M29 Weasel Artic/Antarctic Exploration Vehicle

You can find the first look review of this kit, with photographs of the sprues and instructions at the following link: https://www.amps-armor.org/SiteReviews/ShowReview.aspx?id=15351. 

Introduction:  Mike asked that I provide a partial review of this kit before I move to Arizona.  I’ve divided this full build review into two sections.  These are suspension and track, hull, and interior (Steps 1-18) and interior enclosure (Steps 19-23).  I'll complete this review when I get established in our new home in a couple of months.

Suspension and Track, Interior and Hull:

NOTE:  The M29 Weasel is very small for a 1/35 scale model. As a result, many of the parts are very small, delicate and sometimes difficult to remove from their sprue attachment points.  My advice is to follow the instructions, dry fit a lot, take your time and be patient.    

Steps 1-2, Suspension:  In Step 1, you attach the suspension arms to the lower hull is very straight forward. 

In Step 2, the challenge becomes the assembly of the eight sets of bogies.  Each bogie is made up of eight road wheels, swing arm and suspension attachments.  After enduring the suspension on my first M29, I figured out how to minimize the pain without resorting to purchasing the FC Model Trends M29 suspension set.

To accomplish this, I glued the inner roads (part A27) to each swing arm (part A23).  There are eight (8) swing arms and four (4) inner road wheels, so this will take some time.  I made sure each set of inner road wheels was straight.  Once the inner road wheels were dry, I added the outer road wheels (A26) and again made sure they were straight.  I then glued parts (A19 and A21) to each bogie assembly.  When everything was dry, I attached each bogie assembly to springs/support arms attached to the hull.  I made sure to check the alignment of each bogie assembly as I progressed with construction. 

Each drive sprocket is made up of five (5) parts.  It’s very important that you check the alignment of the teeth on the drive sprocket as they engage slots on the track.

Each idler wheel consists of five (5) parts including two (2) photo etched (PE) rings (part TP2).  These PE rings are very delicate, and I lost one to the carpet monster.

Steps 3-4, Track:  Once I’d assembled the suspension, I was ready to tackle the link and length track.  The instructions are very specific on how the left and right track runs are to be assembled.  NOTE:  Check the numbers on each track link or run against the instructions to make sure you are assembling each side correctly.

NOTE:  There are gaps around the idler and drive sprocket which I attempted to fix when I built my M29.  After pulling out what little hair I have, I looked at pictures of the actual vehicle.  Takom got it correct as there are gaps in the track around the idler and drive sprocket.

I was happy with the final assembly of the suspension and track, but it was an ordeal to get everything to look right.  I may get the FC Model Trends M29 suspension set for the M29C kit I have in waiting.

Interior and Hull:

Steps 5-10, Interior:

In step 5, you construct the interior floor, which consists of three (3) parts (C13, C 20 and C21).  This construction step provides the base for the interior.

In step 6, you construct the radiator and base for the driver’s instrument panel and engine cover.

The radiator is sandwiched between two sidewalls (parts C15 and C16).  In addition, part E16 is sandwiched between these parts as well.  NOTE:  I learned from building the M29 that this step is critical in the alignment of the hull parts in later steps.  Take your time with this step.

Building the driver’s instrument panel and engine cover are fairly easy although there are some very small knobs attached to the instrument panel which are prone to tweezer launch.

In step 7, you construct the firewall which separates the driver from cargo compartments.  There are some devilishly small photo etch parts (TP19) which are attached to the ends of the stretcher holders.  Be careful as these parts are difficult to attach to the firewall.

Step 8, is your first test as in how well you constructed the assemblies in the three previous steps.  The key is to keep all the assemblies as square as possible when attaching them to the interior floor. 

In step 9, you get to see how well you did in keeping the assemblies you added to the interior floor in step 8 square.  In this step, you add the driver’s controls and their links to the driver’s compartment.   I had a little problem aligning the pins on the driver’s controls (part E29) with the indents on the bottom of the driver’s instrument panel.  However, a small bit of sanding addressed this fit issue.

The instructions have you install the seats in this step.  I elected to install them after the painting process.  NOTE:  I learned from building the M29 that it’s best to number each seat as indicated in the instructions to ensure proper fit on the interior floor.

In step 10, you attach the interior assembly to the lower hull.  At this point I gave the lower hull, track and suspension and underside of the interior floor their initial coat of Vallejo Model Air white and Mission Models worn tire grey for the track.  The paint application was a bit sloppy, but I knew I’d need to do final touch up later in the building process.

Step 11-18, Hull:

In Step 11, You construct the hull sides. This is a fairly straight forward process; however, there are five small photo etched parts TP6 which simulate the attachment points for the ribs for the canvas top frame.  Each of these parts needs to be rolled to fit on the hull side.  Fortunately, I picked up an RP Toolz Micro Rolling Set, which helped greatly in shaping these parts.

In step 12, you assemble the radio.  This assembly is very straight forward and presented no issues.

In step 13-16, you assemble the various hull parts.  This is where the fun begins.  As you can see from the following pictures, I did a considerable amount of test fitting of the various hull parts before I applied the first drop of glue.  I did use quite a bit of Tamiya tape in the process.

NOTE:  I saw pictures of several M29C’s serving in Artic service which didn’t include the rudder assemblies (parts H15, H18, H22 and H24) .  I decided to leave these parts off this build.

Although I’d painted the suspension, track and underside of the interior floor, I decided to give everything a coat of Vallejo Model Air white before I got serious about assembling the various hull parts.  This posed some risk as I needed to remove paint from glue attachment point, but I figured I could do some touch up as necessary.

I glued the sides and rear plate to the lower hull.  The sides have groves which fit into the lower hull.  The fit was not the best as I needed to shave off a bit of plastic from the firewall sides to ensure a tight fit.  I clamped things in place until the glue set.

Next, I glued parts G3 and G12 to the rear of the hull sides.  The fit was not that good and required some putty to fill the gaps.

Before I proceeded to glue the hull front (part G13) in place,  I did some test fitting of parts H2, K8 (windshield) and G4.  While I could get these parts to fit reasonably well try as I might I could not get the hull front to fit without a gap in each side attaching to the hull sides.  Oh well, I’ll break out the putty again to fill these gaps.

After some quiet reflection, the application of putty and a little paint, this build seemed to get back into focus.

It was then time to add some weathering to the interior and upper hull.  I applied a very light wash of MIG Kursk earth to these surfaces.  I did go a little heavy in some areas of the interior to show accumulated dirt from use.  Once this wash was completely dry, I applied some MIG dark steel pigments to various wear areas in the interior.

Mid-Build Assessment:  As indicated in the introduction, Mike asked that I provide a partial review of this kit before I move to Arizona.  Fortunately, I was able to finish much of this build before I closed up my hobby area for a while. 

This is the second M29 I’ve built, so I was aware of some of the rough spots with these kits.  In my opinion, the biggest challenges facing the modeler are the track and suspension, delicate photo etched parts and some hull fit issues.  On the positive side, Takom added a significant amount of detail to many portions of this kit, especially the interior, which may get covered by the top.  This kit can be built into a nice model, but the modeler should do some research on the M29 and be willing to be patient and take some time in the building process.  I believe an experienced intermediate skill level modeler and advanced skill level modeler can successfully tackle this kit.

 We appreciate TAKOM sending AMPS this review kit.

Reviewed by Mike Petty

AMPS Central Virginia

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