Seam on CR-01 Unimog Body

[GraciousOne]

Picked up a CR-01 Unimog body for my current CR-01 build, Project Mogfather.

I noticed that there is a seam that runs side to side across the roof and then diagonally down the side window, across the door, continuing all the way down and across the wheel well (that you eventually cut out and remove). Looking at pictures of the Mog online, you can see the seam across the wondow, so clearly the seam itself is meant to be there. However, it's hard to tell if the seam is visible from the outside of the body in the painted regions. I've run my fingers across the outside of the body (admittedly with the protective film still on), and I can feel the seam, which leads me to believe it would be visible from the outside, even after painting.

So, could someone who has worked with the Mog body before please let me know if the seam is visible from the outside of the body once it is painted. Obviously it will be visible in the areas not painted (i.e. the windows), but I am curious about the painted areas.

If it is, that's fine. I just want to know if it's normal or a defect with the body I bought. Being Tamiya, it's hard to imagine a defective body, but I just want to make sure.

Many thanks.

[OSRC]

I've painted one for a friend about a month ago and did notice the seam. There's a nice one in the bed area as well. All but disappeared once it was painted. Might depend on the color too, but with light blue and black it wasn't noticeable. If i didn't know it was there, I would not have noticed..in fact, from 5 feet away, I didn't notice them at all, even in the windows. Depends how much of a perfectionist you are I guess.

Just my 2 cents.

[Louisbaby]

I believe it to be the mold joint lines. You'll notice the bronco, and the cruiser body have them. The body mold is made up of separate pieces for ease of release. Basically, they all have them...

[DaJester]

Mine has it too, probably won't see it much after paint...

[THUNDER PRO]

That mold seam is on just about all the tamiya bodies even on their touring car bodies,even on my mog. It all depends on how you paint it as to how much it shows up.

[860Crawler]

The multi-part mold is what allows Tamiya to make the highly detailed lexan bodies. The side effect is sometimes the mold lines showing in some areas. You will probably not notice them too much when its painted

[GraciousOne]

Thanks everyone. Those answers make sense. And as I said, I'm not concerned about the seam as long as it is normal for the Mog body. And from what you folks are telling me it is. So problem solved!

Thanks again.