opens up the all-plastic M5 Stuart kit recently released.
Carl at Miniatures of Chesapeake received the models in January of 2004, painted them up, and sent them back in April of the same year.
Unfortunately, the package ran into some unseasonably cold weather on the trip north. I took delivery of the models on a winter-like morning, only to discover that the glue holding some of the models together had become brittle in the cold and snapped - parts had separated.
The packaging seemed perfectly adequate, which is why I suspect the models simply fell victim to a cold snap.
This past winter, I finally brought the box to the forefront of my workbench, and began the repair work on the tanks. To my astonishment, I found that the damage looked much worse than it actually was. I cleaned off the old glue, reassembled the broken-off parts, and found that the original, sturdy paint job needed only the slightest bit of touch-up.
Then came the warm weather, and I took the models outside for a spray of Dullcote. Repaired at last - and if I'd known it was going to be this easy, I would have done it long ago!
Miniatures of Chesapeake provided no write-up of this project, but here are some photos I've taken:
You can see more of Miniatures of Chesapeake's work at their website: members.cox.net/miniofchesapeake. Their 15mm WWII painting service starts as low as $3.00 USD per vehicle.