I just happen to have finished my IJA Type 89 today and the Postman delivered this this morning. I’ve been waiting for this kit. It’s just so cool. I believe it is the world’s biggest tow truck. Since this kit is fairly new and I haven’t done a blog in awhile, I thought I’d blog this one. This should take me a while!
The molding throughout is beautiful. As you can see, PE is provided generously. The only thing this kit needs is a set of resin Miniarm wheels, and those will be here in 4 days. I think this kit will keep me busy until then. So, I’m going to dive in now and updates soon!
This kit has enough going on for me so it’s going to be OOB except for the AM wheels. If I see any kit details I can improve along the way, I’ll do it.
The frame and drivetrain components completed with a steel ruler to give you an idea of just how big this bad boy is. It should finish out at about 28cm!
Work continues slowly on the suspension components of the huge truck. The MAZ-537 base parts of this kit show heavy mold use with very heavy mold lines on all parts and some flash, requiring complete all-round cleaning of each part. This gets pretty tedious when they are suspension parts and there are 8 or 16 of them. Parts fit is kind of loose and sloppy, too. The new KET-T parts look much better.
On a happy note, the truck’s wheels arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon. The mailman didn’t come until 4:30. I swear he goes home and takes a nap in the middle of his route.
The wheel set is perfect and fits up to the model with no modification required. This set came in a record 5 days from Australia via Australia Post, who tracked the package for me right to my door. Good on them!
Checked the instructions and the sprues - there is no engine - so I’ll just whip up a black box to go between the louvres of the engine compartment.
Wow that is super nice. I am popping more popcorn and watching this.
Trumpeter does a great job on their Maz chassis.
Now for a great big question , how much better are the resin wheels and how much?
Nice project. I have been meaning to purchase this truck but keep getting side track with other kits/subjects. There are so many cool subject matter especially since trumpeter has been doing all those heavy Russian transporters. To many to keep up with.
