Rick Griewski Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 On 1/26/2022 at 4:04 PM, LSP_K2 said: I really hope they can improve on those funky vinyl wheel well inserts. Those, in my opinion, were the weak link in the Dragon kits. It turns out that I do have a Dragon Bf-109 kit. So I compared the wheel well inserts with the Eduard kit inserts. They are very, very close. The Eduard part fits into the Dragon wing without modification and matches up with the part for strut area of the wheel well. I plan to cast copies of slightly modified Eduard parts (could be a perfection trap LOL). I will post pictures later today. J.J., LSP_K2, TankBuster and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Mike Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 I know a guy that would be down for 3 sets..... phasephantomphixer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwest21 Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 On 1/26/2022 at 4:04 PM, LSP_K2 said: I really hope they can improve on those funky vinyl wheel well inserts. Those, in my opinion, were the weak link in the Dragon kits. So a couple months ago I bought a second hand E-7 kit. The wheel well inserts disintegrated as soon as i touched them. They hardened and crumbled in the original bag LSP_K2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 Hmm, I have 4 E-3s , an E-4 and an E-7 and those parts look fine. The first pair I exposed to the atmosphere are still nice and rubbery. Must be bad batches. LSP_K2 and Rick Griewski 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastterry Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 Who's a greedy boy then. TRF MikeMaben 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Griewski Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 22 hours ago, Rick Griewski said: It turns out that I do have a Dragon Bf-109 kit. So I compared the wheel well inserts with the Eduard kit inserts. They are very, very close. The Eduard part fits into the Dragon wing without modification and matches up with the part for strut area of the wheel well. I plan to cast copies of slightly modified Eduard parts (could be a perfection trap LOL). I will post pictures later today. This is the next day but here you go. ivanmoe, MikeMaben, Uncarina and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Stambaugh Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 I have taken my still flexible wheel inserts and dry fit them into wings taped together. Alain Gadbois, Rick Griewski and HB252 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Griewski Posted February 1, 2022 Share Posted February 1, 2022 On 1/31/2022 at 10:12 AM, John Stambaugh said: I have taken my still flexible wheel inserts and dry fit them into wings taped together. And are you happy? I have done the same. They look good if they are not distorted OOB. I worry about them longer term after a build. I used Vallejo primer on my last vinyl dinosaur. It sticks very well and I bet would seal out the bad things that could hurt the vinyl inserts. MikeMaben 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greif8 Posted February 2, 2022 Share Posted February 2, 2022 I just recieved the Hobby 2000 reboxing of the E-3 and E-7 Trop kits. The do have the vinyl wheel well inserts that the Dragon kits had. I compared the plastic with my Dragon E-4 kit and the plastic parts, both solid and clear are the same; as are the PE parts. What is different are the boxes (no surprise there), the instruction sheets - which are tri-fold fold outs, and look to be clear and unambigious, the E-3 has 18 construction steps and the E-7 Trop 20. There are two small decal sheets that provide markings for the three aircraft in each kit that are listed at the start of this thread. They are Cartograph decals and are dated 2021. Ernest D.B. Andrus, Dennis7423, MikeMaben and 12 others 8 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artful69 Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 (edited) lol ... Dragon's doom! ... DS parts! ... NOT Vinyl - but a flexible styrene. It was developed to be used for the wheel well inserts for the Bf-109E's ... and also for tracks, tyres and various other parts calling for a more "flexible" component on model armour kits - and used to replace the (up until that point) VERY successful Magic Track (bagged individual links) ... The story goes that some "expert" modellers were having a discussion around a table where Dragon representatives were present - at some sort of scale model event. Although the Magic Track concept was popular, the "experts" felt that there might be a better way to achieve a more simplified build with a flexible component that "held" detail as well as styrene or resin did. Dragon developed DS (Dragon Styrene) as a direct result of that ... supposed to be as flexible as vinyl or rubber - but holding resin like detail ... and as many of us have discovered - not all batches are equal (kinda like resin casting!). Problems began appearing from the start - complaints from