With AMPS having declared the Indochina Wars as its 2026 national show theme, you're going to see a lot of Vietnam War builds. And for those looking to build excellent Vietnam War kits, one of the better ones is Vietnam's own Hobby Link. I recently did an in-box review of the Clark 290M Dozer here on Armorama. This is the build of that review kit.
Overall the Hobby Link 3D-printed resin kit of the Clark 290M is a winner. The sheer size of the beast will make it stand out on any show table. It also builds up quite easily.
In the interest of full-disclosure, I should point out some cautionary issues.
- Warpage: like most resin models, the parts can warp, especially 3D-printing if the resin hasn't cured fully. Parts will bend, or be soft to the touch. This is easily handled by exposing the parts to UV light, say by leaving them out in bright sunshine for an afternoon. The UV light will harden the resin, eliminating the problem of softness. And anything that is still warped is easily fixed dipping it in boiling water for 10 seconds or using a hot hair dryer. The tow pintle on the rear, for example, warped after I glued it in place, but a hair dryer fixed the problem.
- Pneumatic lines: the kit comes with vinyl wires for making the pneumatic lines connecting the rear (for the scaper when it's present) and the front plow. They are attached to resin "gaskets" but the wire provided is too large. I recommend using a 1mm black vinyl tube or wire.
- The instructions are generally very good, but the part about attaching the gaskets to the pneumatic lines is all wrong: it shows the gaskets being pierced by the wire, which would require drilling out the gasket parts. They are small and quite fragile, and this proved a problem.
- Additionally, the gaskets should be attached directly to their contact points, so that will save actually drilling them out. The instructions showing the assembly are incorrect and should be ignored.
Thanks to Hobby Link and Wanamaker Hobbies for this review sample that produced this build. Be sure to say you saw it on Armorama when ordering yours.