Dad Paul B Posted December 10, 2017 Share Posted December 10, 2017 Well, these 2 kits come from very different eras in modelling. The Tiger I dates from the early 1960s and it shows. There is a lot of flat surface and the 3 pieces of the main hull connect by simple butt joints (as do the 2 turret halves). I did find that fixing the lower hull into the running gear and then adding the rear before putting the upper hull on helped. The shape is OK, through reports of it being undersized appear accurate as the hull is noticibly shorter than the Cromwell (though should be about 7 inches longer in real life which is only about a thenth of an inch or 2.5 mm in new money). The other bugbear with this kit are the vinyl tracks. Getting the pins through the holes is difficult and rivetting them can be unreliable. They also sit quite awkwardly on the running gear which is reasonably well modelled.The decals are basic and if you want to place them in the indicated position then you will need to separate one of the nembers to fit round the single surface feature on the turret side. Alternatively to can just put them behind that boss as is the case on the built example on the product web page. I chose to finish them in 2 different camouflage schemes./media/tinymce_upload/cd77764351121afe3aa39f93519617dd.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/9fec0c05bd59b98abb5b6fb36328f6f7.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/81f2c63f494eca7ca0dc0cc3458ef372.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/00001d1eaddb70482c1fd802ff478afe.JPGThe Cromwell is a very different beast. Tooled in the Hornby era is has some very nice, delicate, surface detail and hard styrene tracks. The running gear builds very well, though watch out for the gateways on the sprockets as these are so large they fill in the gaps between the teeth and run up the inner surface. This makes fitting them to the tracks very difficult and the tracks can sit slightly proud at the rear which makes the he fit of the rear mud flaps and track guards a little tricky. Otherwise the fit on this kit is beautiful and it really looks the part, especially with a black wash to highlight the detail.My 2 were finished using Plastic Soldier decals for the 5th Royal Tank Regiment (7th Armoured Division) in Normandy./media/tinymce_upload/7936bcb946c443672a45a085db0d2508.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/32044f320a8d144a406b57f8a5c28760.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/fad96af6ac8a4719b35adc6daad9cbbf.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/b45b31b7899cb414f07c9610587ea9b4.JPGWith Airfix battles hopefully bringing new interest I would like to see more vehicles get the new tool treatment. Here are some shots on the Airfix Battles map boards representing elements of the Desert Rats advancing through the town of Villers Bocage in June 1944 and about to receive a nasty surprise./media/tinymce_upload/9c09a06aeb52463eedbcb09408395319.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/9e3e9079ac2f1b49d4ecfc10dbdd5d3d.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/b0f60f2b441d90e88cd08218e2b1ea0d.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/42d32500368106d5c2a0b51e162cf943.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/c6eca660e448da255f549f3f0f468f88.JPGPaul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenneth ONeill Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 That's an interesting point; I always wondered about the validity of putting field applied markings like vehicle identity and tac signs over things like, say, hatch covers, pioneer tools, pistol ports and smoke dischargers. It's much easier in full size as well as on models to put them on flat or single curved surfaces after all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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