NigelR32

We'll need that for the wing roots on the 32nd Lanc fuselage.. I've had an RB Riveter for years, but I'm scared to use it. I should practice some more because i want to rivet my HE-111 stalled build and also add rivets to my 1/32 B-24.

I admire your work there Ted. You have the patience of a saint!! I keep picking this kit up and putting back in its box. I do a couple of hours work on it then get tired of the multi panel assembly and fit issues. I have used .010" shim around the belly where it goes into the wing section and also in the leading edge fillets at each end. I could spend 100 hours on my kit and it won't be even close to as nice as yours is gonna be!!

Just a quicky.. If you have this kit, check your lower wing section. It looks as though the area that wraps around the air intake/radiator was a solid lump of flash out of the mould, so an operator has carved the flash away. On my kit they also carved away a section of the wing!!

I haven't given up on these builds guys, or started something else, I have been very busy working on my 1:1 scale Ford GPW restoration project. As soon as I get done with all the "dirty stuff", basically stripping things down, I will get the opportunity to get back to the bench.

Now that is how to write a review!! Thank you very much for an honest unbiased review, even though the kit was supplied to you by Revell. I guess one has to as one's self the question, "Is the Tamiya Spit really worth the cost of six of these"??

Hi Paul, Take a look at post #3, it explains how to make the axle steerable.

Gimme Gimme Gimme!!!!!

Now that would make a great diorama lawman, but why would you want to bury all this beautiful detail in the mud?? Perhaps a rolled over scenario with the wrecker being pulled back over by a diamond T 980/1?? I have been working on my Cargo truck among other things, so have been a little slow on this one.. here we are with both chassis up to the same stage. The Cargo is on the top of the picture. Just look at all that lovely detail!! Now I can get on with the engines and bodywork. I will use a little bit of the upgrade set on this one, but not much, it's so good OOB it doesn't really need much AM in my opinion. Thanks for looking in.. keep me posted on what you think..

I have been a little quiet here lately, enjoying some top down motoring, fiddling in the garage and playing with my Puppy. I haven't forgotten my commitment to get this one finished, it is just so blinking great!! I have finally got both the wrecker and Cargo trucks chassis to the same state, so now I can concentrate on the engines and bodywork. If you look really closely, you'll see the subtle differences between the Cargo and Wrecker chassis, top and bottom respectively. The Cargo has longer bed rails and blanking plates where the crane X member mounts are fitted to the wrecker. Looking at the detail front and back, we can see this kit is very nicely moulded indeed... The topside... Underside... The transfer case and brake assembly is beautifully rendered, and a very involved little build. Some trimming of the cross member is required to get the assembly to fit into the recessed underside, but nothing too difficult for an average modeller... Thanks for looking in on this very involved and satisfying build.

It really is a very well detailed kit indeed Paul. The plastic is a dream to work with as well. It's no quick build, but it is a very rewarding build.

Hi all, it's been a while since I posted here... the good weather got in the way!! I thought I'd show you the work I've done to make the rear suspension a little tougher and perhaps easier to assemble? You can see in the first pic that the pivot for the centre of the rear leaf spring is just a small stump which goes into the hole on the bracket behind it.. Note I have also added brass puins to positively locate the axles on the leaf springs. I have drilled out the bore of the mounting and the leaf spring pivot with a 1.6mm drill to fit a 1.6mm brass rod into the three parts as an axle.. Once assembled, the brass rod and axle mounting pins hold the assembly together to allow alignment while the glue dries. Thanks for looking in, more to follow in the next couple of days.

I mentioned earlier I would show how I've done some small mods to this kit to, in my opinion, improve it.... Here we are then, starting with the front axle and steering gear... As you can see here, the brake backplates and swivels and mounts are beautifully detailed and work very much like the real thing... if you go to the trouble of making the steering work. On the left of the picture you can see an assembled hub and alongside it the parts that go to make up this hub. If you carefully glue the backplate to it's mating half, sandwiching the ball, the assembly will swivel and in fact stop at its extent of lock due to the moulded on lugs which poke through the slot in the outer part. The tie rod and lugs on the backplates will need to be drilled out with a 0.5mm drill to enable the steering to work. You probably won't want to "play" with your model, but having the choice of pose is a bonus. When the axle halves are glued together the representation of the U bolts is not good due to the limitations of injection moulding. The front axle is quite visible on the finished model so this little mod is worthwhile... Simply cut the raised moulded detail away and drill a 0.5mm hole at the corner of each top plate. sand the area smooth between the upper and lower plates using a cut off section of sanding stick. Note, the webs at either side of the plates are not flash, they are supposed to be there!! Insert some plastic rod or stretched sprue through the holes and you'll end up with something like I've got here..... Note, I have also added brass rod to the upper part of the axle to give it a positive location on the leaf springs. At the front of the shot you can see the steering gear all assembled and ready to go onto the axle. Thanks for looking in, I hope this hints and tips help some of our younger or less experienced modellers go the extra mile...

