So, I took the plunge and got a couple of QRF D1s instead of the resin Gaming Models ones or Irregular Really Useful Guns I've been planning on getting. That 20% discount was very attractive.
Here they are blatting some Hitlerite invaders, and they don't look too bad do they? Well, these big boys were a right bu**er to assemble. I don't know if they were missing some parts, perhaps they were. The main problem was that they had wheels, trails, barrels and gun shields but no apparent means of putting them all together. Perhaps the gun mount was missing? The wheels just had little stubs and no axle so presumably they were supposed to stick to something.
I did get them together in the end by building a gun mount out of foamcore, slathering it in blu tak and superglue and then shoving all the bits together and hoping for the best. The blu tak gave it a bit of flexibility while the glue cured so I could keep adjusting the angle of the various bits on both guns simultaneously.
In the end they came out OK, but oh dear, what a faff.
Being heavy guns, they come with four crew figures included (one of the really good things about QRF guns) although to my untutored eye they look suspiciously like Cold War Russians as I'm fairly sure Y strap webbing is a post 1945 thing. The US 105mm howitzer crews who were similar, clearly Vietnam era gunners in flak jackets etc. In this scale it doesn't matter too much, just slather them in paint and they look like Russians.
View from the side. The pile of blu tak the gun barrel is sitting in can be seen but it isn't too obvious from other angles. I just did this in overall Russian Green with a bit of a highlight.
They came out OK in the end but not an experience I'd care to repeat. I may just have been unlucky, QRF stuff is normally fine, but I'd struggle to recommend these to anyone.
Well, these big 'uns look OK. If I'm wanting axles, I go for the straight bit of a paper clip (which I used to resurrect a munted Opel blitz a few days ago), toothpick, or the middle bit of a cotton bud. I hoard the cotton buds I use, as handy for all sorts of modelling uses.
ReplyDeleteI have a small collection of toothpicks which are equally useful, as well as various shapes and sizes of card, foamcore and plastic offcuts which are useful for all sorts of bodging.
DeleteWell done on passing an exercise in ingenuity I don't want to take myself
ReplyDeleteYou matriculated with full battle honours!
I think I might have sent and email or two - maybe asking for a refund and a return to sender
Some models are just a bit harder to build. Nothing will rival the card Schneider CA1, this was easy in comparison.
DeleteThose have turned out nice in the end, shame it took so much hassle to get there.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Pete.
Thanks Pete. It was just a bit puzzling.
DeleteOnce done, they make a fine addition to the force, but yes, a royal faff that does seem to suggest something is missing. Good old Blu-Tak!
ReplyDeleteThanks Norm. My modelling technique does seem to rely very heavily on blutak!
DeleteWell done - I too loathe metal kits! Wooden cocktail sticks are useful as replacement axles.
ReplyDeleteThat would require me to drill out the wheels. That sounds like far too much effort :)
DeleteI have the RUG version. It comes with a set of generic components common to all the bigger Soviet guns with only the shield, gun barrel and wheels differing.
ReplyDeleteThe trail legs are separate right and left parts and have slots which connect to a sort of base to which the wheels attach. The gun sits on top of this but there is no cradle or even a locating pin to hold the gun.
So even if you had bought the Irregular version, an amount of construction and bodging would have been required to hold it all together!
When I get around to them, I think I will make some sort of cradle to hold the gun.
Neil
I've got quite a few RUGs, and yes, some of them are a bit of a pig to put together.
Delete