If can wait Tamiya just announced a new Hellcat kit The Modelling News: Preview: Tamiya's American Tank Destroyer M18 Hellcat in 35th scale
If you where not set on the Academy version.
4 Likes
yeah. just noticed that.
*sigh. the mantlet cover DOES look very nice…
1 Like
The word that it will be released at the end of year. If that holds, you still have a good amount of time til the end of the campaign but you might have to order direct depending on the time lag from release to your part of the world. Probably a guessing game for most folks.
1 Like
I saw the announcement on the M-18 this morning. NICE. I’m a happy camper.
1 Like
Fantastic! Been waiting for nice modern release hellcat, I’ll defintlely be looking at getting that
That would be nice having a Hellcat, a new one in 1/72 scale. Us small scale toilers don’t have an injection plastic Hellcat, the TD I mean.
…and here I gave up on seeing a new accurate one and acquired an AFV Club one a couple of months ago, intending to scratchbuild the fixes needed. At least it was only $15 AUD at a swap meet.
1 Like
Got some work done. The lower hull is just a few parts.
Here we have the gun. Leaving the breach block off until I decide what to do later. Want to find some figures I can put in the turret.
Minor knock out pin marks on the front of the turret and in the center. You can see some residue in the shell holders.
Dry fit with a figure for scale.
133 tracks per side, not counting 266 pins…
We’ll see how long it takes me, might do a few at a time.
8 Likes
Got some more work done on the archer, baby step this time, getting the 3 price idler mounts together and then adding 10 really small PE bolt heads. Lost two to the carpet monster but the kit comes with two spares thankfully!
That finishes up the suspension mounts running gear and idler. Up next, tracks, however I’ll be using the Friul set, and I’ve never used metal tracks before so I want to make sure I have a good 3-4 hours to tackle them so I’ll leave them till the weekend and start on the transmission section tomorrow. If all goes well the doors to the transmission housing should be fully movable once built!
6 Likes
Okay, this little guy it is:
Which should be fun, and reasonably straight forward.
Note that buoyed with my previous success at getting Tamiya to release a brand new kit as soon as I mention the older version I have in the stash, (hellcat) I’ve placed a subtle but enthusiastic hint for them in this photo. I know this goes against the grain of normally three quarter completing an old terrible kit first, but I’m on a roll here. Sh*t. It’s not even a terrible kit. But I want a nice new Tamiya, ya know?
6 Likes
Well folks I have carted my Hetzer off to work and have managed to get some building done tonight. I am roughly halfway through stage two of the instructions but the picture below shows it at stage one completion.
5 Likes
Got quite a bit done on the archer today. Got the rear plates on and finished up all the parts for the transmission bay. Tomorrow I plan on painting it. I wanted to do tracks today but need a smaller drill bit that should arrive tomorrow.
8 Likes
Well I’ve been chipping away at the hetzer again whilst I’m at work and I’m about start stage 6 which will be working on the upper hull.
5 Likes
IMPORTANT INFORMATION !
when you finish your build in the designated time, you will need to send me a PM with a completed build picture attached so I can keep track of the people who should receive medals.
4 Likes
Duly noted 
Progress on the ZIS-30. This thing is so little that I needed to recheck if it was really a 1/35 scale kit and I thought the T-70 was small…
Anyway, some pictures to show progress.
Next…tracks… 84 pieces per side
8 Likes
