A word of advice when working with AFV Club model kits, especially ones molded in olive green: the plastic is very soft and will mar if you look at it too harshly!

Hahaha...OK, thanks!, great tip.

Cool project---this is an oldie-but-goodie!

you should join the HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL spa GB with this.

HI wayne!

Sorry for my ignorance, what do you mean?

Have a great day.

Cool vehicle. Can't wait to see it come together!!

garzonh

HI wayne!

Sorry for my ignorance, what do you mean?

Have a great day.

Oh, over on the 'Group Build' forum a bunch of us are building SPGs. Pretty much the same thing as your WiP here but a group builds something on a theme and everyone posts progress photos as we go along. 

Have Gun Will Travel Group Build

Hi,

Heres the current process...definitely more pieces since you have to build the hull basically from flat parts, differente indeed...

Hi to all!  

This is the last update...as of September 30.

This kit has many small parts like a PE but in plastic. you were not mistaken you have to be very careful as parts are very soft and can be damaged.

I have an idea for NASA, put a spacecraft attached to a BIG plastic sprue and then use GIANT cutters and it will take flight!. This happened to me on a handle and hinge, they were never seen again. I will have to fill the hole.

I just assembled the cannon and supposedly it should recoil with the spring but I cannot make it do it. I have gone through the model instructions and try to figure how to make it recoil...

Not sure why it's even useful. The kit has many parts that will probably are not needed, too much detail for something that will end hidden forever, like a clear lens part for the cannon, just to be covered by a cap..  

Anyway,..here it is:

I just wanted to release some steam off....

The cannon base mount is impsossible to be aligned correctly. I had to trim off a lot and I men a lot of excess plastic with my dremel at high speed...

Then mounting to the hull is another nightmare... and when testing how will the hull sit, its all bended and its so thin its very difficult to aling...

No more AFV for me.... I was just about to throw it all!!.. since it was a expensive kit I will just have to deal with it.

Not sure how it will come out if I keep having this problems... 

Maybe your kit is warped or something.  AFV Club kits are very good, some of the best in my book.  I wouldn't write them off because of a few issues with one kit.  Also, others have not reported any problems with this kit, only praise.  I haven't built mine yet, but I am definitely looking forward to it.

I will fix it this evening and see how it progresses... thanks!

Garzonh my AFV Club M-40 started with this mess:

Front

Rear

Top

With the help of very hot water and patients it turned into this

Don't let a hunk of plastic beat you down

Thanks! man, that's what I will do, put it in hot water to make it straight.

Looking good so far, I would agree with my brother Gino, AFV normally makes top kits. I think it may be warped like Tony showed....stuff happens. Keep your head up and eye on the target.

Rounds Complete!!

Hi to everybody and thanks for your invaluable advice and knowledge trasnfer.

I think I got the 1 in a million defective kit from AFV. I just kept having fitting issues all over the turret. I had to trim, cut down, redesign and fill everything I could possible do with my limited experience. It's like the one in a million car that is new and it just keeps having mechanical issues.

It looks pretty bad, but I guess that with a base coat of black it will blend in everything.

The kit has delayed me more than I thought, but keeps progressing.

Will see how it all ties together.

It looks like you handled it well to me.  Good job and keep plugging away at it.

Looking good, keep on with the mission

Rounds Complete!!

Don't let the kit defeat you! Looks like putty is solving your issues, once under paint you won't be able to tell the difference.

Thank you all!

I will be starting painting process by mid or end of next week.

I will like to paint it as the box art,,,what colors do you recommend (Tamiya) for painting this 3 cammo color scheme?

Use Tamiya's NATO Green, Brown, and Black--they are the correct ones for the box-top scheme.  I'm currently building the same kit, but I'll be painting mine in the MEDC gray desert scheme.  I haven't had any major fit issues yet, but I've only built the hull so far.  Two of the hull parts were slightly warped, though.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the color numbers are XF-67, 68 and 69, respectively.

Thank you very much DeskJockey.

I did not had problems with the hull.... the issue started with the cannon mount and turret. Im glad I had finally went through it.

OK, so after some delays...I finally assemble it and now started a pre-shading painting with black.

I will start painting with the green base color tomorrow.

See you..

Looking good, off to a good prime!

Rounds Complete!!

How does this kit compare to the Italeri?  I have built a few M109s & a M108 and was thinking of a Paladin.

Hi,

I cannot say, since I have not built an Italeri at all...

I did had a lot of problems with fitting, I did a lot of trimming, filling, cutting to make it work, it also has a lot of small pieces which I think is too much, since some of them will be put into places never to see the day of light, but also adds a lot of detail to it, like the "basket" at the back of the turret which was very challenging but it gives a lot of detail.

The cannon is aluminum and copper, and although AFV states that it recoils...I was never able to make it do that, which also I do not see the functionality in a "static" model.

Other builders said that AFV is a very good company with very precise kits. As I mentioned I think I just got a defective one...or maybe Im the defective.... and could not make it work.

Overall, is a good kit which I recommend.

Hi to all, and wishing you are having a nice weekend..here it sunny and warm..24C  

I just laid the green color to all the model. My personal preference is not to cover everything perfectly in a nice layer. I prefer varying the distance, amount of paint, pressure and flow of paint, trying not to add to much paint to the areas I pre-shaded and  the lower areas. I think it breaks monotony and makes it more interesting to the eye and this subtle effect makes you think it has been on the sun and the paint has been affected differently, at least this is what I think,

Next step, first brown cammo pattern...freehand!!  

Its coming along great.  The initial paint looks really good.  Keep up the good work.

How does this kit compare to the Italeri?  I have built a few M109s & a M108 and was thinking of a Paladin.

The AFV Club kit is lightyears ahead of the old Italeri kits.  It is better engineered and way better detailed.  If you want to build an M109A2 or A6 Paladin, go with the AFV Club kits.