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Ronney
Ron Garcia (Ronney)
US

Wall

Wall

Ron Garcia
Nice kit. It goes together quickly, but I did run into a few minor problems, and I have a few suggestions.

1) You can add the tracks after completing the model. I added them right before step 26 so I could use the missing grills on the side to help guide the tracks though.

2) Speaking of the tracks, they come in two pieces per side. I don't know what they are made of, but plastic cement doesn't work on them. Somehow, you are supposed to connect the ends together using two microscopic holes. I could not figure out how to do this, as the pins are too short and soft to go through the openings (were there actually openings, though?). I stapled one section together since it would be hidden, and used CA glue with accelerator (and my wife's help) on the other end. Placed next to the rear road wheel, it looks fine.

3) The plastic is soft! I don't have a problem with this, but be careful when removing any excess plastic from the part or you will easily shave off a bit of the part. Also, part 38 snapped in two when I barely put any pressure on it while trying to slide it over the gun assembly. Not a problem because it is hidden, but it does illustrate how soft the plastic is.

4) If you can keep the coax MG from snapping off during assembly, I bow before your awesomeness! I almost made it, but it finally snapped off during one of the final steps of painting the complex camouflage pattern. Luckily, it landed right in front of me in clear view so I CA glued it back on - after the paint job was done! A stretched piece of sprue would have made an easy replacement.

5) It's pretty obvious but I'll say it anyway, to make your life easier, paint the completed roadwheel assembly before you add parts A5 and A12 . In fact, paint parts A5 and A12 before you add them to the kit to save yourself unnecessary masking.

6) I think parts A1 and A15 are reversed in the instructions. However, I fiddled around with both so much, in the end I wasn't sure anymore. By the way, be careful with the ends that stick out on both parts. I almost snapped off one because - you guessed it - super soft plastic.

7) Steps 24 and 25 were tricky for me. B4 and B5 didn't quite want to sit flush with the hull without some fiddling around with them. The same with the attaching the upper hull to the lower. I got it to work, but I did have to put a bit of putty on some tiny sections that were just a tad off.

8) The kit provides link by link plastic chains and one long chain that seems like metal but is very brittle. I used the long chin by simply cutting off the portion I needed. It worked fine.

So there you have it. The paint scheme probably took longer than actually building the kit. I really didn't know much about this tank, so I kind of like it better than some of the other early war French tanks I have been building lately. I think the look of the turret is unique. If you are trying to build all the Battle of France armor like I am, you should get this kit.
35336
FCM 36 WWII French Light Tank
UA ICM 1:35
35336 2020 New tool
20 March, 03:35
Ron Garcia
completed this item
35336
FCM 36 WWII French Light Tank
UA ICM 1:35
35336 2020 New tool
20 March, 02:20
Ron Garcia
completed this item
35336
FCM 36 WWII French Light Tank
UA ICM 1:35
35336 2020 New tool
20 March, 02:20

February 25, 2024

Ron Garcia
Yikes! This model tested all my patience just to be able to finish it. There are several online reviews about this kit and their comments are all true. This model is not for the casual modeler. In fact, I can't recommend this kit at all. I actually packed it away once I discovered there were two sizes of brass rods, large springs, and small springs as I was building the road wheel assemblies. Only the fact that I have never let a model beat me brought me back.

The kit is so, so, SO over-engineered. The road wheel assemblies are ridiculously complex. Tons of microscopic bolt heads, complex and fiddly PE (thank God the kit includes some injection molded alternatives), and link and length tracks that are juuust long enough to fit without any room (or extra links) to spare, make every bit of this build a constant source of frustration.

I would only recommend this kit for the sadomasochistic modeler out there. The only fun I had with it was when I tossed the box out when I finished it!
56008
British
Light Tank Mark VI B
Vulcan Scale Models 1:35
56008 2011 New tool
2 4 November 2022, 02:44
Rick402
Wow im in to s and m so I'll be getting this kit!
23 February, 20:07
Ron Garcia
If you're into that, you will definitely love this kit!
24 February, 01:36
David Taylor
Always fancied this kit but looking at the instructions put me off.If I were to attempt it I might go down the (buy a couple of cheap Bren carriers for the running gear) and crack on with it.
24 February, 08:32
Ron Garcia
Interesting idea!
25 February, 00:48

February 24, 2024

Ron Garcia
Interesting kit. Easy to build, but it did cause me some confusion while assembling it.

