Panda M109A7

[JacquesD]

Carefully now: I am looking over M109 kits and yes, I have a Panda M109A7. Two things stood out:

1. The lower hull of the AFV Club M109A6 (and Italeri M109 kits) is significantly shorter than the Panda M109A7 kit. I have not found any source saying it, but was the lower hull stretched or entirely new lower hull?
2. What are the issues with the Panda kit? I have seen several posts about some things, but no one-stop-shop for the ills of the kit.

[18bravo]

The lower hull is completely new. Initial prototypes were based on an altered A6 hull, and that’s where the problems began. The Panda kit was based on a prototype, and no one seemed to notice.

If you haven’t seen this, it’ll get you started.

Main deficiencies:
Duke box missing tone of detail - vents, hatch
Missing radiator filler hatch on engine deck
Underside is ficticious save for the two triangular portions
Rear hatch opening has the wrong shape
There should be no holes for the spade mounts (left over from original prototype)
Roof details wrong in many areas. Roof hatch on left is ficticious.
Missing semi-circular access cover on engone deck
Driver’s Enhanced Vision unit poorly detailed

That’s a start - not just a few misplaced bolts and misnumbered parts in the instructions.

Here’s a little more:

Build a Better Paladin, Part Deux

Wow. I managed to get waylaid for a whole year on this. For anyone new to the discussion, the Panda M109A7 kit may be contender for worst modern armor kit of the 21st Century, along with some Black Label kits. Yes, it’s that bad. If you scroll back for the link to original thread on the old Armorama site it seems to not be working, so I’ll try it again: https://archive.armorama.com/forums/286988/ The next correction that needs to be made is on the engine deck. The louvered portion is noticeabl…

[JacquesD]

Thanks, I knew that there were problems but that explains it the way I needed to hear it.

Panda kit can be built as a fictitious 3-meter build…OOB and leave it at that. Pre-production, good enough.

Too bad I cannot use the lower hull/suspension as a guide for new tracks for the RFM kit. Trying t be cheap without having to buy the RFM kit.

[18bravo]

The RFM upper hull is about 3 mm longer than the Panda upper hull. It shouldn’t make a huge difference. I’d make the lower run the correct distance for the Panda kit, and add an extra single link on each side just in case it’s necessary.

RFM on the right:

[18bravo]

I forgot to mention, those tracks are spot on - about the only thing they got right. I haven’t assembled the RFM tracks, but the Panda tracks were actually easy to do, albeit time consuming. THAT is what RFM should have copied, not the mistakes.