SimonT - 1/35 Miniart Dingo - Rons Recon GB

[Jim R]

Hi Simon
Looking as if progress has been made despite MiniArt's efforts to make life difficult. Considering this is a relatively new kit and not cheap it should be better.
Jim

 

[SimonT]

Morning Jim - the destructions could definitely do with larger illustrations that are more helpful in terms of part location

I wouldn't say it is a bad kit though, far from it, just rather different to the norm, and I am not used to their particular brand of torture

It is very highly detailed and has much more scale like panel thicknesses - typically they must be about a third of the thickness of Tamiya panels

The side effect of all this detail is that it does make them much more challenging - certainly not the shake'n'bake approach of Tamiya

Hopefully for the next build of one of their kits it will be a case of forewarned is forearmed

 

[scottie3158]

Nice work Simon. Sounds like you had a lot of fun with the body panels.

 

[SimonT]

Oh yes, lots of fun Scottie


added the wheel arches

added back the welds that vanished during construction - just need a light sand with a scotchpad to take the wispy bits off

 

[Steve Jones]

Looking good Mr T. Nice save on the weld lines. Are you using the kit wheels? If so what are they like? Apart from being round and grey LOL

 

[SimonT]

That describes them perfectly Steve

Why, do you suspect something is wrong with them?

 

[Jim R]

Apart from being round and grey

Shouldn't they be square and pink on the Mk.1b variant

 

[Steve Jones]

That describes them perfectly Steve

Why, do you suspect something is wrong with them?

You tell Mr T. Seam lines, detailing etc??

 

[SimonT]

here you go Steve - two parts per wheel
Standard mould line around the tyre
The holes in the front are a little shallow but other than that they look ok to me

 

[Steve Jones]

Ahhhhhh - fanks Mr T. Your a nice man arnt you?

 

[SimonT]

as I had been prompted by Steves question I decided to sort the wheels and drilled out all the lightening holes as per references


I then thinned down the edges of all the holes by hand turning a ball end grinding bit on the rear face


the back plate was then installed and you can now see the hub through the holes

I also ran a scriber around the wheel rim to give a little more definition to the edge

No tyre valves required as they apparently ran on solid tyres, which is why there is no spare carried

 

[Ian M]

Looking good Simon. I rather like Mini Arts stuff.. The detail is normally very good and the parts count tolerable.
Regarding your earlier question about the ending date. GB's always start the 1st day of the month and end at the Last day. Unless otherwise stated. (things like an event or anniversary could have a start day the same as the real event...).

 

[SimonT]

Morning Ian - detail is great but lots of little fiddly bits as a result. This is only the second of their kits I have tackled. First was a low parts count BA64 which was ok
I have a stash full of T54 and T55’s and variants, T34 variants, a US bulldozer and some others and they all look to have very high parts counts.

Not keen on their soft plastic but I suppose I shall get used to it

Thanks re end date - so end of Nov means I may still be in with a chance of finishing or getting near anyway

 

[tanktrack]

i will be following this build as i have this kit in the stash for a few years

 

[Steve Jones]

Does the kit include brake drums, brakes etc or just add it onto the axle as is ?

 

[Jim R]

Hi Simon

I then thinned down the edges of all the holes by hand turning a ball end grinding bit on the rear face

Good idea that You either have a very sharp/fine grit ball or all the dusty stuff has been cleaned up somehow 'cause the thinned holes look really neat
Jim

 

[SimonT]

Steve - thanks for looking in

Steve -

the back section of the wheel includes the rear of the brake drum/hub. The dished bit in the centre is where the end of the driveshaft and CV joint fit. The hub carrier fits into the inner recessed circle. The other side of this piece has the slightly domed front of the drum/hub, which is what you can now see through the holes I drilled out. Each driveshaft has something like six parts

Jim - three hand turns of a steel ball end milling bit removed just the right amount of plastic. I then blew off the swarf, re-drilled the holes as necessary and brushed on some MrCementS to smooth things down (just a light brushing of cement though - the plastic is so soft that you have to be careful not to dissolve the thinned areas).

 

[scottie3158]

Simon,
Great work on the wheels that is a great improvement.

 

[SimonT]

Thanks Scottie - being able to see through to the hub/drum does make them look much more like 1:1

For those with one of these in the stash parts B10 and B11 are transposed in the instructions - four little brackets that fit on the chassis

They are all I've added. I have cleaned up parts for one driveshaft but not stuck anything in place - the instructions would have you stick the driveshafts on to the chassis then eventually build up the suspension parts around them

If you do that then you can guarantee that the wheels will be all over the place by the time you finally get around to adding them. I plan to get the bits cleaned up but not stick anything in place until I have a chance to get them all set up

 

[rtfoe]

Real craftsmanship Simon.

Cheers,
Richard