It includes PE, but most parts are provided in plastic so that was nice. In fact, I didn't use any of the PE, except for P2 - which failed miserably.

I could not figure out how to put the PE muffler shield (P2) in place, so I left it off. It is simply too small to wrap around the muffler and then affix to the hull. Weird.

I also left off the spare road wheel. There is some sort of bracket (B48) on the rear of the tank to which I guess the road wheel is supposed to attach to. After painting the whole kit, I went to attach the road wheel to it, and there is no way to make it fit on that piece short of clipping off all the projections on it (so why put B48 on at all at that point). I supposed it's a case of one or the other.

The pioneer tools were awkward to apply as well. They don't fit as shown in the instructions (the shovel is shown completely backwards), but there are small indentations and holes where they are supposed to go. By strategic placement of the tools, those can be hidden. The kit provides some PE straps that can be used to wrap around the tools, but they looked like like a pain to try (three tiny PE pieces that somehow form a fold to wrap around, or in lieu of, the tool) .

The instructions don't show how or where to attach the provided chain. In fact, I didn't even know about it until I was getting ready to throw out the box. Yep, I left it off.

I also didn't add the trench skid(?) either since I didn't find any pictures of it during a brief Internet search.

The individual track links weren't horrible, but they they were time consuming to clip out. I could only get three, sometimes four, to fit before requiring slow setting cement. Another time suck - and a nice crick in the neck after two days of gluing those tiny links together! The most confusing part for me was that after I painted the tracks separately and attached them to the rear idler wheels, they stuck out from under the fenders a mm or two. Since it happened on both sides, I don't think it was user error. The idler attachment parts (A11) didn't fit great in the hole on parts A37/A38 so that could have caused a bit of the problem. I suppose you could either leave parts A37/A38 off -which would be weird - and glue both parts A11 directly to the hull, or you could you could clip off the attachment peg of A11 to make a better fit of it to A37/A38. I just accepted the minor flare out since it isn't really noticeable unless someone picked up the tank and inspected it.

Silly putty is your friend while painting the camouflage pattern.

Overall, a decent kit but with some strange quirks to it. I guess I'd recommend it if you really wanted this Battle of France tank in your collection. Otherwise, I'd wait for perhaps some other company to do a better job modeling it.
CB35019
French
Hotchkiss H38/39 Light Tank
Bronco 1:35
CB35019 2008 New parts
24 February, 03:43
Ron Garcia
completed this item
CB35019
French
Hotchkiss H38/39 Light Tank
Bronco 1:35
CB35019 2008 New parts
24 February, 02:47

February 10, 2024

Ron Garcia
Super fast and easy build as all Tamiya models typically are. A few tricky spots, though.

The pioneer tool bundle is mounted on a backing that makes painting on the other side of the handles difficult. The painting guide show the camouflage through the handles, but I opted for a dark wash instead to obscure the supposed "see through" backing. Same with the muffler. It has to be installed while building due to making the painting line up, but makes for painting it later tricky.

The link and length tracks were great, but I would have appreciated at least four more links. Mine fit EXACTLY. I like to paint my tracks off the kit since I don't coat my running gear with "mud". From experience, I know that an exact fit means that after putting a coat of paint on the running gear and tracks, the tracks will be too tight -and they were! I ended up pulling apart two links to pop the tracks back on and then squeezing in a bit of CR glue to get them to almost touch. Not noticeable unless really inspecting the area, but even one more link per side would have avoided this issue.

The paint job was a fun challenge. I think that's why I waited so long to build it. I used the Vallejo French tank color set and it worked out okay. The paints are formulated to be airbrushed straight from the bottle. Some paints were too thin and others were a tad too thick. Nothing could be done about the too thin ones, I'm talking to you yellow, but the thicker ones did well with a bit of thinner. Nothing new if you use Vallejo paints regularly. Lots of silly putty helped with the masking. I used a Micron 05 black pen to paint the outlines, and it worked great.

