^^^ what said.
In general most of the sets do suffer from quality issues like resin shrinkage.
For storage, I would recommend Value Gear.
http://valuegeardetails.com/GermanWWII.html
http://valuegeardetails.com/GermanStuGWWII.html
I don’t have any photos, but I have used their sets. The sculpting is nice, but there tend to be ropes and straps that have snapped off of the tarp and some details break off in the mold. If these issues were fixed I would happily use them.
@Mead93 @taylorrl Speaking from experience, Black Dog products are very overpriced, usually undersized, and of dubious sub-standard casting quality. What you see on the box and what you get in the box are always two different things. And when it’s one big pile, you’ll spend more time filling and sanding voids and pinholes than it would take you to collect and build that pile yourself. If it’s the right size. I’ve had Black Dog stowage sets where only 50% of the parts were usable. Then I made the monumental mistake of dropping $200 on the Black Dog M1142 TFFT conversion. Probably the biggest purchasing error of my modeling career. Parts were too small, partially cast, had voids in them, were warped, didn’t fit together, had pinholes - I got a lump in my throat as I went through the kit and realized it wasn’t even a good guide for scratchbuilding. I’ve never felt so ripped off in my life (except when I took the family to Disneyworld). I regret that I do not have photographic proof for you, as all of these items have been binned and I would never sell them on to somebody else. I will continue to warn my fellow modelers not to make the same mistakes I did and avoid Black Dog products. Who knows, you might get lucky and get a good set, but for the prices they charge I wouldn’t take that chance. There’s too many manufacturers out there putting out high quality, less expensive stowage items.
I am not a #6.
I can’t comment on these particular sets. But I have purchased several other sets and have never been happy. And I did post photos to my 1/48 Deuce and a Half thread. I may have also posted to one of the M109 threads about how the PE floor was incorrect. Impossible to correct - had to be made from styrene.
Good to know! I am early in my investigation of what stowage would be correct for an eastern front half track in 1942 but now I know to avoid black dog!
Those look very nice!!
I can’t comment on the casting and size, as I have never purchased any of their products, so I bow to the experience of SSGToms. My main beef with them is that they seem to favour an “overloaded” look. In previous issues for armoured vehicles, especially German ones, they have provided sets that obscure vision devices, block access to escape hatches and block engine air intakes, none of which are likely on a vehicle with a sensible crew IMHO.
I used one of the more extensive Black Dog conversions:
It was a lot of extra work to make it fit and I really did my best. Finally I got tired of it and decided to make my own setup.
On the other hand, I have several accessory sets from Black Dog which I liked.
Mario
I r3emember that biuld. Hell of a nice build. And also remember thinking that was a lot of work for a part that should have slipped into place, and that there was way more storage than we ever used on our gun trucks. Seems to be a theme with their stuff.
