Holy crap this kit was a PITA.
The boxes are just some I made and printed up in thick paper a while ago. The rest is Meng and a coupe of others. The groundwork is by MiG (probably repackaged train groundwork):
"Vova, I think we should tie down our load!"
"Blyat! Misha, you worry too much!":
I forgot the license plates, so I made some up. Year and month, plus "LA" because....
The fit of the parts was all over the place - some sections clicked together, others had gaps. Where some of the parts went together was mostly guesswork. The cabin is made up of many parts, with the windscreen a crucial structural component. I replaced the side windows with clear plastic cut to shape and separated by a thin strip of plastic. I had to make the door hinges because the plastic didn't look at all like the real vehicle.
The upper part of the transmission is missing in the kit (and very visible) so I replaced it with something that looked like it from my spares. I added a "fuel pump" as well. The side mirror supports are copper wire (I'm surprised I didn't knock them off!)
The fuel tank straps are thin copper and some leftover PE from another kit.
The biggest problem with this kit is the suspension. I don't know if I screwed something up or if the kit did... but when I put the wheels on, it looked like a Russian low rider. I had to raise the suspension up by 3mm, and shim one corner because I didn't cut it properly and the wheels weren't touching the ground at the same time.
The kit comes with a pretty comprehensive PE fret in copper (or very soft brass) which was very easy to work with, compared to most PE.
Other than the above, the kit was a breeze...
I also finally added some armpit sweat stains and dirtied up the coveralls of the French mechanic. He's still too clean!
