Getting close to being finished

Hello again everyone,

Thanks for tuning in. Well, we're just about ready to finish the M103 build.

I've done some work on it lately, but not as much as I would of liked too. I've finished up some of the detail work on the hull, put the turret and gun barrel in place and other little stuff went on as well.

I had to re-glue some items back on caused by builder error also. What do you have to re-glue? Well, the turret side grab holds and the rear turret storage holds as well. Next time, those go on last.

Anyways, no major fails or issues to report this time around. I hope to have summary comments and thoughts about this kit and build for the final entry.

Here's some progress photo's:
Top and lower turret parts before mating.

Top and lower turret after mating.

Turret completed.

The next to last photo here I put in to show the rear turret clearance between the exhaust and back of the turret. It was hard to see in the blog photo's when this first came up.

Well, that does it for this week, I might have more progress later on this week.

Until next time..............see ya in the funnies....................................

We're at the Half-way point.

Hello everyone.

Welcome back, did you miss me! I know, with every bullet. LOL.

Made some good progress yesterday in the build, but also run into some fit issues that put the build into a hold until this morning when I could get a better grip on what needed to be done to fix them. More on that later.

Anyways, right now I'm at the half-way point in the build. Here's some progress photo's.

Torsion bars and shocks install.

Assembly

Dry fit.

Glued in place.

Next item on the list was getting on the fenders, tool boxes. Now if you've been watching closely I've been doing just the larger items and doing the smaller items later. If the smaller item is needed to complete a larger piece, then I'll go ahead and put it on. 

Case in point......................................

Note Part A7, step 3 in manual, front left, next to part A5, towing hold. This part should be put on when installing fenders. Current placement is not were fenders fall into place.

Parts A7/A8 of step 3 in manual removed for refitting of the fenders.

Part A7/A8 now in correct placement with the fenders. Note small gap following the hull and fender side wall. 

That was challenge number 1 with the fenders.

Challenge number 2.
The final drive sprockets. They have these micro tabs, which are very hard to see, on parts C16 that are to mate with parts C19/C20. Luckily you'll have a spare if you mess one up by not getting the tabs to connect correctly.

Tabs are hard to see right.........

Marked with red marker, there they are!

Challenge number 3.

The rear deck exhaust and rear of turret clearance.

Now, I should of checked this earlier in the build, but I didn't so I had to do some modifications to make the rear of the turret clear to exhaust shield.

I believe we have a small challenge.

Angle is not letting turret clear. What to do?

When you look at it from the photo's one will see the amount of removal needed. 

Cleared the rear now.

Notice the height difference now.

Cleared and level. 

Oh, almost forgot! Did a fitting of the tracks. By the way, the rear exhaust issue wasn't addressed until after I took these photos.

Not a bad fit overall. Easy to install, no major issues like other tracks where you almost always break something putting them on.

Well, that does it for this week folks.

My apologizes for the photos if they have not been too clear. I've been using a Canon Power Shot A540 digital camera on a tripod. Also these are the tools I've been using for these build.

Nothing fancy here. LOL

Next weeks blog: Turret, gun assembly. Final detail work and maybe some paint. We'll see about the paint.
Hope you've enjoyed this so far.

See ya in the funnies....................

Rear Deck Assembly.

Hello everyone,

I've come across an interesting find while looking at the rear deck. Are there two version! Hmmm, which one to choose? The parts in question are as follows and come from the "D" sprue: D1, D3, D35, D36.

Far left is Part D36, bottom center are parts D1, D3.
Do not use these.  

Manual showing part B28. B29. 

Dry fit for parts D1, D3, and D36: note the gap. Not good.

 Assembly of the rear deck had some minor fit issue on the right side with part B28/B29. This side needed a little trimming to make it fit.

Parts B28, B29 in place

This is the left side, note the gap, you may need to do some filling here.

Right side looks clean. Smaller gap, still may need filling. 

Dry fit of rear deck. Sides need to be pushed in a little.

Now, the rear deck and the whole rear hull area will need some sanding and filling to get things look pretty "normal."

So far the build is coming along nicely with no major issues other then what I've just mentioned. There has been very little to no flashing issues with this kit.

Side note here: I'll be starting up culinary school again tomorrow night, classes are Wed., Thurs., Friday night (was on a Summer break), so I'll be working on this during the weekends.

Please post any questions or comments here or at Armorama.com,  just look for the M103 build blog there.
I'll try to answer any questions to the best of my abilities.

Thanks for tuning in.

Next up, torsion bars, road wheels install, turret, and gun.

See ya in the funnies.............................

Starting the Build. Step 1; Road wheels, return rollers, sub-suspension.

Hello everyone!

Inspection of the kit found nothing out of the normal. No missing, warped, or bent parts or sprues. However, I did notice something interesting with this kit. I'll try explain this as we go.

Well, here we go with the start of the M103 build.

Step 1: Road wheel, Return roller, and Sub-suspension assemblies. (Actually, this is steps 1-4 in the instruction guide.)

Dragon has provided 3 sprues of parts for this task. Now, I'm not sure why, then again, a spare one is always nice to have in case of the unforeseen screw up happens during the build.

Sprue "C" 1 of 3 provided in the kit.

Blue areas, don't use or extras. We shall see.

During assembly of the road wheels, I made a test one first to make sure everyone fit. All good there, no challenges. See photos below.

Test fit

Mass Production

Next were the return roller. This was done in the same way as the road wheels.

Calls for 6 per side, 5 shown ready for assembly.

Finally..........

Ready to attach return rollers to upper hull.

Noticed this during kit inspection and assembly. So this got me thinking. Hmmmm, could this be what all the fuss was about with this kit?

Note the sprue tags.  Sprues C(x3), D, J are labeled M48. Sprues A,B,E are labeled M103A1. Sprue J is labeled M2/M2A1 (which is for the Dragon Half track kit.) And a new sprue for the final drive, sprue H (not shown.)

Looks like a little research is going to be needed.
So it's off to find out what is going on here. Google away!!!!!
In the meantime, while that is going on, I'll be starting the rear deck and finishing up the hull details.


Stay tuned........this might take a while until the next post.

Intro to the blog

Hello everyone, welcome to the M103 Heavy tank build blog.

The following blog will be based in the opinions and observations of a humble modeler.
I do not claim to be an "expert" or a "rivet counter." It's a hobby.

First, I'd like to thank Mr. Jim Starkweather and Mr. Darren Baker over at Armorama.com for giving me the chance to review this kit.

Now that the formalities are out of the way, let's begin with a little history on the kit.

Back in Oct. 2013, Dragon Model's announced at the 53rd annual All Japan Model show that they would be coming out with the 1/35th scale, M103 Heavy Tank, "Black Label" Smart kit. Needless to say the Modelling community was a buzz with excitement. Then in February, 2014, the kit was released. That's when things got interesting.

The "experts" came out of the closet and total ripped this kit apart for not being "accurate" and some went as far as claiming that Dragon was "misleading" modeler's.
And so began a very heated, very nasty debate on varies Internet modelling sites, including, Armorama.com on the kit's short comings which still is on going, but has died down from what it was.

Now, the goal with this build/blog over the next few weeks is two fold.

First, this will be an Out of the Box build with no after market parts added to the kit.
Second, to point out some of the issues with the molding of the kit in general, pot marks, component fittings, overall ease of build, etc.

I hope you enjoy the build.