|
Post by RLFoster on Sept 22, 2020 14:04:44 GMT -6
Wow, 2 weeks since my last update, but what a 2 weeks it's been. Prior to Hurricane Sally paying me a very unwelcome visit, I had managed to get the 2 front machine gun turrets assembled. Here are 2 photos showing the assorted parts and the completed assemblies: Then the storm hit and I was without electricity for 4.5 days. However, I still managed to get most of the parts for the main turret cleaned up, got the two halves of the turret put together, puttied, and sanded. Then yesterday - after the power returned - I got the interior components of the turret basket, seats, and ammo racks assembled. Here's a shot of that turret, upside down, with the parts just having been glued together: I spent the majority of today simply getting caught up with nearly 100 unread e-mails, contacting friends and family, checking all my subscriptions and notifications from various websites, hitting the grocery store to restock an empty freezer and sparsely filled fridge, and most importantly, generally trying to relax and wind down after a very hectic week. Hopefully, I'll get back to working on the model in a day or two, but I still have a lot of online backlog to get through. Wishing everyone the best. Until next time...
|
|
|
Post by JCON on Sept 22, 2020 14:34:24 GMT -6
Looks cool!!!
|
|
|
Post by dogfish7 (R.I.P.) on Sept 22, 2020 15:09:47 GMT -6
Glad you made it through the ordeal and had some time to relax and unwind.
|
|
|
Post by Dukemaddog on Sept 23, 2020 12:31:30 GMT -6
Wow, excellent work in the face of adversity. I'm impressed! Looking forward to seeing more. Thank God you made it through everything.
|
|
|
Post by RLFoster on Sept 24, 2020 12:57:24 GMT -6
Thanks, Guys! I had another good 24 hours and have managed to just about finish the main turret including the machine gun ports and the gun. The interior details are extremely sparse, but given that I'm only leaving the commander's hatch open, the details don't need to be extremely accurate. Here's a shot with the roof uninstalled -- I'm leaving it unattached so I can prime and paint the interior with more ease: I really like the profile of this early war turret and with the roof in place it looks even better. Here are two shots of the completed turret...all that remains are installing the machine guns, rounds of ammo, and the radio antenna: This leaves only four steps in the instructions, the running gear, the tracks and two steps or exterior upper hull details. Until next time...
|
|
|
Post by JCON on Sept 24, 2020 16:23:28 GMT -6
Coming together nicely!!!
|
|
|
Post by dogfish7 (R.I.P.) on Sept 24, 2020 18:03:14 GMT -6
Looking good there Robert.
|
|
|
Post by Dukemaddog on Sept 25, 2020 12:33:48 GMT -6
Excellent work Robert! This is coming together well.
|
|
|
Post by JED on Sept 28, 2020 12:26:25 GMT -6
Looking pretty nice
|
|
|
Post by RLFoster on Sept 28, 2020 13:29:21 GMT -6
Thanks for looking in guys.
It's been 4 days and I have made some progress, but not as much as I had hoped. A lot of the parts on the exterior upper hull were in really bad shape. Some of them had serious sinkage problems, others were simply malformed, and finally some needed to be rebuilt or accented with scratch-building. The bottom line is that while I am nearly down to just 2 steps left (plus the tracks), it may take a little longer than I had anticipated to finish up the construction.
Also, since the building is taking so long, I'm probably going to go with a somewhat simplified painting and weathering process. I'll know more about that in the next week or so.
Until next time...
|
|
|
Post by Dwight A. Ta-ala on Sept 28, 2020 21:11:57 GMT -6
The damaged or missing flaps (side skirts?) will surely give it a realistic look.
|
|
|
Post by JCON on Sept 28, 2020 21:27:22 GMT -6
Nice to see you checking in Dwight!!!
|
|
|
Post by Dwight A. Ta-ala on Sept 28, 2020 23:00:24 GMT -6
Nice to see you checking in Dwight!!! Yep. Feels good to be back and see all these beauties being done.
|
|
|
Post by RLFoster on Sept 29, 2020 10:59:52 GMT -6
Yes, indeed! Welcome back, Dwight! I've pretty much finished with the upper hull details which only leave the running gear and suspension along with the tracks. Before starting those steps, I decided to go ahead and take a couple more photos and show what everything looks like to this point. The first photo is something I'd forgotten about. Since I'm leaving the engine hatch open, I realized the missing pipes leading from the engine manifolds to the exhaust would be clearly evident. Therefore, I scratched some pipes from rod styrene and attached them to the manifolds. Now, no matter how contorted you get to look inside the engine bay, it will look like the pipes extend up and through the upper deck plate. The second photo shows the upper hull in place as well as the muffler assembly: That bring us to today. I finished gluing on a few final components before dry-fitting everything together to take a couple pictures. These give a basic idea of how the vehicle will look once everything is done. In this first photo, you can see the MG turrets and main turret in place, the driver's hatches are in the open position (the upper hatch fell into the model!), and the commander's hatch is opened. You can also see that I decided to attach the headlights in their folded down (forward) position so that I didn't have to worry about finding lenses to fill the empty spaces molded by ICM: In this second photo, the engine hatch is propped open, but will have an actual steel rod and hinge installed before final assembly. You can also make out the muffler pipe ends that I needed to replace using styrene tubing because the kit parts were so badly molded: Anyway, that should give you a pretty good idea of how everything will look down the road. Next up will be the tedious task to cleaning dozens of road wheels followed by the even more tedious process of prepping hundreds of individual track links. Until next time...
|
|
|
Post by JCON on Sept 29, 2020 11:29:11 GMT -6
Good job Robert!!!
|
|
|
Post by dogfish7 (R.I.P.) on Sept 29, 2020 11:55:32 GMT -6
Those extra bits of realism help to put it over the top. Well done.
|
|
|
Post by Dukemaddog on Sept 29, 2020 12:33:18 GMT -6
Magnificent work Robert! You're laying the foundation for another brilliant masterpiece!
Welcome back Dwight! You have been sorely missed!
|
|
MARCO
FORUM FRIEND
BRAZILIANAIRE
The man from the south
Posts: 782
Likes: 1,911
|
Post by MARCO on Sept 29, 2020 12:47:31 GMT -6
Looks fantastic Robert!
|
|
|
Post by RLFoster on Oct 5, 2020 12:45:07 GMT -6
It's been a slow week working on the build as more post-hurricane clean-up was required for nearly 3 full days. It also didn't help that I'm entering the most tedious part of construction -- the running gear and the tracks. Over the past two days, I spent about 3 full hours just removing all the running gear parts from the sprues and then carefully cleaning them all up. Here's a shot showing all 54 road wheels (including 6 spares), the drive sprockets, and the idlers with the track tension assemblies: I finished those parts earlier this morning and then spent the next two sessions at the bench today putting the parts on the model. Here's the lower hull with all the components affixed: I might shift gears and start a little of the interior painting before the tracks, but whether I do or not, those individual links are looming on the horizon. Until next time...
|
|
|
Post by dogfish7 (R.I.P.) on Oct 5, 2020 13:04:31 GMT -6
Wheelism!!
|
|