I was handed a copy of the kit by surprise on Saturday and was asked to do a review for Model Paint Solutions, but since it was more or less from the manufacturer direct they were interested in getting as much exposure as possible and John (owner of the above site) is a good guy I figured there wouldn't be any problem in doing a WIP here on the way to the review. Quick review in 20 words(ish) or less(ish) - a good effort, entirely buildable, few challenges seen so far, a few goofs, and great potential for detailers.
A few resources - I've popped a Booklet of General Plans for the class online as well as a document I found with an early exercise
here. The later has some interior photos - unfortunately none in color, but it does confirm a lot of the basic features that AFV Club put into their hold / vehicle bay, which I have started and primed:
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File comment: Deck and starboard bulkhead glued and primed.
AFV_73515_LST_01.jpg [ 66.26 KiB | Viewed 13774 times ]
Fit has been really good so far as long as you take the time to make sure you have cleaned up the mating surfaces - sanding down the nubs from the tree left a wee bit of a raised edge on the corners, which could affect fit if not subsequently stripped off. Below is the stern showing the lower hull (easy waterline!) held up to the port and starboard hull halves:
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File comment: Three pieces held together.
AFV_73515_LST_02.jpg [ 40.46 KiB | Viewed 13774 times ]
Now a bit on the hull. As you might notice, there is distortion and oil canning molded into the hull as well as some ribbing and bumpers. While LSTs did have this, it is a touch over done for my tastes. The oil canning is very well done where present, however it stops short of the stern and bow and it just looks a bit off to me. There should be less of it in these areas, but there should still be some. The box was neither too tight or loose with parts, however the bow had some visible stress discoloration and the bow is spread wide. The stern has a bit of a
gusset plate so I focused on gluing that first and ignored the bow joint for now. The below photo shows the stressed plastic and how far the bow joint is spread with the main deck more or less in place:
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File comment: This gives me a sudden desire to go watch "The Spy Who Loved Me."
AFV_73515_LST_03.jpg [ 64.78 KiB | Viewed 13774 times ]
Plan is to once again start with the stern and work my way forward. Once the hull is glued up to the bend I'll do some closer looking and work it into shape.
Superstructure has gone together really well. The pilot house has two main pieces - the smaller being the front three faces. While not slide molded as some other pieces were, the port holes on the angled surface lack the oblong elongation that Trumpeter's DE England did. One potential omission is porthole covers - the two portholes on the main piece have them hanging below, whereas the forward bulkheads have them omitted. I haven't combed through my scanned images yet to see if this was a typical feature, but even if so I'm going to skip trying to fix it as those are the only two portholes on the kit that appear to have this feature.
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AFV_73515_LST_04.jpg [ 52.07 KiB | Viewed 13774 times ]
The main deck superstructure is three pieces, with the outboard bulkheads as separate and the forward and aft bulkheads and aft overhang a single piece. The side pieces fit into a
chamfered joint extremely well with the caveat about cleaning up the mating surfaces above reiterated. I think just a touch of Mr Surfacer would be the most needed, and am fairly confident that any visible joint at the deck edge will be easily hidden by the railings.
Next step is to mask off and paint the hold deck in #20 Deck Gray. Once that's done the hull and deck should go together fairly quickly.
_________________
Tracy White -
Researcher@Large"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
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Barbara Tuchman