M123 tractor, M819 tractor/wrecker

Denimo · 20 October 2022 19:55

Hi All

I saw an article on these vehicles, released in resin by a European manufacturer. Dont know if theyre recent releases - or it was an older article.

Any ideas who released/stocks them?

Also, anyone know how to buy Mininman Factory models?

Their site is being replaced and I dont like FB.

Thanks all

Denimo

Waldorf · 13 March 2023 23:10

Just got the M123A1c Tractor and it is made by Hobby Link of Vietnam. It is not resin put 3d plastic printed. Nice kit also got the M172A1 trailer.

m75 · 14 March 2023 14:52

I just finished the cousin of the A1C, the M123E2 from Hobby Link. Interesting build, and a lot of detail!

Kenaicop · 14 March 2023 15:17

Wow, 3D printed, incredible, and great build!

Stryker45 · 15 March 2023 08:26

@m75 Jim, that looks fabulous. Can you share more photos? TIA

PiotrK · 15 March 2023 08:50

I want him!!

m75 · 15 March 2023 15:32

There is also a reasonable powerplant/transmission that can be seen with hood off, but no provision for hinges, so mine is just left loose. There are winch control handles in the cab, but other control handles (per the TM) are not present. But Hey!! This is a 3-D printed kit, not AFV Club, and overall looks pretty damn good.
Note:The top views give a good look at the rounded profile for the tires. The tires come with a really square profile, and I spent a good afternoon sanding the eleven tires to a proper shape. The owner of Hobby Link indicated that this re-shaping will be caught up in future builds from the developer.

Further edit: The two winches are marvels, but presented a challenge. Normally a winch drum is a stand-alone piece that we can easily wrap the replica cable around to give bulk and proper appearance. These winches are one-piece with supports in place that prevent wrapping the drum. Of course, one could always cut the braces away and re-install, but for me, the winches were already attached to the floor plate, which was attached to the chassis rails. So, I used tissue paper/white glue to obscure the drums and used solder for the visible winch cable seen in the images. A good work-around, but re-engineering the braces to be separate parts would help a great deal.

Comparison of kit tire profile, and after some judicious sanding… I found the resin in this kit to be a bit easier to sand than most aftermarket resin parts.

m75 · 15 March 2023 15:35

How did the trailer parts look when they arrived? I’d like to pick one up, but I’m concerned about large, flat pieces staying straight and true during shipping. My M123E2 frame was carefully wrapped in cushioning material, but was still warped and required some careful/frightful hot-water rescue work.

Waldorf · 15 March 2023 16:33

I thought before I bought it that it was plain resin. These were 3d printed and far better detail than I had anticipated. Everything arrived in big enough box to protect everything. After reading your comment I went back to check all the parts and they all look good. The trailer frame is packaged with a piece of balsa to keep it straight. The tractor frame was taped to doubled over cardboard and was straight. It is a shame that the companies kits are hard to find. I bought mine online from Wanamaker Hobbies outside of Indianapolis.

HeavyArty · 15 March 2023 16:38

Apparently, Wanamaker is his only US distributer. The company was recently (last year or so) formed in Vietnam and listed some upcoming products here a few months ago.

Chris at Wanamaker is great to deal with though. I bought their M52 conversion from him and was very happy. He will put you on a waiting list for their products as he can’t seem to keep them in stock. They are selling like hotcakes.

wolfhound113 · 15 March 2023 19:15

If you are interested in arcane trucks and vehicles, check out the website of Van Natta Bros, a family firm, who do sustainable logging in Oregon. Apart from pretty good photos, there are lots of anecdotes, like what you can do with an M123, and what you definitely should not do with an M123, and how to keep them running in the hard life of logging, and lots of technical details about what made the M123 so different (and why they loved them.)

This page is dedicated to their M123A1C’s:
http://www.vannattabros.com/truck6.html

Warning: don’t start reading the site before you go to bed or like me you’ll still be reading at 3 am.

Marc

Stryker45 · 16 March 2023 04:02

Jim, appreciate the extra photos and information. You extra attention to tires made the final result look awesome! Again, I am glade to have seen it and I will be grabbing one.