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Forums - Modelling / Kits |
The kits forum is for the discussion of model kits. Typically questions on availability or certain subjects and quality of existing kits are posted here. Short reviews are good here too. |
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| Subject: | Trumpeter Karl - Review |  |
| Date: | Oct 16, 2004 |
| From: | John de Rosier | |
Well, it's here and I have to speak up (apologies to David for getting to this first...).
One word sums up this kit: Wow. Having waited a good decade for this kit, I can say this kit fulfills nearly every hope and expectation.
The tan sprues' superb crisp detail made me pinch myself as a reminder that I was not looking at Tamiya stuff. Trumpeter's models just keep getting better. This offering appears to be even better than their Leopold, and Dragon's version is so completely outclassed by this model that it isn't worth discussing. This may be Trumpeter's finest effort to date.
In spite of being - IMHO - a FIVE STAR kit (that rating should deter any who say I am "bashing" this kit by pointing out some shortcomings), some modellling may be required. I thought I'd begin by pointing out a few areas I noticed looking at the sprues:
Rims on the Karl road wheels are thick, and don't capture the steel-rimmed look of the real thing. Some thinning may be required. But the radial, raised dash pattern is subtle and looks very good. Wouter Seipman mentioned mold shifts on his kit, but mine look no worse than what I might get from any other mainstream company. YMMV. Mold shifts were a problem on my Leopold in places.
As on their Leopold kit, the leaf springs for the rail trucks show some slight sinking. This is one of the worst places for sinking because short of rebuilding, it's almost unfixable. I raise this issue becaue with their SA-2 Truck and trailer, Trumpeter showed they know how to deal with this problem - the same way Tamiya has - by molding the springs in two interlocking male/female pieces. The back sides of the kit springs are nice however, so with some clever putty work, the sinks can be hidden by simply turning the springs around (I did this on my Leopold).
Braking pulls (undercarriage details) that were so intricately rendered on the Leopold are not present on this kit, To Trumpeter's credit, this may simply be due to a lack of reference material. Shouldn't be terribly visible anyway.
I'm not a fan of one-piece tracks, so here's hoping Friul comes to the rescue. Even so, as vinyl tracks go, these are pretty nice with some nice details, including the proper holes in the guide teeth.
Knockout marks: most are well hidden and shouldn't be too much of a problem. From what I can see, they did a pretty good job on this. Even so, again, some modelling may be required.
Other: I had two visibly warped sprues. Shouldn't be a huge issue, but thought I'd mention it. On another sprue, one very tiny broken part. Always check for tiny broken pieces before throwing out the sprue bags on any kit! Also, be sure to wash the sprues. Every Trumpeter kit I have purchased is heavy on mold-release, and this kit appears to be no exception. I'll put up with it for thiis level of detail, however.
No cast texture on the mortar recoil housing.
Two-piece elevation gear may be a pain to clean up, but we'll see how it goes together.
OK, so that's the bad and the ugly. Now, on to the beautiful:
The decks for the rail transport trucks are state-of-the-art injection molding, the equal of if not better than Tamiya or anybody. The raised, non-slip toothed surface couldn't be improved by Aber. Really, it's that good.
Scale thinnness of parts. Wherever I look in the kit, having consulted the Jentz book, Trumpeter just gets it right (or as close to right as reasonalbly possible in styrene) over and over again. Before I had my kit in hand, I thought I might re-do the handrails in brass. I actually might use the kit offerings. They're really impressive - the handrail parts are interlocking. The folks at Trumpeter were reallly faithful to the original. Wherever I look, I can find no sloppy work on this kit.
Bonus: raised lettering on rail transport truck hub caps is without parallel. Unbelievable. Return rollers are similarly embossed. Main gunsight is superbly rendered. I thought I might want to replace it with an AFV Club offering until I looked at the parts close up.
Instructions are straightforward with clear, well-detailed diagrams and good english. Packaging of the parts is on par with Tamiya's large kit offerings.
Also included, two frets of PE parts, full set of decals, poly caps, springs and rods for the recoil assembly.
As I look over this kit, it's clear that this is an accurate, faithful rendering of the Karl and its rail transports, with fastidious attention to detail that exceeds such milestone efforts as the MIniArt Studio resin Karl. Moreover, it demonstrates that Trumpeter is rightfully claiming a spot as one of the top names in plastic model kits, with their brand becoming better known as a hallmark of real quality.
For a more detailed look, go over to Terry Ashley's site and check out his excellent reveiw:
http://pmms.webace.com.au/reviews/vehicles/trumpeter/tr00209.htm
Also, an in-progress build-up can be found here:
http://geraet040.web.infoseek.co.jp/karl_trumpeter_kit.html
John |
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