Okay, a couple weeks ago I posted a review of the Hobby Craft/C.C. Lee Bradley [tamiya knock off]. I said it seemed to be a good kit. I stand corrected i was WRONG! [Yes, someone on here warned me!lol] I'll admit opening up the box eveything seemed in order until assembly began...
First of all due to the pre-installed motorization mount the metal front axel is at least a half inch too far back! This meant that when you mount the drive wheels [which are in front] they sit too far back exposing the hollow side of the "humps" that stick out on the lower front edges between the drive wheels. Plus the part that is meant to hide this "hollow" has to mounted on the axel which leaves the hollow exposed. The only way this can be corrected is to remove the drive gear and mount the "cover" in it's proper place and attach the drive wheel directly to it [as it should be as in the Tamiya kit]. However, if you were to do this then the one-piece tracks would be too short [of course this would be covered by the upper hull and side plates but hey it's just the principle of the whole thing ya know?].
Anyway i have opted to leave the drive gear in place and I will cover the obtrusive "hollow" with some cut plastic from the clear portion of a blister card from some toy packaging. [It's easier to cut and work with than sheet styrene.]
Okay now secondly the fit of the turret was horrible! For a kit to be molded from a Tamiya it doesn't show. Luckily no filling was involved just a lot of filing and trimming. The flash only became all too apparent on some of the smaller parts.
Anyway wouldn't recommend this kit unless you want a "challenge" or want to "update" the "old style" Tamiya Bradley [that comes with an interior] by adding the armour plates from this kit.
But all in all I'm enjoying the build and I'm almost done with my first weathering job. It is turning out fine considering. It has been a very eduacational build and was a good one to "cut my teeth on". It was also a good head scratcher to test my modeling mettel on as well. After building this kit I can build any military model!LOL
Anyway this lemon will be a winner when I'm done with it!lol
[i may have to post picks with my web cam. Don't have a digital yet!]