I can assure you, you won't be disappointed. I read about this kit and was thinking I'd like to give it a go. I don't enjoy "shake 'n bake" kits at all!! Then... I saw it built up at the Milton Keynes show and just HAD to have it. I bought it from a trader at the show and did a review immediately. Now I'm building two at the same time!!!

Why thank you!! Compliments are always gratefully received !! To be very honest, I really don't see any big issues with the Mirror Models diamond T kits. Yes, Mirror Models are now sending me review kits, but it all started when I bought this Wrecker kit and posted a very positive review.

So, I've been slowly working through the sub assemblies of this great kit and have got this far... All twelve wheels are assembled and ready for finishing once the glue has had a couple of days to cure fully. I don't quite know why, but these wheels just look so "right" to me, when compared to other 1/35 kits?? I think it's something to do with the way the tread finishes on the sidewalls?? There are many little sub assemblies which go to make up the running gear for this kit. It's a lot like the real truck in every detail... I will shortly be showing the first of my recommended simple mods to improve the look of the finished model.. it involves cutting, drilling and plastic rod or stretched sprue... coming soon... The Chassis is identical to the wrecker here. there are a couple of small differences around the rear mounting points for the body later, but the foundation of the chassis is identical. I'll now get the chassis built up so it can be left a few hours to harden, in stages, just like I did with the wrecker. Thanks for looking in, please comment or criticise as required...

A very small update for you here... I have started work on the 968 Cargo Truck with Hard Top Cab so progress on the Wrecker will slow for a few days. My objective is to get both chassis to the same state then simultaneously build the bodywork structures. However, I had already started on the cab before the Cargo truck arrived. I thought I'd stick a picture up here to show the lovely detail inside the cab.. note the beautifully moulded floor plate. Back in a few days!!

To be honest Steve, those tracks look stunning!! Have you glued them solid or will you leave them "working"?