In the end, the kit looks great. I put it right next to the FT-17 I recently built and was surprised how close in size they were. Very tiny. Recommend if you're up to the challenge of a difficult paint job.
35373
French Light Tank
R35
Tamiya 1:35
35373 (373) 2020 New tool
10 February, 23:24
Ron Garcia
completed this item
35373
French Light Tank
R35
Tamiya 1:35
35373 (373) 2020 New tool
10 February, 22:55

January 25, 2024

Ron Garcia
owns this item
35336
FCM 36 WWII French Light Tank
UA ICM 1:35
35336 2020 New tool
25 January, 02:51
Ron Garcia
Fast build. Minimal PE. I thought the running gear was harder to put together than it should have been due to the instructions not quite showing clearly enough how it goes together.

The tracks are fantastic as they simply click together. I used the recommended amount of links and found them a bit loose. Nothing can be done about that because if you take out one link, the tracks will be too short.

The tank is super tiny. My wife even commented about that. I suppose that's why the base is included. I didn't bother with that, but it looks like it would look nice all painted and muddied up.

The kit itself is not worth the selling price, but it is a very important tank that should be in an armor modeler's collection. If you can find it on sale, definitely add it to yours.
TS-011
French
FT-17 Light Tank (Riveted Turret)
Meng Model 1:35
TS-011 2014 New parts
2 25 January, 02:50
Ron Garcia
completed this item
TS-011
French
FT-17 Light Tank (Riveted Turret)
Meng Model 1:35
TS-011 2014 New parts
25 January, 02:37

January 15, 2024

Ron Garcia
The kit was easy to build and presented no real challenges, so I'll concentrate on the paint job and decals. However, put a lot of weight if the front section to prevent it from being a tail sitter - and I mean A LOT of weight. I always put more than I think I should, and the weight I added was barely enough.

If you follow the instruction's paint formula, the paint will be an almost exact match for the colored plastic sprues. The instructions show the plane in a lighter blue (the mix is almost aqua). I sort of liked how the instructions showed the paint job as I think the snowflake decals would have looked better on the lighter blue background. No big deal, but something to think about.

As with all of the Idolm@aster kits, leave anything off that will stick out. The decals are very stiff and big. They don't settle well over any types of protrusions unless you use a lot of setting solution. They also crack easily so, for example, I painted the nose white rather than use the decal supplied in the kit. That decal would have cracked for sure, so save yourself the headache and paint the nose and the tips of the fins and wings white beforehand.

Speaking of which, the decals are designed for you to use the white nose and wingtip decals. The snowflake decals extend all the way to the nose and the wingtips. Since I had already painted mine, I did several things. I left the snowflakes on the under side of the nose. I thought it looked fine that way. For the underside of the wingtips, I put the white decal over the two wings decals. The decals aren't quite opaque, so you can see a bit of the underlying decals. Since it was underneath, I could live with that. For the upper right side, I used a piece of aluminum foil to remask the white area and painted over the end of the decal. Don't you dare use ANY sort of low tack adhesive on these decals as they will 100% peel off. For the left, I just left well enough alone. The animae figure pretty much completely covers the area so there are no worries on that side.

The two fin upper sections swivel on the kits. Glue them so they don't. I thought the decals on the fins would be in two pieces to accommodate for this. They aren't, and will will crack if you move tops of the fins once the decals are dry. I had to add a bit of CA glue with a toothpick to the swivel point once I discovered this.

The most important advice I can give you is DO NOT cement the fins in place before you apply the decals. There is a giant snowflake decal that covers the entire topside. There are no cutouts for the fins so if they are in place, you will have to do some jigsaw cutting to try and piece it together around the fins. The instructions do not point this out at all. I found out the hard way and it was a bit of a headache to correct it.

Once done, the plane looks nice, just like the other Idolm@aster kits. I'd say this one was slightly more difficult due to the instructions not giving any warning about the decals overlaps. Plan on several long decaling sessions when you tackle this kit.
51978
THE iDOLM@STER
F-117A Nighthawk Yukiho Hagiwara
Hasegawa 1:48
51978 (SP278) 2010 New decals
15 January, 01:58
Ron Garcia
completed this item
51978
THE iDOLM@STER
F-117A Nighthawk Yukiho Hagiwara
Hasegawa 1:48
51978 (SP278) 2010 New decals
15 January, 01:14

November 25, 2023

Ron Garcia
completed this item
GC2001
Tyrrell P34 Six Wheeler
Tamiya 1:20
GC2001 1977 New tool
25 November 2023, 23:03

November 2, 2023

Ron Garcia
completed this item
GC2004
Team Lotus J.P.S. Mk.III
Tamiya 1:20
GC2004 1977 New tool
2 November 2023, 00:52

