Sub-assembling

Progress

To begin the assembly I glued the cabin into the framework. It settled in pretty decently. I chose to leave the front grille off still so that I could paint the engine compartment somehow nicely. The best result would've been achieved by painting these separately as well but that would've led to the glue-paint mess and I really didn't want any of that if I could avoid it.

While the cabin's gluing was curing I assembled the exhaust pipes and then glued these rather complicated setups into the framework. Those holes I had to drill ages ago were very well positioned and of the perfect diameter so I didn't get any more grey hairs while installing.

Then I proceeded to the spare wheel rack. The instructions told to use a bunch of PE stiprs to hold the wheel in place. That didn't appeal to me as I wanted to keep the wheel off for a good while still. So I used a couple so that I could slip the wheel in and out without a fight. The rack itself was neat.

A tactical choice

I decided to build the next few main subassemblies separately again instead of blindly following the instructions. Again I'd first assemble them, then prime them and basecoat them all separately. Only then would I put them in their places and attack the truck with some sort of a camo. I was thinking of checking how the Ukraine-invading Green Men looked like. Or I'd just paint some kind of sand-coloured bands to break the form a bit.

Following these guidelines I had just made pu I left the wheel rack on its own and continued on the next piece. Not that I could tell you what the function of this one was, but I can tell that it had boxes on it. This'd be located just behind the wheel rack, below the rocket tubes in the transport mode.

After the mysterious box setup I finally got to start working on the final missing main component: the M-21 Field Rocket System. I had been waiting for this for a long time, a long time, as this was going to be the crown of the whole model.

The base of the launcher, the system that controls the traversing and elevation of the launch tubes was fascinating. It had plenty of space to adjust the position for the pieces, but as you can see in the first photo below, the elbow joint locked the launcher's vertical angle when it was glued together. I was boring and left the elevation at its lowest setting, so it would look ok in the transport mode as well as in a firing position.

Some plumbage

With my experiences so far I was somewhat scared of how long I'd spend working on the 40-tube launcher. Cleverly the launcher started being formed with three 8-tube rows, with each tube getting a rocket's tail end glued in. Of course I could've left some of them open for a partial load, but I went with a full loadout so that it wouldn't run out of rockets that quickly. A fully armed and operational vehicle, just the way I've always liked them.

Then, on top of the triplet built earlier I built another almost identical 8-tube row, the only difference were the missing top attachment points. After that, to hold the packet together from the sides I built two 4-tube rows (or columns in this case?). I was honestly surprised by the sheer weight of this tube setup as it was actually a bit on the heavy side.

As soon as the glue had cured I attached the launcher's tubes onto the elevator mechanism and then added the last missing decorative and supporting pieces around the tube pack. During the next evening I built the last missing parts, which included the traversal and elevation controls and the PG-1M panoramic telescope that's used to aim the thing. Now I was a bit disappointed that there was no K-1 collimator for those who are into dioramas... That piece could've pushed me over the edge.

That was it, I think. Next I could start priming this monstrosity for real.

Cabin fever

The cabin and the controls

Last time I got just about finished with the framework, this time I glued on the last missing pieces. That included the steering system's attachments to the front wheels, both of which were three-piece monstrosities but attached very nicely to the wheel cores and as expected, locked them straight. That wasn't an issue as I wasn't planning on doing a diorama.

After all this tiny stuff it was nice to get to do some broader strokes, so to say. I assembled the seats to the cabin. Of course the pedals were tiny, but not problematically so.

You couldn't really tell by the photo, but the back wall of the cabin was built out of two pieces. Luckily the rear glass pane (and all the other glass panes int this kit) were to be installed from the outside, instead of being sandwiched between the wall pieces. This allowed me to leave all the windows off without a care until I was done with the painting. And I didn't have to mask them both in and out, either.

