|
Janus Mk VII | |
Product # | Janus Mk VII |
Manufacturer | |
Suggested Retail Price | US$6.50 |
Back to BUILDING THE JANUS VII
Back to Workbench
Revision Log | |
10 March 2000 | converted to new format |
14 December 1996 | page first published |
3,993 hits since 20 Mar 2000
©1994-2024 Bill Armintrout
Comments or corrections?
Please sign in to your membership account, or, if you are not yet a member, please sign up for your free membership account.
The first step when building any multiple-piece kit is to examine what you've got, and make sure nothing's missing.
The hull of the vehicle is made up of four parts:
A Bottom Plate | On left in photo | Has eight areas of "treads," which I'm guessing are actually some kind of hover-beam emitter (due to lack of ground clearance). Front and aft "areas" are inscribed with circles, as if mounted on steerable discs. |
---|---|---|
An Upper Hull | Center right in photo | Has a "bumper" in front, a sloping front plate, the "forward deck" where the front turret sits, sloping up to the "poop deck" where the main turret sits, with a cylindrical rear "bumper." |
A Left Flange | Top of photo | This large hull flange includes a front winglet, followed by a large forward-swept "engine scoop." The bottom has an area of "hover tread," while the top has another inscribed area (thursters? heat vents?). |
A Right Flange | Bottom of photo | Same as the other flange. |
The small forward turret has two parts:
Weapon Barrel | Left in photo | This is a shaft with four vanes near the "firing end." At the end of the main barrel, a smaller barrel protrudes. There is no sign of a hole, so I'd assume this is an energy weapon rather than a gun. Or, that the "smaller barrel" is the nose of a missile. |
---|---|---|
Front Turret | Right in photo | The weapon barrel fits into an opening on the left of the turret, opposite what looks to be some kind of "sensor blister." There is a "hatch" on top. A generously-proportioned neck fits easily into the assembled hull of the tank. The picture above is a side view, showing the turret (top) and neck (below). |
There were four parts for the main (rear) turret:
Twin Rocket Pods | Top and Bottom in photo | These look pretty much just like the rocket pods you see on fighters and helicopters from the '80s (or on Battletech minis) - cylinders with seven firing holes at each end. |
---|---|---|
Main Turret | Center Left in photo | Large, flat turret with a variety of details: "ladder rungs" on both sides, a "bathtub blister" at front right (sensors? command station?), a "box" at front left, two hatches at the top rear, and a "dorsal vent" structure at the center rear of the turret. |
Weapon Barrel | Right in photo | Five pairs of vanes flank this long barrel. The firing end is indented, as if to indicate a hollow barrel (projectile weapon?). |
The assembled hull looks like it will be 2.5" long (6 cm) - pretty vast for a 1/300 scale vehicle, particularly if the last ones you've seen were vehicles of WWII vintage.
And now - did anyone notice a problem on this inspection tour? If you haven't already, then compare the parts descriptions to the label photo, and see if you can spot the anomaly...
Yes, there's a part missing, and I almost didn't spot it. In the label photo, notice that there's a pi-shaped "radar array" mounted at the rear of the main turret.
Missing parts will occur occasionally with any multi-part kit (and as it turns out, this kit was the only kit in the entire shipment to have any problems). I got hold of John, and he sent out the missing part promptly. However, my point stands - inspect every kit before assembly, to make sure it's complete.