It’s rare to make a Dragon kit these days. Is Dragon’s AFV still in distribution now? I think the price has gone up a lot. This time, I’m trying to make a German Army eight-wheeled armored vehicle.
At first, start assembling from the part like the frame of the lower part of the vehicle body.
The wheels and suspension of an eight-wheel armored car are quite complicated. It looks like a puzzle with many parts. If this is the case, it might be easier to set up a connected type of track.
Although this assembly is delicate, it is designed and arranged in such a way that the parts cannot be installed incorrectly. It is easy to assemble once it is touched. Repeat the same pattern 8 times, so I will get used to it.
It was 16 years ago that I built an 8-wheel armored Puma with a similar kit. It was a long time ago. I feel sad that the quality of making hasn’t changed at all. But Dragon had a pretty good kit quality even this long ago. It was said that Dragon might be over Tamiya in those days. But it’s hard to build on the trend that the finer the parts, the better the kit.
With the Japanese yen weakening, it may be necessary to be prepared for unpredictable fluctuations in the future. It has been pointed out that the value of Japan may be declining, while exports and inbounds are favorable. I think it is necessary to adjust the balance by reducing the consumption tax and introducing an inbound tax. There are indications that higher interest rates could lead to a stronger yen, but there are also concerns about mortgage and government bond issues.
(2024/04/16)
The reproduction inside the AFV body is quite high. I wonder if I can see a lot if I look at it from above. I think this AFV is open-top.
When I put together the components around the undercarriage of these eight wheels, it looks like it can move, but I guess it can’t. They will all be glued together and no part can be moved.
It has a lot of periscopes and small windows, probably because it is a vehicle whose main duty is to do reconnaissance. It must be 360-degree visibility.
I’m not sure how much I can see from the top of the armored car, but I roughly painted the inside of the car with a flat white base, gas mask cases, seats, and shell racks. From the looks of it, there are only 6 shells in the rack, and there is no other space where they can be used as stocks, so they may not focus on fighting.
It has a specific decal only where I can’t see much. The meter panel of the driver’s seat was fixed from the top and came with a small decal, so I put it on. But I think it’s almost invisible around here.
Israel and Iran are not adjacent to each other, so it would be difficult to escalate into a ground war. While they’re mostly trying to keep each other’s pride and shooting drones at each other for a bit, it might still be marginally safe. It would be quite disastrous if something force majeure happened and they started fighting with all their might. Some of Iran’s very high-speed missiles appear to have hit their targets, and they may have shown themselves capable of nuclear attack. It now appears that Iran’s self-control prevents escalation.
(2024/04/20)
I thought for a moment, why don’t I just put the top part of the car over the top and take it off so I can see inside? But the top and bottom parts don’t match well. In addition, the side skirt has to be fixed, so I think it is impossible to leave it without bonding due to its structure.
Since a large amount of Jerrycans are piled on the top of the side skirt, the parts are assembled. This Jerrycan is excellent. The opening and handle are precise, and there are many processes such as inserting the etched part in the middle, so it feels very precise when it is completed. The reason why there is no fine engraving may be because it is fixed with a belt and cannot be seen. There are a few more parts, so I want to assemble them, but only the middle etched part had exactly 6 pieces.
The upper part of the car is completed. I had a hard time with many parts. However, there is no odd part division, and there is no cutting and pasting of large parts, so I think the assembly is relatively smooth.
The short barrel and gun frame are being assembled. This is surprisingly difficult. I mean, the illustration is hard to understand.
I will finally start assembling tires. In addition to ordinary tires, there are also tires that are the selling point of this kit, and the detail of 6 parts is fine. It was only for two tires. This seems to be a new mold. However, I thought that the appearance would not change so much even if I compared them, and in fact, the finished product might get dirty due to the glue sticking out, so I used the same type of tire this time.
OK, the car body is almost ready now. The precisely reproduced wheels and suspension look complicated and mechanical, which is cool. As expected, it is a manufacturer that built an era.
There is a Japanese comic called “Dangers in My Heart.” I read this recently and this romantic comedy is so funny. It’s so interesting that it’s hard to turn each page. I’ve been reading lazily, but I’ve reached volume 6. I’d finish a few volumes, reread from volume one … and come back to it after reading a few other comics. Maybe it’s because I’m quite old, but I miss the feeling of being young. The description is detailed and all the characters are very likable. This writer is a genius. I had no regrets when I bulk-bought. It is a peaceful and healing world. The animation is also popular, so this quality makes sense.
