Attack Grille Ausf. H
Finely moulded parts, excellent fit, beautifully done tracks, clear instructions and a comprehensive decal sheet - 5 things that have nothing whatsoever to do with this kit. Definitely a model for those with masochistic tendencies, which apparently would be me since I built the thing.
The kit fenders needed to be scraped down to a thickness that would make a microbiologist green with envy in order to get them to fit and as I have the patience and attention span of a Ritalin kid I elected to replace them with PART photo etched fenders. I used the set that was intended for the Munitionspanzer but PART also does a set for this kit which includes a whole new gun shield. Of course, that set was out of stock when I wanted one so I was forced to enrol the overly thick kit part in the "scrape and sand weight loss clinic". Sometimes you have to wield a firm hand with the plastic you love. I need to get out more...
The gun barrel, exhaust and gun lock were weird mutated things so I made new ones from plastic rod and tube. The track teeth were taken from the aforementioned photo etched set and these went on much more easily than I thought they would. They improve the look of the poor kit tracks dramatically - well, from a distance anyway. Finish was Humbrol enamels and the kit decals were used. The decals are actually quite nice - thin with good adhesion and density and the black and white of the balkenkrueze are printed seperately to avoid register problems. I have no idea if they're accurate however. Since the exact same decal sheet seems to be included with all of Attack's 1/72 38(t) kits I highly doubt it.
This model took ages to build because it kept being put back in the box in frustration, but I must admit I'm fairly happy with the end result. And the good news is that I have a nice stock of mutant plastic bits left over that I can feed to the annoying yappy mutt that lives next door. And you thought modelling was anti-social.
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