Italeri Group Build Sept. 1, 2006-Jan. 15 2007

Hi all,

 Eyes are A OK now. I'm back in the saddle so I will start on  my mule this weekend. Probably Saturday. I have others to do but I'm really into this GB! Plus I would like to finish before biff, I don't want to follow that act! If ya know what I mean.

Zip

zipmeister wrote:

Hi all,  Eyes are A OK now. I'm back in the saddle so I will start on  my mule this weekend. Probably Saturday. I have others to do but I'm really into this GB! Plus I would like to finish before biff, I don't want to follow that act! If ya know what I mean. Zip

Good luck my friend, but finishing before Biffa will be tough feat.

tigerman wrote:

Comet wrote: Well the AS42 Sahariana is currently winging it's way back to Italeri,it had too many problems that could'nt be put right so returned it to my LHS.The owner had had 4 out of the 8 he got in stock returned with the same problems.I'v never come across anything like this with a kit before and will be waiting Italeri's views on the problems. The main problems were bad fit.The radiater,it's supports,the rear wings and the grill were no way going to fit and other bit's would fit but only after alot of major surgery plus there were numerous mis prints in the instruction's.I'd expect these sort of problems from a cheap kit but this one was £25.00. I'v now started on the Crusader and will post up some progress pic's tommorrow. Comet, that is a shame, it looked like it was going to be a beaut. The Crusader shouldn't be a problem. I built the Mk. III.

hello guys, after feeling very unmotivated for the past week or two due to health issues things are finally looking up, feeling better i pushed myself to finish up a couple of builds i had on the bench (pics up soon) and this got me in the building mood so i finally broke plastic on my panther, looks like a pretty simple build oob and im not sure what extras if any i will add although i really dont like italeri's tracks so if i can find a cheap set i will use them. and maybe a set of grills but not sure yet, im just glad to be back at the bench again.

GOod job so far biffa

I had a momentary brain lapse and was about to ask who mad the kit ur doing. wow .

Got a little more done on the Demag over the weekend. I don't think I've ever used so much putty on a military kit before. They put those sink holes in the nastiest places. I did a little thinking about how to paint the camo on this thing and I figured the best way was to build it in sub-assemblies, paint it, then assemble. So far no major fit problems or anything, except for those injection marks, I'm havin' a ball!!

Ron.

Customizer, looking good. I hear you about the putty and sinkmarks, all Italeri trademarks. I hope to get rolling again tonight.

Dwight, looking forward to your presence.

Great to see some of these builds progressing. As Dwight said, such a large variety, really interesting to watch.

I've started work on a major project that has been in the planing stages for a long time, and as such, I thought I'd use this GB to finish up a vehicle or two for that. I'd like to change my entry to an Italeri Opel Blitz, and possibly an Opel Maultier.

sorry guys I haven't been keeping up but was intrigued to find out somebody else had problems with the Sahariana, I'm soldiering on with it but must say it's a piece of crap.  This was not what I expected as I took possession of Dragons new Marder 2 and could not even compare the two kits, except on price, the dragon gem was only a few euros more expensive.

They do say that you  pay your money take your choice. Well I know now that any more trouble from this Italeri kit and I going to have a plastic italian bbq in the back yard when this rain stops.

Regards,

Terry.

Hey guys,

  I started my Opel tonight. Nothing serious yet just cut out a couple pieces, cleaned them up. Just wanted to get the feel of it. Never built a Italeri kit before. Wow this is the thinnest plastic I think I ever worked with. Not that thats a bad thing. I can't wait to dig into this thing. I also bought a SWS w/ flak 43. By the way, what does SWS stand for? That looks soooo cool. I think that will be my next build. Oh ya, I just noticed tonight too, it doesn't have any part numbers on the sprues. Thats kinda different, not a problem, but different. Ok so I will post when I make a decent dent in this thing.