The driver received a very flimsy-looking steering wheel, a handbrake handle, the gear shift lever and the aforementioned pedals. That stick that was installed in front of the map reader didn't really say anything to me, but I assumed that it had something to do with the rocket launcher's controls. That or the Soviet view on user (driver) ergonomy was on par with the British one...

A ridiculous number of tiny knobs, dials and PE bits were to be installed on the dashboard. Luckily I had no fitting issues with them and each settled in perfectly. There was also a decal for the dashboard but there was no way in hell I was going to use it here.

A curious control box was to be installed on the middle of the dash, just in front of the middle beam of the windshield, I guess I could've built it open but I went with the instructions and left it shut. There was also a complicated setup that was installed on top of what should be the glove compartment, in front of the map reader. I assumed it to have something to do with aiming the rocket launcher itself.

At this point I decided that I'd assemble the cabin as far as I could without severly crippling my ability to paint its insides, so I was going to leave the doors and the roof off for a while still. My idea was to minimize the amount of shadows, considering the paintjob, but also to minimize the post-painting gluings. Maybe I found a good balance point and maybe I just cocked it up, we'd find that out soon enough.

Getting outside

At this point I was quite pleased with the two-part setup for the doors. Thanks to my strong pareidolia I was very amused with the right end of the inner part of the door, as I saw an amusingly horrified face.

Before anything was too far done I dry-fitted the doors into their slots (so I'd see if something was skewed wrong) and just for the fun of it I laid the whole setup on the framework. It actually worked nicely, this'd go well in the end.

I really have to say that I liked the emount of details in the Trumpeter kit, but damn, did it make my progress slow. While gluing the different handles and levers to the doors I was thinking that I had worked on the Ural truck for over a couple of weeks, on and off, at my usual pace. No, this was most definitely not a "shake the box and you've got an assembled model in your hands"-like Tamiya, not by a long shot. But what's more fun than a set that offers you plenty to do?

I guess the lightning bolt shapes in the doors were to make the beast a bit faster-looking?

I managed to get the front bits of the truck, or the engine compartment's walls for the general public and the front fenders with their lamps. I didn't glue on the engine grille as I thought it'd be better to set that one in place when its attachment points were ready. Of course the instructions suggested gluing the transparent bits on at this point but I'd leave them until I was done with everything else.

Along with the rest of this I also glued on the previously ignored snorkel piece and a couple of climb-on handles to the back of the cabin. The side view mirrors I left for a later, safer moment, as I assumed that the installation of the cabin on the framework might end up being more violent than necessary. This way these flimsy-looking bits would not be in danger of being cracked off accidentally.

The Truck Framework 1.0

On the unknown roads

Let's get this confession out of the way already: I have never had a clue of the mechanical side of cars (normal ones, vans, trucks of any sort, armored ones). Or I know the basics, that they typically have a motor, a gearbox and some wheels - if we're talking about a rear-wheel drive, there's also an axle taking space from the feet of the passengers. So if I keep talking complete and utter nonsense during this project, the reason is and will be that: I just haven't known any better ;)

Framework work

I started assembling the Ural 375D by setting up the ladder-like structure that forms the structure of the whole vehicle. Between two C-shaped steel beams I attached some support pipes / tubes and a monstrosity that I assumed to be the radiator. I started swearing about the instructions at this point already: the layout (or the placing of certain bits) wasn't too clear and I was on the second step.... The pieces themselves didn't "speak out" either.

Next I started building the first surprise of the kit: the engine! I was actually a bit shocked to find a detailed-looking engine straight out of the box. Judging by the angled pieces on top I thought that it's a V-8 to top it all (wikipedia confirmed my guess). I did remember that the Kraz trucks (KrAZ-255 which were given to move some field guns) that I had seen and heard go by had a very fuel-hungry V8 petrol engines, but I guessed that the Ivan used those kinds of engines quite a lot in general.

