Hanomag Assembly Completed

Finally, after far too many months, assemblage of the Hanomag is complete. I blame looking for a job for getting in the way. I learned a very important thing about working on armoured vehicles, there is a multitude of small parts that require trimming and sanding. I'm thinking WWII aircraft is more my thing at this point. However, I will finish this model! Let's get on with it.

Suspension assembled and attached.

After adding the top half of the hull, there was a bit of a gap at the back so I decided to try the Mr. Hobby White Putty that I had in my stash. I'm really not impressed with the stuff. Even after curing over night, it breaks when sanding and comes out of the gap. Squadron green putty for me thanks.

When getting the front cover flush with the top of the vehicle, there was a considerable gap on both sides.

Time for some tape and putty action with some Squadron green!

Sanding and clean up.

At this point, I glued the back doors shut. I was tired of having them continually flop open and they didn't quite close right either.

I nearly lost this piece to the carpet monster at least twice while trying to cleanup and attach this part. Thankfully, I found it both times.

Since this hitch didn't really have a realistic bolt, I wasn't satisfied just leaving it. I stretched some sprue and was going to trim the middle piece out and put it in the hitch.

So that last plan was a pain in the butt. As I was fitting the replacement bolt, it popped out of the tweezers like little parts do and was never seen again. I removed the remaining bolt and tapped a hole straight through. This will be a boltless hitch from now on!

The middle of the process attaching the front parts.

The completed front end.

Well, that's where it is at the moment. I'll be cleaning up the model and preparing it for priming.

At this point I suppose I'll give my layman's opinion on the quality of this kit. This is an older Tamiya kit from 1973 and it definitely was not as pleasant of an experience like the Spitfire. The raised rivets made it extremely challenging to fill and sand out any gaps that occur, maybe that should be expected with amoured kits? I really have no idea as this is the only one I've done. The instructions are overly simplistic at times. On at least two or three occasions, it left me wondering how exactly some parts were supposed to fit together and it was up to my best guess. Some parts just didn't fit that great, not the worst I've ever seen, but the Spitfire was far better. You'll have to deal with quite a few ejector pin marks, some flash and plenty of seam lines on small parts.

After this build completes, I already have my eye on the next aircraft...when this whole job search thing pans out.