Thanks

Zip

zipmeister wrote:

Hey guys,   I started my Opel tonight. Nothing serious yet just cut out a couple pieces, cleaned them up. Just wanted to get the feel of it. Never built a Italeri kit before. Wow this is the thinnest plastic I think I ever worked with. Not that thats a bad thing. I can't wait to dig into this thing. I also bought a SWS w/ flak 43. By the way, what does SWS stand for? That looks soooo cool. I think that will be my next build. Oh ya, I just noticed tonight too, it doesn't have any part numbers on the sprues. Thats kinda different, not a problem, but different. Ok so I will post when I make a decent dent in this thing. Thanks Zip

Welcome to the world of Italeri model building with all it's pin marks, sink holes, soft plastic and non-numeric sprues. It takes some getting use to. BTW, load up on the putty too. LOL

SWS, will have to look it up, not sure myself.

zipmeister wrote:

Hey guys,  I also bought a SWS w/ flak 43. By the way, what does SWS stand for?  Thanks Zip

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/italeri/it6434.htm

Here's a review for you Steve. It says its a schwerer wehrmactsschlepper. Whatever that means in English.

Yup. Schwerer Wehrmachtschlepper.

Schwerer means "heavy", Wehrmachts means "of or pertaining to the Armed Forces", and Schlepper means "carrier" or "hauler".

So it's a Heavy Military Hauler.

jthurston wrote:

Yup. Schwerer Wehrmachtschlepper. Schwerer means "heavy", Wehrmachts means "of or pertaining to the Armed Forces", and Schlepper means "carrier" or "hauler". So it's a Heavy Military Hauler.

Wow!..Thanks guys. See this is what a group biuld is all about! Learning cool stuff like that.

Thank you

Zip

I've started my Puma and didn't even get through the first night without screwing it up.  Spent the next night repairing the first night's screw up.  Hopefully, it won't be too obvious once I'm done.  When applying future, do you paint it on with a brush or air brush it on?

Thanks,

Ron

   Comet nice to see you got started on some thing else. Is that the old crusader of Italeri legend. Could you please email me with a rough list of the problems with the Sahariana. I'm at present also working on the wheeled warriors GB. with a British army fox from accurate armour, another piece of crap but its been lying around the gaff years.

The problems I have with the sahariana are as follows:

• For a brand new kit the tooling is bad with flash every where, when I was a kid a local newsagents sold old frog kits for 30 to 40 pence, they had flash but cost buttons.
• The fit of parts in general is Ok-ish but on smaller parts is bad.
• there was absolutely no need for the resin or etch as italeri are well known for their ability to mould fine detail.
• The resin figures are nothing more in quailty than the figures they produced in plastic 30 years ago.
• the resin parts were broken, warped and badly designed.
• Please from now on Italeri, Leave multi media to people who can do it well, and stick to doing good quality plastic kits at good prices, with interesting subject choice.
• while this is just my opinion I think the kit rubbed me up the wrong way from the start.

I think when I finish this kit I will probably look back with a kinder heart and softer memories.

I'm going back to the work bench now after CSI.

Regards,

Terry.

terry35 wrote:

Comet nice to see you got started on some thing else. Is that the old crusader of Italeri legend. Could you please email me with a rough list of the problems with the Sahariana. I'm at present also working on the wheeled warriors GB. with a British army fox from accurate armour, another piece of crap but its been lying around the gaff years. The problems I have with the sahariana are as follows: For a brand new kit the tooling is bad with flash every where, when I was a kid a local newsagents sold old frog kits for 30 to 40 pence, they had flash but cost buttons. The fit of parts in general is Ok-ish but on smaller parts is bad. there was absolutely no need for the resin or etch as italeri are well known for their ability to mould fine detail. The resin figures are nothing more in quailty than the figures they produced in plastic 30 years ago. the resin parts were broken, warped and badly designed. Please from now on Italeri, Leave multi media to people who can do it well, and stick to doing good quality plastic kits at good prices, with interesting subject choice. while this is just my opinion I think the kit rubbed me up the wrong way from the start. I think when I finish this kit I will probably look back with a kinder heart and softer memories. I'm going back to the work bench now after CSI. Regards, Terry.