But I digress. While looking at the round bits that can be seen in the front of the motor I was pondering if I should fetch some thread or play with masking tape a bit to set up some narrower or wider belts as a detail. Then my eyes picked up the PE# markings in the instructions - they had provided photoetched bands. What in the Empire?

The gearbox was a simple box. Attaching these two into the truck's framework was a show of its own but with some swearing I got them settled in nicely.

That huge block that had appeared behind the gearbox was some sort of a power-transferring thingamagick, as some axles were going to be inserted into it going both forwards and backwards. My guess is that it had something to do with the front-wheel drive / six-wheel drive, but how was it called for real? No idea.

Next I got to build something that had to do with the differential locks or whatever those were called again but as far as I knew those things allowed the L/R wheels to spin independently or forced them to go in sync (and the point and usefulness this I learned from the relaxing and amusing Spintires). There wasn't much to say about the plastic bits, they settled into their places pretty decently, the only parts that gave me some business were the axles, mostly because they went over and under random other pieces and the instructions weren't too clear on the routes.

More mystery pieces in the photo below (going from the wheel axle bits towards each other to the center of the cradle). I guess those tiny, flimsy bits were just for some support or something, if nothing else.

After these I built some rack-like bits. One of them was the fuel tank and the other one a mystery box.. My money was on either a generic toolbox or a handy setup for some external electric connections. But this was guesswork and I wasn't curious enough to actually as google for the secrets of the Ural.

The front axle had a similar bin for the differential system, just like the rear ones. This one required an axle for the drivetrain and again my biggest issue was to figure out which route the axle was supposed to go over, under and between the other pieces.

After all that was done I got to build the cores for the wheels. There wasn't anything strange about the four rear wheels but these front wheels were more special than that. First of all there was a free-moving bit to be sealed between the inner and outer halves. Then the inner half needed some pieces, two of which I assumed to be related to the brakes and the third one was very obviously for the steering bits to attach to. Those caused me a bit of worrying as I couldn't know at this point if it was impossible to say if they were set at correct angles. Of course I could always force them in place later on, but I much rather avoided that.

Had I been planning on a diorama I'd praised the articulation possibilities of the front wheels even more than I did. Of course fooling around with them was amusing, but I just assumed that they'd end up being locked tightly straigh ahead in the end. Which wasn't that much fun, if you asked me, but having them actually articulated... urf. That'd been hair-rising.

Project II/17

Indirect fire is the best fire

I have always liked rocket launchers, they're just awesome devices. Years ago I've built three Nebelwerfers (15 cm NbW 41;30 cm NbW 42; Panzerwerfer auf SWS) and wanted to look at them from a different angle this time. For a long while I meant to get a classic Katjushka (BM-13) but the more I thought of it I wanted a more modern unit instead. I've witnessed 122 RakH 89 rocket launchers live (Chech RM-70) but I couldn't get a hold of a model of one - yet. They're bulky, but they look awesome. Still, I had to settle with some older hardware, a Soviet BM-21 rocket launcher built on an Ural 375D chassis.

Bits and pieces

The Trumpeter box revealed two matfuls of pieces mixed with some PE bits, a minuscule offering of decals and a set of large rubber tyres. All these would eat quite a bit of time. I also didn't think of checking if the set contained anything to full the forty tubes, or was it supposed to represent a post-firing state. I assumed the latter.

The instructions

A bit surprisingly the painting guide was very simple. A solid green frame with rubber-black wheels. I was thinking of doing something a tiny bit more entertaining myself.

The instructions were a handy booklet. The first proper page revealed a very interesting and nice detail: this had a modeled engine. I had really not expected that kind of a thing straight out of the box and was very pleased.

As my experiences with Trumpeter's ground-bound models have not been filled with the perfectness of pieces fitting together, I was somehow suspicious of how easy this build would be and was therefore mentally preparing for some swearing and fighting. Of course my memories may be from old kits and the reality (considering when this set was manufactured) may disagree, in which case I'd openly admit being wrong and prejudiced.