October 14, 2023

Ron Garcia
completed this item
SM48120
North American
RA-5C Vigilante - Painting Mask for Trumpeter
Montex 1:48
SM48120
14 October 2023, 04:04

October 2, 2023

Ron Garcia
I read a lot of reviews about this kit and pretty much all are negative. I can say that my experience wasn't totally horrible, but it took way too much work get this kit to where I wanted it. Here were some issues I ran into:

- The intakes open into nothing. I added some styrene inside the intakes to block it off and painted them black. The intakes are pretty small so it after the kit is completed, it looks fine, but for the price of this kit - and I bought it around the time it first came out - it should have been modeled correctly in the first place!

- The fuselage comes in halves so be prepared for a lot of sanding. In fact, the tiny section between two cockpits was a pain for me to mate. I got it done by sanding down the rear cockpit shroud.

- Speaking of the cockpits, if you aren't going to open them up, you don't need to spend much on the rear one. The two rear cockpit windows are tiny and well forward of the seat so there's not much to see. I painted everything in that cockpit, and I can barely see anything.

- Speaking of the cockpits part two, I never could get the rear canopy to fit properly. It sits a tad too high, even after I sanded the cockpit shroud - even more - a second time. There was also a decent sized gap there that I had to fill with putty.

- The elevators and ailerons are keyed so that they are in the down position. I always "park" my kits with everything in the neutral position because I like the look of an aircraft's clean lines. Modifying the control surfaces was a bit of a pain, and one part still sat slightly lower when I decided to call it good.

- The leading edge slats are also designed to be extended. Putting them in a neutral position revealed that they are oversized. I built them so that the top was level with the wing and then sanded the bottom portion to blend with the underside of the wing. Not fun!

- I heard there are accuracy issues, but I didn't bother with any of those modifications. It looks close enough to a Vigilante to me. Besides, after all the other issues, I just wanted to get this kit done!

So, not a kit that falls together and disappointing overall due to the fit issues. The kit isn't that old, so that makes it all the more frustrating. Overall, I'm glad to move this model from my stash to "completed" as I think it is one of the sleekest looking jets ever built, but I can't recommend the kit. It took way too much work to get nice finished replica. Experienced modelers only!
02809
North American
RA-5C Vigilante
Trumpeter 1:48
02809 2005 New tool
2 October 2023, 03:47
Ron Garcia
completed this item
02809
North American
RA-5C Vigilante
Trumpeter 1:48
02809 2005 New tool
2 October 2023, 02:54

July 14, 2023

Ron Garcia
completed this item
51968
Mitsubishi F-2A The Idolm@ster
Hasegawa 1:48
51968 (SP268) 2009 New decals
14 July 2023, 16:36
Ron Garcia
I noticed I had put this comment under the 1/72 version of the kit. Is there a 1/72 version? Anyway, I deleted that comment and added it here.

Easy build. Obviously, the decals are what will take the most time. Study the instructions prior to applying the decals as several overlap each other. I suppose that since the paint scheme is fictional, other than the large decal of the anime girl, the order doesn't really matter. The larger decals will crack, so if you decide to move them, be careful! The white decals are not opaque, so my recommendation is to paint the leading edges instead of using the decals. Unlike several other Idolm@ster kits, you can add any sensors and antennas before adding the decals without worrying about them interfering with each other. However, obviously you'd want to keep the pitot probes off until after everything is finished. The end result is a unique addition to your flight line display.
51968
Mitsubishi F-2A The Idolm@ster
Hasegawa 1:48
51968 (SP268) 2009 New decals
14 July 2023, 16:36
Ron Garcia
I built the ancient 1986 version of this kit long ago. This kit has a resin aerial refueling probe and two resin chaff and flare dispensers (maybe?) near the rear wing root. I didn't add the latter since I didn't feel like doing the surgery required to add them. If I was building a "real" replica, I would have done it to make it as accurate as possible. However, since this kit is all about the paint job and decals, I let some things slide.

I've built six of these kits now and there are two suggestions I always make. First, go ahead and paint the white leading edges instead of using the decals. The white decals are good, but they aren't quite opaque. I could live with that as it would save a lot of masking, but you're going to have to paint the leading edges anyway where the top and bottom (or side to side on the fin) meet, so you may as well paint them yourself.

