u/matiasluge90

I’m not usually one to speak negatively about model-building products, but I’m making an exception here—if only to prevent others from making the same mistake: Be careful with the Mirage IV P Starter Kit from heller.

Although it’s a seemingly simple kit with only 80 parts, it’s so riddled with flaws that a decent assembly isn’t possible—or is only possible with extensive rework—as shown in the pictures. Even though I double-checked everything, the parts don’t fit together quite right—the two large fuselage sections naturally have pins and sockets, but even when using them, there’s a misalignment of over one mm at the front, and the nose isn’t straight.

The interior is just as bad—the cockpit could only be attached to the correct spot by removing 2–3 mm of plastic from another part. Because of the thickness, I had to melt it away with a knife heated over a candle.

Afterward, there was a 2-mm-wide gap at the top of the fuselage, which I filled with model cement, etc.

I’d personally describe myself as slightly experienced in model building (I post my photos on sites like Unsplash https://unsplash.com/de/kollektionen/40635609/finished-scale-models), but this is the first time in at least six years that I haven’t finished a kit—instead, I threw the plane away. As far as I can remember, I’ve only had problems with mismatched parts in Heller kits, and unfortunately, that happened quite often.

If you havent already, check out her Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@WatchitforDays

The Cruiser Tank Mk VI Crusader (shown here in the Mk II version by Italeri) was a British tank that was primarily deployed on the North African theater of war starting in 1941.

Needless to say, but none of this is AI generated.

You can find these and more of my scale model videos and photos on pexels: https://www.pexels.com/collections/finished-scale-models-namo0un/

The Cruiser Tank Mk VI Crusader (shown here in the Mk II version by Italeri) was a British tank that was primarily deployed on the North African theater of war starting in 1941.

From the very beginning, the Crusaders exhibited significant quality defects: On-site in Africa, it took about 200 man-hours per tank just to make the vehicles operational. The range a Crusader could cover before the engine or transmission failed was 400 miles, making the 1942 model the army’s most unreliable tank.

The main problem was the Liberty engine, which lacked a cooling system—a fatal flaw for a tank, especially one deployed in the desert. The factory-installed emergency cooling system, consisting of fans and a water pump, proved disastrous: the necessary crankshaft chain became increasingly worn down by sand until it began to skip, damaging the sprocket on the crankshaft, which required a three-day repair process to replace. The water cooling pump itself was poorly designed and quickly developed leaks.

Combat losses were high, and the tank was unpopular with its crews due to technical problems, even though it was generally a match for German tanks. However, because it was armed with a 40-mm cannon and lacked high-explosive shells, it lacked the ability to effectively combat German anti-tank guns. Due to its own weak armor, the Crusader was virtually defenseless against German anti-tank weapons. With the end of the North African campaign, the Crusader was consequently declared obsolete and taken out of service.

Source: Wikipedia

 

Needless to say, but none of the images is AI generated.

You can find these and more of my scale model photos and videos on pexels: https://www.pexels.com/collections/finished-scale-models-namo0un/