee Modelworks casting set enters the scene. Ordering this set was as easy as calling John and giving him my credit card number. I received the set approximately one week later. I don't have any experience with any of Yankee Modelworks resin ship models, so all I can speak to is the quality of this set. When I opened the box, all three pieces were protected by bubble wrap. The castings are beautifully done; I could not find any bubbles or defects, and they were virtually flash free. Included in the set of castings are three separate upper pressure hull components that fit nicely into the plastic hull of the model. The three pieces are finely detailed with trunking lines, piping, high-pressure tanks and hatches. Installation of the castings is accomplished by gluing styrene strip along the hull sides and on the kit's bulkheads. The final step includes painting the pieces, and dropping the sections into place. There is a sheet of instructions included with the set that shows how to perform the installation and suggestions on how to paint the parts. Make sure you slant the front and rear set as described in the instructions; this ensures that the pressure hull profile is correctly seen through the open hull casing slots. If you are building this boat and decide not to open the deck and hull slots, this set is not for you. But if your plans include having the open deck and drain slots to give it that extra finished look, then this set is a "must have". Highly recommended.
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1/72 scale Resin Detail Set