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Post by JCON on Sept 21, 2019 9:31:30 GMT -6
Nice work sir!!! I tore out our bathroom a year ago and remodeled it in one weekend, what a nightmare as it is our only bathroom but it sure looks good now and Red loves it!!!
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Post by JED on Sept 24, 2019 13:59:23 GMT -6
Excellent work indeed,rivets what rivets!! 😬😬😳
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Post by JCON on Sept 24, 2019 14:06:22 GMT -6
Quite the riveting post isn't it Jed???
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Post by JED on Sept 24, 2019 15:00:53 GMT -6
Quite the riveting post isn't it Jed??? Haha drum roll for Joe 😂😂
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Post by Beekster on Oct 25, 2019 11:35:40 GMT -6
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Post by JCON on Oct 25, 2019 12:56:21 GMT -6
Yay!!! Welcome back!!!
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Post by Beekster on Oct 25, 2019 19:57:06 GMT -6
Not quite on topic, but in case you're curious...this was the old bathroom: Very much mid-1990s; all 4" white tile, walls of mirrors, light globes galore, and carpet on the floor. We thought it was cool when we built the house in 1995, but times change. The same look survives in the guest bath; the kitchen was the same until we remodeled it three years ago. The new bathroom, as yet sans shower door, looks like this: Quartz countertops, LVP waterproof flooring, tiled shower & tub surround, glass vessel sinks, new plumbing everywhere, and fresh paint.
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Post by JCON on Oct 26, 2019 8:11:50 GMT -6
Way nicer now!!! Good job!!!
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Post by Beekster on Oct 26, 2019 9:02:50 GMT -6
Thanks! But in truth, only the paint and wood refinishing is mine; I also removed the baseboards and demo'd the carpet & pad to save a few bucks. I wrote big checks to professionals for everything else. One late addition to the project made use of my modeling skills and tools. Unseen in any of these images are new sandstone/resin switch plates. Out of frame to the left in the first "after" image, there's a mirror-image pair of mirrors, one of them on the wall separating the bath from the bedroom. That wall is naturally longer than the one seen in the photo, and there's a light switch there for the fixtures over the sink. Back in 1995, our builder put that switch right next to the wood casing for the opening between the two rooms (no door, just a framed opening). Well, that placement allowed for a standard plastic switch plate that fit pretty much flush with the wood casing. Our new plates are larger, and that presented a problem. My choices were to cut down the plate, or pull the casing and carve a relief in it. I chose the latter, using a coarse sanding drum in my Dremel. There were about half a dozen trips down the stairs and out to the garage to refine the shape of the relief, followed by some hand sanding to smooth it and a fresh coat of varnish. The fancy switch plate is now semi-recessed under the wood casing, and I must say I'm quite happy with the result.
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Post by dogfish7 (R.I.P.) on Dec 31, 2019 12:42:42 GMT -6
Looks like several of you are remodeling this year.
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Post by JED on Jan 1, 2020 12:27:20 GMT -6
WOW looks superb
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feldgrau23
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Post by feldgrau23 on Jan 1, 2020 12:57:33 GMT -6
Man that is some excellent work going on there Beekster.
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Post by Beekster on Feb 7, 2020 13:09:10 GMT -6
After a hiatus away from the bench being absorbed with wargame stuff, I'm returning to my model projects. The Ram is furthest along, so here's what's been happening this week: Some Rams had a cover over the engine intake, seen here in resin (with chipped end) and in process in styrene. My internal structure isn't perfect but it will do; the hard part I haven't figured out yet is the bent rod over the top which keeps it in place. That may determine whether or not I use the cover. Below are the headlights in progress. Rams used the same headlights as on British early-war tanks and these were courtesy of a buddy from a Valentine project. The mounting brackets were different, so I made my own from soldered brass rod. I have yet to drill out the diff cover to mount these, and will also have to fabricate brush guards. Some of my mud will have to be scraped off to do all this, but I have more. The flame gun and pioneer tools are on. The official diagram calls for another pick and shovel, but the kit didn't come with extras and as these tanks were converted from obsolescent gun tanks for this special role it's plausible that the tool fitment was changed. With a smaller crew, there aren't enough guys to use duplicates efficiently anyway. That's my story and I'm sticking to it... The tow cable is mocked up for now, but I like how it fits here. A couple of the tools had damaged tie-down straps and I've made replacements with epoxy putty, though they don't look good. I may end up covering the tools up with other stowage anyway, rolling out epoxy putty to fashion a tarp laid down over the tools and wrapped around other stuff laid on top. Still thinking about how that might look and what objects to use inside and atop the tarp. Finally a close-up of the flame gun. This tank appears to have had steel plates welded to the gun housing as splash protection (bullet or flame; possibly both?). The welds were large and crude, so that's how I made mine. I also took advantage of Archer's last big sale on decal sheets, so I have AoS and Formation symbols for the Canadian Army in various sizes, including some small ones which should fit on the front of the upper tool boxes on the fenders. Images of a different flame tank show them there, and it seems like a good place for some color on an otherwise rather drab subject.