the armour community about replacing a perfectly good product (Magic Track) with a garbage "rubber" that distorted or stretched easily (I was one of them), parts coming out dry or disintegrating, not reacting well to paint application ... there were also problems in packaging - long tracks, poorly packaged, in boxes not designed to hold them meant irreversible damage to open guide horns etc ... the list of problems goes on. Problem was - there was a LOT of mixed messaging. There were (seemingly) just as many feedback comments praising the new parts type for its simplified assembly while holding unprecedented levels of detail. Other Chinese model companies entered the marketplace (using the traditional individual-links-on-sprue for armour) and quickly took the mantle from Dragon as king of 1/35 military due to ... mainly ... people avoiding the DS tracks. Dragon perceived this issue too late as they belatedly started reissuing kits with Magic Track included as an "option" . Interestingly enough ... it was Tamiya (the Japanese king of 1/35 that Dragon replaced) who, meanwhile, started mucking around with a new link-and-length styrene option where tracks were produced (thanks to new technologies in mould making) in highly detailed lengths to assimilate track sag, while providing individual tracks to fit around the drive and idler wheels - which pretty much became the perfect solution to issues being discussed at that convention all those years ago - ease of assembly without any loss of detail. Several Chinese companies have now adopted these methods - notably Dragon are reissuing "Neo" Smart kits to include link-and-length sprues - but the damage was done. A lesson to be learned here in testing a new product type and perfecting quality control before release to market! ... Also ... if it ain't broke ... (you get the point!) Really cool that the Eduard 109 wheel well part fits the dragon kit so well - maybe a cast can capture the detail INSIDE the Dragon DS parts to offer the perfect replacement? Rog Edited February 3, 2022 by Artful69 Rick Griewski, barkhorn, Scotsman and 5 others 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Stambaugh Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 On 1/30/2022 at 11:31 PM, MikeMaben said: Hmm, I have 4 E-3s , an E-4 and an E-7 and those parts look fine. The first pair I exposed to the atmosphere are still nice and rubbery. Must be bad batches. Beware Mike, I just built the E-7 because the previously flexible wheel inserts were recently found to be almost rigid. I indeed broke 1 of them. When they become completely hardened the are very fragile. LSP_K2 and MikeMaben 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Griewski Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 Thanks Rog, I plan to do something about details inside the wheel well liners. However messing about with that is low on my casting list right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Griewski Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 On 1/26/2022 at 12:13 PM, barkhorn said: As of now, H2K has no official US partner. However, you might consider ordering the kits directly from Poland. https://www.super-hobby.com/catalog/Germany-267314.html?search_attr_1=1%3A32 AFAIK, Super Hobby shop offers fast Fedex shipping to US in fairly reasonable price. I just ordered and postage for three kits was $4.51 basic. My LHS was not inclined to offer these as they have no distributor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azor Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 Bought the three kits directly at https://www.avax-models.cz/ for 40 USD each one plus another 50 USD for priority shipping (I live in Chile). The box weighted 2.3 kilos. Great service! Package is in transit right now... Cheers! Rick Griewski, Dennis7423, Uncarina and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Needham Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 Some interesting comments on this thread about DS material. I recently examined an old Dragon 1/35 Sherman kit I have which had DS Tracks (the 'Omega' tread pattern ones) and had it not happened to me, I would not have believed it but as I handled them, the tracks just (literally) disintegrated into small section of track in my hand. It seemed like they had dried out ( I live in the UK so no extremes of temperature) and just applying the slightest pressure to them separated the track into smaller pieces. I can only wonder how many people have had some superb AFV models ruined over the years by these tracks and one imagines the problem may be exacerbated when actually painted and stuff like chemical modelling washes applied? I am getting a couple of these Hobby 2000 109E kits but will get my mate who is very competent with 3D print to make me a couple of wheel-bay sets. There is no way am I risking long term kit integrity by using this flawed DS rubbish. Gary Uncarina and Borsos 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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