(2024/04/24)
The assembly is almost complete. The gun part has a hollow, but it is only put on in form. It may be good because this gun is easy to paint even small details.
Gold shells are lined up on the shell rack that I can see briefly, so it can be a nice accent.
The side armor plate is quite thin and realistic for the injection.
I tried putting a turret on it, and I don’t think I need to glue it.
I like the way all the car-width poles are etched parts. The angle to bend is difficult but suitable. It also contains plastic parts, so we can choose as we like.
The overall details of this kit give it a firm impression. The selling price has gone up a lot, so I don’t have any complaints except the price.
The recent sharp depreciation of the yen against the dollar has made it difficult for the general public. The central government appears to be deliberately inducing the yen to weaken. The weak yen inflation will increase the country’s revenue. Income tax and consumption tax will also increase. It has the same effect as collecting real taxes from depositors without raising taxes because the savings of the elderly and the rich are automatically depleted. Tourists consume a lot in Japan, but foreign workers stop coming, so Japanese employment increases. The idea of reversing the idea of purposefully making the country poor. I think it’s better to raise interest rates little by little.
(2024/04/27)
I used black for primer. There are a lot of complicated parts, so even if there are unpainted parts, I think it will be good to be shadows. Especially the lower part of the car body such as the suspension. The inside of the car is masked.
I have been using Gaia Color dark yellow for a while. I like this color because the color tone is just right. This time I made dark green and red-brown into thin strips.
Decals are attached and small parts are painted. I’m sorry that all the decals on the car number are separated by numbers. It doesn’t have to be so divided. The rest is finished with light weathering.
In Japan, it is the holiday season called Golden Week. I’m a little disappointed that I have a cat and can’t go far. There are more cat hair loss than usual. It’s getting warm, so maybe it’s the hair-changing stage. The cat’s tongue grooms his hair and he throws up when he swallows a lot of loose hair, so I finally used a Furminator. This brush was quite effective because the special comb teeth removed the undercoat. My cat didn’t hate it. Beware of this kind of popular products, as they will soon be faked. The fake ones don’t have a serial number, the teeth are improperly machined, and the protrusions on the grip are poorly processed. This time I bought it at a home appliance store, and the package said it was a genuine product, and the cat hair was completely removed, so I think this product is a genuine one.
(2024/05/01)
I was doing a lot of other things during Golden Week, and the progress was slow, but it was finally completed. The 8-wheel armored car Stummel is an open-top car, so the inside, outside, and underside of the car are complicated to assemble and paint.
I thought it was cool that this spare tire was diagonally attached.
When it was finished, the inside was also wide enough to see, so it was good to paint it properly.
I used the antenna that was included in the kit. It is often replaced with a thin metal wire, but the antenna tapers from the base to the tip and gradually becomes thinner, so the attached parts may be more reproducible. But it might be a little thick. The real thing is not very thin, so how is it scaled?
I could choose between MG42 and MG34 machine guns, so I loaded MG34 this time. It is a very good part because it claims to be a superb mold of Gen2 standard.
The marking this time is the German Army’s 116 Armored Division. It is a unit known by the nickname of Greyhound Division. It was formed in March 1944 from the remaining units of the 16 Armored Grenadier Division and the 179 Reserve Armored Grenadier Division. It formed troops that were off the frontline due to heavy losses in the battle of Stalingrad, etc. After the Battle of the Bulge, they were active until just before the end of the war.
The underside of the car was also painted and lightly weathered. In the case of tanks, the underside of the car body is flat and invisible, so it is often not painted.
This time, I didn’t finish it according to the painting instructions, but it didn’t mention details. I think the color tone of the paint and the weathering are well-balanced.
In the war in Ukraine, a crack appeared in the defense line of the Ukrainian army toward Kupyansk. Russian troops occupied Kisrivka. I think the Russians could go south from the Belarusian border and attack Kyiv, but don’t they have that much maneuverability? I think the Ukrainian army is too exhausted to turn its forces to the north. Why was that timing when the war started? I remember it was too muddy to maneuver outside the road. Was the start of the war a bad time considering the Beijing Olympics, or did he underestimate the U-armed forces? Now the muddy period is over, and I think they can march better. On the other hand, I am worried because there are reports that France has officially sent its first Foreign Legion to Ukraine.
(2024/05/07)
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