Second, make sure you do not add anything that sticks out like probes, antennas, duct doors, etc., until after applying the decals. The decals are super stiff and don't like to conform over them even when using a lot of decal solution. Having said that, this kit doesn't have many of the above items to worry about - with one major exception.

Since this kit is so old, the elevon actuators are molded on the kit. Not a problem normally, but three prominent decals go directly over them. To make matters worse, the two underwing stripe decals also go over the main landing gear openings.

To overcome the actuator problem you could carefully shave them off, paint them, and reattach them after the decals are dry, or you could carefully lay them over the actuators and carefully cut the decal around them and paint the actuators to match the decals. I did the latter since I had already painted the kit and didn't feel like doing surgery after the fact.

The stripes going over the landing gear doors were irritating since I had already super glued them in place. I normally super glue the landing gear in place as well, but the fit was so snug, I was able to just insert them. Lucky I did that, because I had to carefully pull them out, pop the doors off, lay them over the opening, lay the decal over them, and carefully slice the decal to fit the door. The decals are super brittle, so if you try this method, be careful!

The topside was super easy. Everything was flat so the decals laid down nicely. The animae decal for the fin does go over some protrusions, so you will need a decal setting solution for those.

If it weren't for the actuator/landing gear issue, this would have been the easiest of the Idolm@aster kits I have built. Instead of separate dots, they are put together in long strips of decals. All the others I have build require every single star or cherry blossom to be attached separately. Tedious! In the end, though, it looks really interesting sitting beside my original Mirage 2000. Plus, my wife always loves these kits, so it's nice to hear her praise them instead of saying, "It's another grey airplane..."
51979
THE iDOLM@STER
Mirage 2000 Yayoi Takatsuki
Hasegawa 1:48
51979 (SP279) 2010 New parts
1 14 July 2023, 02:58
Ron Garcia
completed this item
51979
THE iDOLM@STER
Mirage 2000 Yayoi Takatsuki
Hasegawa 1:48
51979 (SP279) 2010 New parts
14 July 2023, 02:07

June 5, 2023

Ron Garcia
completed this item
51967
THE iDOLM@STER
Mitsubishi F-2A Ami Futami
Hasegawa 1:72
51967 (SP267) 2009 New decals
5 June 2023, 01:24

April 22, 2023

Ron Garcia
A few recommendations for this kit:

Make sure to always keep your aircraft "clean" when building any of the Idolm@ster kits. Any external sensors, air ducts, antennas, etc. will invariably interfere with decal placement somewhere. You can always add them at the end if you feel the need. With the decals dominating these planes, no one will notice if they are missing or not anyway. In fact, I didn't even bother to do the surgery to replace the wing missile launchers the instructions recommends on this particular kit. Accuracy for these kits takes a back seat to visual flair as far as I'm concerned.

Decide if you want to paint the white areas white or use the decals. The decals are fine but they don't wrap around the edges of the wings or tail fin. If you paint the white areas, be prepared to do surgery on the stripe decals as they overlap the white sections. Having tried both, I think painting the white sections make the kit look better, but trimming the decals are tricky because they are fragile!

Some of the decals overlap others and you will invariably discover this as you are applying them. I'd say carefully study the decal instructions before applying them, but with so much going on, that's difficult! My best suggestion is to work in small areas so you have enough time to carefully move a decal (or two) if necessary before they fully adhere.

For this kit, the mixing ratios are fine except for the green. I started to tone it back a bit to make the yellow stand out more. The color I ended up with was a light puke green which I thought was off. However, it matched the decals almost spot on so it worked out. Maybe 5% green would be best.

Overall, a nice looking kit next to my other F-16s. My wife called it "cute" which is a big compliment coming from her!
51972
F-16C Fighting Falcon The Idolm@ster
Hasegawa 1:48
51972 (SP272) 2010 New decals
22 April 2023, 03:01
Ron Garcia
completed this item
51972
F-16C Fighting Falcon The Idolm@ster
Hasegawa 1:48
51972 (SP272) 2010 New decals
22 April 2023, 02:13

March 30, 2023

Ron Garcia
completed this item
6076
Spiked Dinosaur
Styracosaurus Snap Tite
Monogram 1:13
6076 1987 New box
30 March 2023, 00:43

wnolder.php?lang=en

2023-03-30 00:43:47

2015-02-15 00:36:02

18488

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