Sorry to hear of your woes Terry. The problems you listed are one of the things that make GB's so informative. They help others and others can usually assist in solving problems.

Hey tigerman,

I just want to say you are certainly hosting a fine GB. I have to take time out to let you know how nice it is to sit down after dinner, after working all day and go to the armor forums and see there is always something  going on in this GB. Last weekend I finished a GB ( my first ) posted pics, told my little story about my build and thanked the GB members for including me and thanked the person who started the GB. The deal is I don't think anybody knows it yet. It's been five days and nobody has visited the site yet. I'm not looking for any great coments, it's just when I posted the pics you could see it was along time since anyone posted. I had to go back about 6 pages to find it. And this is a current build. When I posted, it felt like I entered a big empty warehouse and set my pics in a box out in the middle somewhere wondering if they will even be noticed. You know what I mean? And I'm kinda getting the feeling with some other GBs. It's great when they first start but kinda lose steam after a week or two. But not this one. There is always something going on and I just wanted to let you know its a great GB.

Thank you

Zip

Thanks Steve, I'm glad you're enjoying it. I've been pretty involved in 4 GB's: Panther (which I think holds the all-time posts record in the Armor Forum), Stug/Sturm, Elefant (which was my first hosted GB) and now this. I'm having a ball so far. Yes, sadly some group builds are more involved and chatty then others. I'm frankly overwhelmed by the response in this one.

My whole idea was to expose members whom might never have even thought of Italeri as a manufacturer as a viable altenative to the big boys. They have some very unique subjects, such as the one you're working on. They are reasonably priced too! Sadly I have one more Italeri kit in the in-progress stack. I've been watching Ebay for others. Right now they have a bonanza of ridiculously priced 234 armored cars. Check them out.

This is a little progress update. I'm still working on my pictures so please bear with me. I know the first sucks and why. Please tell me if the 2nd or 3rd is better. Thanks. The purpose of the 1st is to show some of the puttying I've had to deal with. The others might show some too.

Edit. Crud, what a difference natural light made. The second was taken in sunlight, the third in sorta shade. The first was under a lamp, but on the wrong setting.

Hey Tigerman, your last 2 pics are just perfect,  they show quite a bit of putty work

How is your kit for accuracy?    I always been tempted with this one, but never really had a chance to get my hands on it. It looks like a good alternative to somebody who don't want to pay to much and still have good details.

I had to do some surgery on the inside of my hull.(Panzerjager) Too much is showing with the poor arrangement of the suspension. I like when the suspension works in a closed AFV, but in this case, it just doesn't look good inside. Of course, after cutting, hacking, scrapping and puttying, my hull looks like something right out of a modeler's nightmare. Lots  and lots of sanding on my schedule for the next few days  

I'll try to get some pics done this week end

J-M

Thanks Gun Tech. As you can see the biege shape MG is the Tamiya one as mentioned awhile ago, this is probably incorrect as far as accuracy. The reason that I included it was the kit's was full of flash and lacked detail.

Yes, plenty of putty, but far less than my Sturmtiger. The Pak 40 is pretty sparse in detail sans the gun and chamber. When it's installed you'll hardly notice the difference. The biggest bummer to date is the floor which has two pin marks right into the grating. I had no idea how to correct it, so I just left it be. After all, I'll be the only one who really get's to see it. . It's a decent build, but sparse on some detail, especially the gun and interior. I'm sure Dragon or Tamiya will come out with one someday, but I'll probably pass, since this will look like one when done. The directions have a few steps that you have to be really careful on, like one of the front hull plates, as far as lining up correctly. If you want a simple build, then by all means go with it. If you don't have the patience, hopefully one of the big boys will come out with a new one.