Orochi 1/35 M3A3 Deluxe Edition **Completed**

[M1Carbine]

Hi all;

next up on the bench Orochis M3A3



Stay tuned

Bob

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

OK

[Leon]

Got my comfy chair and tea ready!

[dupes]

Oooooh, good! Want to see how this is before I lean into mine.

[joelsmith]

Really looking forward to this, I have one in my stash that I have been waiting to build.

[jpc1968]

I did the standard edition. Loved this kit.

[Tojo72]

Hear good things about this kit,looking forward to yours.

[M1Carbine]

Welcome Gents. JP your M# looks awesome.

Ok some progress has been made so lets get to it but first some initial thoughts of the kit.
Orochi really did a nice job here. On examining the sprues everything is crisply molded and the detail is outstanding. One thing that also stands out is that the sprues are clearly marked with a large embossed letter so you can ID them quickly. The metal tracks are clean with no flash and ready to be assembled and the barrel is superbly rendered. All in all first impressions are awesome.

Road Wheels:
patience and persistence will pay off here as the road wheels and separate tire rims have no less than three sprue attachments. The wheels consist of 4 parts plus the poly cap. Take your time separating them and be ready for a long cleaning session.

Sprockets:
The sprockets are very well detailed and consist of 4 parts including the poly cap. Take care separating these from the sprue as well and there are several attachment points that will need to be delicately cut to remove the parts. Orochi Another nice touch is that Orochi provides a photo-etch painting mask to aid in the painting of the wheels.






Hull and suspension:
All parts are cleanly molded and will clean up easily with no problem. Just pay close attention to the instructions as two suspension arms differ slightly from the rest as they have no shock absorber attached to them. When installed they all line up perfectly thanks to the half moon shaped attachment points.





next steps in the assembly process are the tracks, this is where having poly-caps comes in handy. This will aid in getting the tracks assembled, and then removal of the tracks and wheels can take place as to permit painting as the upper hull and side skirts will impede this process.



Track assembly begins shortly.

Bob

[Leon]

Off to a good start Bob! Sounds like this is a great kit.

[M1Carbine]

Leon - so far so good buddy, thank you.

Bob

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

I'm building the Meng Infantry model but needed to take a break from it before painting.
I would like to build the Scout model as well.



Get-R-Done Dude
Tony lee

[M1Carbine]

Tony - nice, cant wait to see some paint on that puppy. I would like to get the Meng kit with the full interior.

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

Both Meng kits have a full interior,you can buy the interior separate. Don't know if it will work in the one you have.

Tony lee

[jpc1968]

Oh the tracks, they were the first set of tracks I ever assembled. Labor of love I tell you.

[M1Carbine]

JP - LOL, should be interesting

Bob

[thug626]

It's good to see you back at it brother. Count me in.

[M1Carbine]

Glad to have ya bro.

Bob

[TRM]

Just catching up Bob! Sweet! Been there, done this! Aside form the ERA being a one-block affair, I thought the kit was excellent! I assume they still give the metal tracks in the deluxe version? I remember mine going together like a charm! Keep at it!!

[M1Carbine]

Todd - thanks buddy. So far all is moving along nicely.

So I began works on the tracks. Taking a closer look again and giving a good examination non flash on these puppies at all.

Everything is nicely boxed:



Contents include two tubes, one with the track pins and one with the barrel. A big with four resin tidbits, and the bag of tracks.


If you have assembled Fruils before then you know the drill. The exception here is that the pins are cut to the proper length. If you look closely at the pins at the top right hand corner of the index card you can see that they have a slight bow in them. You will have to jiggle them a little but the slide right into place and seem to hold. To be on the safe side you can put a dab of CA. I just used a small set of wire cutters and ever so gently made a slight crimp to what would be the inside of the track. You cant see the crimp but just in case you apply to much pressure no one will see it.



As the links themselves are a bit small for my ape like hands, someone that does not have sausage fingers should be able to knock this out in no time.

Back to the bench!

Bob

[Leon]

Nice start on the tracks Bob! I like the idea of the pins already cut to length.

[M1Carbine]

Leon - major time saver buddy.

[M1Carbine]

Evening all;

had bit of a delay as my compressor decided to crap out, so I had to wait for the new one to arrive.



Hopefully this will be around for a while.

As I had mentioned earlier the lower half had to be completed and sudo weathered as the upper hull has the side armor molded in place, which would make getting everything on the lower half difficult to put together.



Once the new compressor came I began the process of painting with Vallejo desert zenith set 1st, 2nd shadow coat and the base coat. I then for now lightly weathered with Vallejo brown wash building up the layers.





I will complete some more weathering to include Vallejo pigments just before mating the upper and lower hulls. The running gear will be taped off when Im ready to paint and detail the upper hull.

Back to the bench

Bob

[Leon]

Looking good Bob!

[M1Carbine]

Thank you Leon.

Bob

[wbill76]

Making good progress on the Brad there Bob!

[M1Carbine]

Thanks Bill.

Bob

[thug626]

Sweet work on the tracks and wheels brother.

[M1Carbine]

Thank you brother Dave

Much progress has been made and I have been taking what photos I can as it is hunting season and when not at work Im in the Carolina hardwoods dropping back-strap.

Upper hull and turret went together well, just be careful as the directions are extremely vague at this point in construction.















The shield has been left off for painting as have the two main body hatches as they will be painted separately in order to get install the periscopes. Most of the periscopes on the turret had to be installed first as there was no way to get them in afterwards, these have been masked off.

Ill be hitting the primer coat this afternoon and after a good cure base coat tomorrow and the weathering follows.

Bob

[Leon]

Nice progress Bob! This is coming together nicely.

[wing_nut]

Makes me wanna do some armor again.