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Post by JCON on Feb 7, 2020 13:13:20 GMT -6
Looking good sir!!!
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Post by dogfish7 (R.I.P.) on Feb 7, 2020 17:20:14 GMT -6
Very different configuration, unlike any I've ever seen. Glad you're back at it Beek.
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Post by Beekster on Feb 7, 2020 18:54:34 GMT -6
Very different configuration, unlike any I've ever seen. Glad you're back at it Beek. It is a one-off, done this way by 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade workshops in the winter of '44/'45 for the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment as an experiment in providing overhead cover for the Badger; having the flame fuel tanks exposed in the turret ring opening naturally made tank crewmen rather skittish. By the end of winter a standard kit was developed with a different MG cupola from an armored car mounted on the right side of the cover plate; this had a hatch but no vision blocks. I am building my model on the assumption that the tank would have remained in service like this rather than having this configuration replaced by the standard one. After all, it was fully functional so there was no need to replace it. Funny what you discover when you read your reference for the thousandth time...I just now noticed that the description says that a pintle-mount MG was also added. It isn't in the two published images of this specific vehicle, but those were taken during the modification process and don't show a final configuration. Not a problem to add an M1919 .30cal Browning, but where? Undoubtedly in front of the vision cupola within easy reach, but positioned so the TC could shoot it without being totally exposed. However... I'll have more on this tomorrow, but there's the pesky matter of radio aerials. I'm mocking it up and will post photos for comment. The images I have clearly show where the aerials were fitted, and other images confirm that what I see was pretty standard placement for these flame tanks. Stay tuned...
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Post by Beekster on Feb 8, 2020 11:32:18 GMT -6
As promised, an update on the MG situation. These images show what I've cobbled together, and the potential problem: The radio aerials. Now, it's true that both of them are on flexible mounts and the smaller one is especially mobile on a spring mount. But you can see that the aerials do get in the way, and the TC would have to lean out and guide the barrel past them before taking aim and shooting. The conundrum is that there isn't anyplace else to mount the MG pintle that makes any sense. I could put it directly to the right of the cupola, and since that rotates the TC could do that to cause the hatches to open without hitting the gun. But then he would be leaning awkwardly to operate it, and more exposed than he would like to be, I'm sure. The same would apply if I mounted it to the left of the cupola, and mounting it directly behind would be pointless. Comments and suggestions are most welcome. What I've got here seems most workable, but it also illustrates why the standard kit utilized a different MG turret mounted on the other side of the cover plate. Oh, and one other observation: The fenders sit too high; the little stub end at the back should hang below the bottom edge of the hull. This is not fixable; it is the way the resin kit was designed. Moving it down would alter the proportions and look from the front, and the location of the cut-down tubular crossbar between the fenders would be too high. But this is the kit we have; the Bronco kit in styrene is an earlier hull pattern not used for these conversions and from what I've gathered it has some serious accuracy issues of its own.
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Post by JCON on Feb 8, 2020 11:43:45 GMT -6
Are you sure that is where the antennas were? Seems very awkward...
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Post by Beekster on Feb 8, 2020 12:43:42 GMT -6
Are you sure that is where the antennas were? Seems very awkward... Yes; that is confirmed by the images in Lucy's book of this tank being worked on. The same placement is seen in photos of other flame tanks, so that was standard. My guess as to why? There was probably space in the left sponson for the radio, and the length of the original antenna leads in the turret where the radio used to be dictated where they could be. Also, this antenna fit is seen on the Ram Kangaroo APC, which was developed before the Badger flame tank...and nobody cared where the antennas ended up for the APC. See here: The official stowage diagram for the Kangaroo shows the same locations. This image of a Kangaroo shows the taller antenna, and a .30cal Browning mounted rather awkwardly in the fighting compartment: And those fenders may yet come off and be modified. Upon closer examination, the tubular bar actually sits too LOW on the side of the fender; moving them down would correct that. Time to look at it again, an perhaps break out the superglue de-bonder and the Dremel...
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Post by JCON on Feb 8, 2020 13:25:51 GMT -6
In the photo it looks like the machine gun isn't on a mount, its just sitting there...
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