So I spent several hours last night (sorry, my fellow modelers who ordered 3D prints from me - they’re being delayed) examining the 3D printed parts, comparing them to reference photos on Prime Portal, and comparing them to Vodnik’s masterpiece work found at: M60A1 AVLB gallery (Thanks to @petbat).
The bottom line: I am disappointed with the details and accuracy. For a $100 conversion kit, I was expecting something better. Overall, it appears to be an improvement over the OOP Dragon kit but not mind-blowing improvement.
Goods
- Having been in 3D resin printing gig for sometime, I see that the print quality is very good. Minimal warping, clean prints, and easy support removal. Test fits were good with the ones I tried.
Except for these that had one piece completely missing and one misprint - one bottom part had a print failure (see the center one).
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Most parts are there to make a descent M60A1 AVLB - corrected numerous errors in the Dragon kit.
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The instructions are not too bad. Much better than other AM resin kit producers.
Now Bads
- Some parts are incorrectly shaped or oversized and did not correct the errors in the Dragon kit.
Like this one - Too big or wide:
Reference photos (courtesy of Prime Portal)
Vodnik corrected the size by scratch-building his - see how the kit part dimension is more like the Hobby Link’s:
The hatches are pretty disappointing - oversized, soft details, carrying over the Dragon’s errors:
Here’s what Vodnik did - corrected on the left and the Dragon kit on the right:
Should be smaller:
Another photo of Vodnik’s scratch-built:
One more close-up of Vodnik’s:
The cable reel is improved a little from the Dragon kit but still retains a wrong shape/width:
Vodnik’s reference photo. Real object on the top and Dragon’s awful job below:
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Some needed detailed parts are completely missing.
a. Does not include the smoke grenade launcher parts or attachment parts:
b. Completely missing any parts to convert the rear of the vehicle:
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Now comes the biggest disappointment of the 3D printed kit (literally and figuratively):
The bridge is overall incorrectly shaped (the length seems OK), has soft details, missing a lot of noticeable details, and has many accuracy issues (especially with so many rivets).
Real thing on the top and the Dragon’s on the bottom (photo courtesy of Vodnik):
See how Hobby Link’s erroneously copies the Dragon’s. Tapers too narrowly:
Another reference photo to show what I am referring to:
Now comparing to Vodnik’s awesome scratch-built version:
More close-up photos of the resin parts
Hobby Link did a poor job in my opinion. A lot of incorrect or missing small details are hard to show with camera b/c of the cream color of the 3D printed parts but again, disappointing.
Another very obvious missing detail is the complete lack of a rail on one side of the bridge:
See this reference photo to see what I mean:
What’s up with that?!
There are also minor, annoying inaccuracies like incomplete anti-skid patterns and wrong hole placements (or lack of).
Verdict
I cannot recommend this kit if you are looking for an accurate, vastly improved version of 1/35 M60 AVLB compared to the Dragon’s. Luckily for me, I can correct and add the missing details by CADding and 3D printing but that’s going to be a lot of work and time.
I may have to completely CAD and 3D print new bridge parts - and that’s going to be many hours CADding, a lot of resin, and a long printing time. 
Very disappointed on that.
My initial excitement quickly died after examining the bridge parts.
Some silver lining is that this gives me an opportunity to produce a more accurate 3D printed model, provide it to those who want one, and recover the cost by selling it. What I don’t have is time however…
Welcome your thoughts.
Kind regards,
James