1/35 Diamond T 968A Cargo Truck with Hard Top Cab Mirror Models Catalogue Number 35803 Available direct from LZ models at €50.00 For many years the modelling fraternity has been waiting for an injection moulded Diamond T in 1/35 scale, low and behold, we had two at the same time and now there's a third kid on the block!! The Merit Models 980/981 M19 Tank Transporter has recently been released, as has the 969A Wrecker from Mirror Models which is a very nice kit indeed. Now mirror Models have released the second 'T' in their range in the form of this 986 A Cargo truck. The Diamond T 4 ton series of trucks were all built on basically the same chassis, using the same power plant and six wheel drive. Pretty much all the trucks had a 151in wheel base, as per this kit, except the Pontoon truck which had a 172 in wheelbase. Production of the hard top cab ceased in June/July 1943, and the soft top cab was fitted to all models. Mirror models is a fairly new company, who make a small range of kits, all being unusual subjects not commonly covered by the big injection moulded manufacturers. They make a great little line up of CMP chassis' based vehicles with resin and PE in most kits. They have now started on the Diamond T 4 Ton chassis by the look of things, promising a Dump Truck and a special purpose truck in the near future. So, on to the subject for this review, the 968A Cargo Truck. This is a very crammed box of plastic!! Once you take the 10 Sprues out of the box you will not get them back in easily!! On top of the 9 Sprues of grey plastic and one of clear, you get a small decal sheet, a Photo Etch fret, vac formed cargo canvas roof and some rope. Although most of this kit is identical to the wrecker, I will do a full review here, rather than refer you to the wrecker and just show the differences here. Mirror Models have received some criticism on other websites regarding the size of the sprue gates, small id numbering on the Sprues and poor packaging. I will state here and now that none of these issues detract from the finished model and have been addressed on this kit. Libor has reduced the gate size on this kits new Sprues, enlarged the numbers and used sealed bags much like the Eduard type with a folded glued flap at one end. There are various statements that parts have been improved on this kit over the wrecker, in my opinion nothing needed improving!! Enough of that.. what's this kit all about?? I believe this is the first colour box art from Mirror Models, very nice in my opinion... On the side of the box there is a colour 3 view of the truck, less canvas. The first of the Sprues, A, provides the main chassis rails, crossmembers and drivetrain. all moulding is crisp with well defined bolt heads and casting ribs where required. There are two Sprues labelled 'B' and there are two of each of them, totalling four B Sprues. The smaller Sprue covers the wheel parts, the larger is filled with various parts such as axles, springs and suspension components. The moulding on the leaf springs is exquisite. Note they are moulded as halves, to avoid sink marks, which are very difficult to sort out on the sides of leaf spring stacks. You will notice throughout this kit, the minimal use of ejector pins on actual components, a godsend!! Sprue C is also from the Wrecker kit and includes all the engine components. It should be noted that the plastic used in the production of this kit is very nice to work with. It is neither soft nor hard, but has pliable tough nature to it. even the thinnest of parts will flex without snapping, but will spring back into shape immediately. Again, Sprue D is from the Wrecker kit. We still have the open louvers in the hood panels and gorgeous chequer plate moulding on the fenders. Now we move onto the first of the dedicated hard top Sprues, S. here you can see the use of the larger id numbers and smaller, lessened gates. It's nice to see a manufacturer listen to it's customers.... We have beautifully moulded door interior detail, note, no ejector pin marks!! The second dedicated Sprue is 'X', covering the cargo bed. Again, we can see the reduced gates and larger part numbers. There doesn't appear to be any wood grain detail on the side rails, which is probably better absent than overdone?? Would it actually be seen in 1/35 scale anyway? The rear facing mud flaps are lovely, with exquisite moulding on both sides... The last Sprue we will look at dedicated to this kit is the clear sprue, 'U'. When I say clear, I mean CLEAR!! Here we can see there is no distortion whatsoever when looking through a windscreen panel. The Vac-formed canvas for the Cargo bed is just that.. vac-formed which I am not a great fan of, but Mirror Models suggest using tools to score and bend to your hearts content, or even using it to mould a new canvas from tissue paper and white glue??Now there's a good idea!! It's nice to see they have included the cargo canvas, giving us the choice to use it or not. There is one sheet of PE in the kit, measuring 105 x 30mm with 21 parts such as the engine fan and forward mud-guards. There is also a small Decal sheet measuring 105 x 50mm supplied giving two serial numbers and all your dashboard gauges. Note there is also a short piece of thread supplied for the winch. The other side of the PE fret is shown next.. Next up we have the Decal sheet blown up, making it all so much clearer The Instructions are supplied as 8 sheets of double sided black and white A4 paper. Again, there have been complaints about this format, but I really do like it. I find it much easier to flick from page to page rather than go through a book style set up or even worse a map style fold up sheet. You will see over the next 16 shots how clear and complete the instructions are. This kit is definitely not for beginners as it is quite a complex model to build, which makes it so much fun for the more experienced modeller. It is far from a shake and bake kit, but is not as bad as some reviews or comments of the wrecker would have you believe. There will be pin holes too small for their mating pin and some faces will need a light sanding to smooth them out before gluing... this is modelling after all!! When finished you will proudly say, "I did that". Thanks go out to Mirror models for supplying this lovely kit for review and build here on LSM. I look forward to building their upcoming releases, including a WW2 caterpillar D7 tractor I have started a build log for this kit here. Go take a look, it's a really nice kit to build...if it's anything like the Wrecker?

Mirror Models 1/35 Diamond T 968A Cargo Truck What a surprise when the postman delivered this yesterday... this is the brand new kit from Mirror Models of the Diamond T 968A Cargo truck with Hard Top Cab. Obviously, most of the kit is based on the Wrecker, which I am also building here on LSM, but don't fear. I don't intend to show only the differences between the two kits, but also cover the whole build in detail. I will discuss the little changes I have made to the kit learned from the Wrecker build and show how I've done these changes. There aren't many required, but you may be interested to see them? If you follow the instructions, the first stage in the assembly is to build the wheels. There are a couple of changes made here, 1. I haven't added the Brake drums to the wheels at this stage, preferring to add them to each axle as I go and 2. As with the wrecker, shim is required between the wheel rim halves if you're fussy like me. here's how I went about doing this..... Basically, when the wheel halves are put together there is a small gap at the join of the two wheel rim halves when the tyre join is good. The flat side of the tyre could be sanded, but I have chosen to shim the gap using 0.010" card, (Actually I have used two pieces of 0.005" card as I ran out of 0.010" sheet). I first cut the sheet into 12 off 18mm squares then glued them to the wheel halves with no hub. Once the glue has dried, I had to use superglue BTW, I roughly cut out the centre of the card. Then the two halves are glued together and clamped for a few hours to dry. I should mention that the best glue to use on this kit is Tamiya Extra thin Cement. Some other popular glues don't touch this plastic?? Here are three wheels ready for finishing. Then the excess sheet is sanded down to give a straight and cylindrical seamless join just like the real thing. So, just the twelve wheels to do, then it's time to move onto the engine, or chassis, or axles.....?????

