Hetzer – Assembling
This model by Academy (no. 13230) shows a light tank destroyer Jagdpanzer 38(t) "Hetzer", built in Czechoslovakia but used by the German Army during the final months of the Second World War.
Out of the box, the kit has:
- 6 sand-colored styrene sprues
- one photo-etched sheet for the cover of the engine air intake
- a cotton thread for the tow cable
- a decal set
- some adhesive masks for painting the camuflage scheme
- a very detailed instructions sheet
- a painting guide
I assembled everything out-of-the-box, except for the handles (brass wire) and the aerial (spring steel). The tracks are of the run-and-length type (that is, a fixed run of tracks for the straight parts, single links for the curved ones). They have a good detail and fit very well to the sprocket. I assembled them with a simple technique I already described in this post, but they will be put on the rest of the model only after I've finished the base paint. For the same reason, I'll assemble the side "Schürzen" only later.
The main gun has been "slide-molded", so it's a single piece without visible seam lines.
Notice how perfectly the parts fit in this often critical zone: no spaces are visible between upper and lower hull, thus denoting the high quality of this kit!
I left these pieces separated from the rest of the kit, I'll glue them later. I put some liquid putty (thinned with acetone) on it then I "textured" it with a hard paintbrush, thus giving it the effect of metal eroded by rust. I also put the cotton thread in a mix of water and white glue, in order to stiffen it. Finally, I made holes with a small hand drill to the toolbox on the right.
