Hey All,
Quite some time ago, I got the Meng 1/35 D9R Armored Bulldozer, not too long after the kit came out, 2013-ish. This was before Meng came out with the second D9R kit, the one that includes the slat armor in plastic. I’d like to know if anyone knows, FOR SURE, if there is any difference between these kits EXCEPT for the styrene slat armor. I ended up getting a whole bunch of aftermarket stuff for the first kit, including the Eduard BigEd set, and the ET Model set for photo etch slat armor. I notice that Eduard came out with a different numbered set for their photo etch of the control panels between these 2 kits, so I’m wondering if there are more differences than simply the addition slat armor plastic. While I love the detail of photo etch, I’ve always worried about how much work that slat armor for the D9R would be, and I’m happy to be a wimp and go with the plastic version. But, are there additional detail differences between these 2 kits? Thanks!
A quick look at the instruction sheets for both kits on Hobby Search or elsewhere will show that the sprues are identical in both kits, as are the instruction steps themselves, except for the slat armor. The slat armor kit was also updated with metal rods for the hydraulic cylinders and easier to assemble tracks (two pieces vs. the original 5) but this has no impact on the kits themselves as far as differences go.
Looking at the Eduard sets on Hobby Search as well, they also look identical for both kits, despite the different numbers.
I think the second version had a change in something to with track tension.
A couple of minutes of googling-
Thanks, gentlemen. I appreciate the input!