Thanks Steve, I must say, without any doubt, this is a very satisfying build. The extra work required in cleaning up the sprue gates, instead of endless filling of ejector pin marks is very rewarding. It doesn't "fall" together, but I certainly wouldn't say it is a "bad fitting" kit as some have said. Just wait till you see it finished, you will want one!! I now have the 968 Cargo truck as well, which is a hard top. Watch this space for a review and build....

1/35 USA Air Compressor Mirror Models Catalogue Number 35050 Available direct from LZ models at €TBA Here we have a brand new addition to the growing range of kits from Mirror Models in the form a beautifully rendered replica of the Kellogg compressor used both militarily and by civilians during and after WW2. The kit actually contains two full kits, presented in a sealed plastic bag measuring 150 x 250mm. Each sprue contains 21 parts to build one Compressor. Here you can see both sides of the Sprue. The wedge shaped parts are actually the bed sides for the wrecker. The Instructions are presented in Black and White on a double sided slip of paper. Having built one of these already as part of my Diamond T Wrecker Build, I can confirm the fit is pretty good. I actually used a drop of Mr Surfacer around the leg to cylinder joint, and took my time sanding the end of the cylinder, part K1 to blend it into the cylinder itself. Here's a couple of pics of the built item, before paint. Just in case you're wondering about the size of this little gem... These little compressors will be a great addition to your dioramas, especially if you're planning a garage scene or full on maintenance in the field scene. Thanks to Libor of Mirror models for this review sample, kindly sent direct from his premises in Ireland. Highly recommended.

1/35 M36 Truck Gun Ring Mount with M2 Browning Gun LZ Models Catalogue Number 35442 Available direct from LZ models at €15.00 Following my Review of the lovely Mirror Models Diamond T Wrecker and on-going Build, I would like to share with you a little aftermarket accessory set from LZ models, Libor's sister company to Mirror Models. If you decide not to use the Soft Top option, you may decide you'd like to add a little aggression to your soft skin Wrecker by adding this M36 Gun Ring Mount? In fact, this ring mount could be used on other trucks also... As you can see, the detail offered in this update set is nothing short of brilliant!! Note the finely cast clamps at the base of the tubes, also of note are the nut and bolt heads. The set arrives packaged in a 90 x 130mm sealed bag, with the resin parts wrapped in Bubble wrap. My sample arrived direct from LZ models in Ireland totally undamaged.There is no evidence of any bubbling or major distortion. The set contains 16 resin parts, plus 36 lovely little bolt heads, attached to their casting bloc in groups of 12. There is also a small PE fret containing 11 parts and measuring 55 x 12mm. the PE fret is sealed on both sides with plastic film, which I personally like very much as it prevents the parts being "picked" off the fret when slid along a surface and also helps prevent satisfying the hunger of the dreaded carpet monster. You also get a small piece of wire in the set. The cast detail on the resin parts is up there with the best aftermarket suppliers, note the well cast breech and cooling jacket on the barrel shown here. Some more close up detail on the mounting arms and ancillaries. Bolt head detail on the ring itself. The instructions are included as a colour printed double sided A4 sheet of paper. They are very clear and even include an original period drawing of the gun ring mount. So there you have it, a reasonably priced upgrade for your Mirror Models Diamond T or other Allied Truck kit, although this set is designed to be fitted to the Diamond t 969A Wrecker with soft top, as shown in the instructions. Thank you very much to Libor from Mirror/LZ models for this review sample. Watch this site for a build feature soon. Highly recommended.

It certainly is Paul, imagine how good it's going to look under a coat of primer??

1/35 Canvas for Diamond T with Open Cab LZ Models Catalogue Number 35440 Available direct from LZ models at €3.00 If you have looked at my Review and Build of the Lovely Mirror Models Diamond T 969A Wrecker, you may well notice there is one part not included in that kit, the Soft Top. I do not know why, but Mirror Models decided to market the soft top roof as an optional extra to be purchased directly from Libor at LZ models, his sister company to Mirror Models. For the miniscule sum of only €3.00 you get a vacform clear roof in the erected position and a piece of stiff wire to make the internal frame. The part comes packaged in a little sealed 78 x 100mm bag protected with a "lump" of bubble wrap. My sample arrived direct from LZ models with no damage whatsoever. Of course you may decide not to bother with a soft top at all, and instead plump for the M36 Truck Gun Ring Mount with M2 Browning? This little update was supplied courtesy of my wallet and sent in a timely fashion direct from Libor. Recommended.

Just a little note.. I panicked this morning!! I noticed that moulded into the roof of the cab interior is "1/38 Diamond T"...See step 13 in the instructions above. Well, don't worry if you see this, I have measured the chassis length and it is about 0.5mm too long for 1/35 scale. Phewww!!