35205 Model Kit Amphibious LVT IV

This kit has pretty well molded parts, but was one of the worst assembly experiences I've ever had. I built the version with fully shielded forward gun placements. These structures sit on tiny mounting posts. Rather than including a hole in each post and. long mating pin for each gun, they have slight divots in the posts and a hint of a pin for each gun. Why?? The guns have to be fully supported until they dry to ensure they dry level. Difficult and completely unnecessary.The same was true for every grab bar. They basically sit atop faint divots rather than holes, making them hard to attach and hard to align. Breathing on them is almost enough to knock them back off.The movable back landing door has a ridiculous hinge design. The kit requires the door to be positioned in its final location while eight tiny plastic hinge pieces are aligned with pin locators on the vehicle while being glued to the door. I built mine with the door glued shut and, even then, the hinge pieces didn't fit well.The landing door is supposed to open and close with a fine thread attached to hand cranks atop the vehicle. The thread passes through molded plastic pullies that are fixed (do not rotate).The front deck is removable to reveal the engine and driver compartment. The deck does not fit well and, after the forward guns are in place, cannot be removed with the front skid plate installed. I had to trim away a portion of the skid plate that wraps over the front of the deck so the deck could again be removed.I didn't care for the rubbery tracks. I think solid tracks are much better for scale realism.Nearly the entire kit was a struggle to build. It's just not engineered for practical assembly.Fortunately, the final product looks reasonable good.