WardWorks Doings 2024 - Update - Nowunder 13

[JCON]

Hopefully Doc can help you get well quickly!

[WardWorks]

Looks like the RAT gave a false positive, cos after a back of my throat type scrape test, I don't have the dreaded covid. They think its a combo of my Thyroid playing up plus my lack of sleep (been way too hot and muggy to sleep out here, I ain't the only one thus affected either !) A blood test tomorrow should give 'em the gen re the thyroid and whether it needs to be medicated, meantime I'm back home and taking it real easy (til I or my Styrene Mojo gets bored as heck with doing so !)

Stuka's dun (pics later), and the first few stages of the Tomcat are dun too, no effort involved there, its Airfix, from the days (late 1970's for this kit), when they were Airfix and known for trouble free assembly.

Best
M of WW

[JCON]

Good news on the evil C...

[WardWorks]

Best news I've had in quite some time actually 😆

It is wotever it is - Onward and vaguely sideways in giddy, snotty fashion (I'd love to go upwards, but I would probably lose my balance and fall, which wouldn't be nice at all.... 🤧 🤕😵‍💫

Best a (thus far) undinged (or is that unhinged ?) 😆
M of WW 😉🙃

[WardWorks]

Tomcat's at this rather early stage of assembly....



Which is where its staying for the moment, had enough eye frying 72nd no-see-ums... 😵‍💫

Going to get onto the 35th Hetzer the outdoor assembly line started last weekend and stay with 35th for a while... Got a few Panzer IV variants to do (and a few more I'd like to get my hands on as well !) 😖🙄🤫

I will return to the Tomcat and the rest of the 72nds in due course -promise ! Meantime I'm off for a blood test....all I can say is it SHOULD be liquid and red in colour (not blue as my late dad used to insist - there's Swedish Royalty somewhere in the distant past of the family line)

Best
M of WW 😉🙃

[JCON]

Nice start M! Good luck with the vampires drawing your precious blood!

[WardWorks]

That was the easy bit - all over and two vacuum test tubes of my blood are off to the lab - results tomorrow - The waiting will be the hardest part - if its not covid, what is it ? Thyroid plus exhaustion ? What if it ain't either of those two suspects ? Don't panic YET !... 😖😳😲

Where's that Hetzer got to ? Need something to take my mind off thinking along those lines - ok its on the desk - now for a cop of coffee to help calm me down and a gasper (or two) as well- should be helpful..🚬🚬



Best
M of WW (and self caffeinating)☕️☕️☕️😉🙃

[JED]

Good luck with the bloods

[WardWorks]

Cheers Jed, Joe 👍

I'm pretty sure It'll be alright, managed to get a good few hours of sleep last night ans am feeling waaay better this mornin' 😋

Got the Hetzer nearly dun, those old Italeris don't take long, going to do a Dragon Hetzer next, just cos its been hanging round in my stash for ages. After that, I'll git onto something Panzer IV, whilst I'm getting hold of some grille sets for various other German Tanks that are clogging my stash up to the back bumpers, Plan is to do a couple of Pz IV jobs, either the Long gun tank variants or one of the multiplicity of other variants on the Pz IV chassis (Not interested in early Pz IV's with the short 75mm) and then something else, just for a change (and cos I'll be somewhat sick of painting roadwheel tyres on PZ IV's) 🤫🙄

That's the plan anyway, we'll see how it goes ! 😈

Best
M of WW and plans 😉🙃

[JCON]

Sounds good to me! Whittle away always works!!!

[WardWorks]

Hit a snag on the Hetzer... No biggy, the WWorks can handle it 😆

The last assembly stage of the kit involves fitting the side skirts, but owing to the age of the moulds, there's a problem (two per skirt actually) with the skirts... Sink mines ! 🤬😖



Out with the filler, fill and sand ? Not on your Nelly ! 😈 You'd have to rough up the inside of the dings, before filling (so the filler would have something to bite into, or else it'd fall out as you sanded it, in addition, there's some very fine rivet/bolt head detail that'd be sanded away to oblivion during the filler process. I'm opting to leave them off and replace with items from the Eduard Hetzer brass set (already used the engine grille cover from the set on this one) ...

So, that means the link and length track, which had dried nicely overnight needed to be sagged (hadn't worried re sagging, the top row of the track would have been hidden behind the skirts/under the upperworks ("wanne") of the thing...Tweaking with tweezers and flooding tweaked joints with liquid cement ensued.. Followed by insertion of folded paper wedges to hold sagged track in position whilst the glue dried - as pictured below



All will be fine once the glue sets - with any luck, I'll still get paint on it tonight 😎

Now where did I put that Dragon Late/Command Hetzer and why is it still shrink wrapped ? 🙄

Best
M of WW 😉🙃

[JCON]

Nice catch and work-around!

[WardWorks]

So you might think....🤔

There's actually a quicker work around (not the quickest, which would be to ignore it completely ! 😖), which doesn't involve using brass, just a tad of styrene mangling (always up for a bitta styrene mangling round here ! 😈) and it'll be far less work than fettling/folding up the brass skirt mounts. Going the quicker way shortly actually. Might put the Dragon Hetzer back in the stack too - One Hetzer at a time will do me (and I have an almost uncontrollable urge to play with a Panther too ! 😎 ) 

Blood results are in, nowt to worry about 😆, Thyroid going out of whack again, more noticeable symptoms cos of the heat exhaustion, it'll come back into line again as the weather cools (always does) No medication needed (Cos if they Medicate you for Thyroid problems, yer on those meds for life (or until they decide to operate and fix it, which sometimes doesn't). 😲

Best
M of WW and not at all worried (about anything !) 😉🙃

[JCON]

Good news on the health issues!

[WardWorks]

Better news on the Hetzer... 😆

After a bit of cogitation about how best to fix the problem, I went for the easiest way out... Bunged a new #11 blade in the Exacto, took a deep breath and carefully shaved the moulded on brackets off the back of the skirt armour.. Doesn't matter how thin the shaved bit is, or if it bends a tad as its shaved off, the real things were mild steel and got bent and torn off when the skirts got caught and ripped away as the tank went past something... Came up ok for purpose and to my eyes anyway, Best part of the whole exercise was not one cut/nick/blade injury to my person whilst I was busy hacking... Must be getting better at this styrene slashing game 🙄... I know the rule that states that the "first thing you cut when you fit a new blade in the exacto is yourself" I've got away with it this time ! 😎




That'll do me for the night shift - good evenin' all, time to watch the tube for an hour or so, then hit the cot and rack up z's 😴

Best
M of WW and no more blood shed 😉🙃

[JCON]

Nicely done indeed M!

[WardWorks]

We have some paint on the Hetzer...😎



Just a coat of Tamiya XF-88 Dark Yellow 2 for its basic camo colour and that's where I'm leaving it for now, looking thru my Hetzer refs for a particular colour scheme (not Ambush) a scheme not often carried by Hetzers, yet quite often seen on the bigger tank destroyers and StuGs Think I've seen a pic of a Hetzer in that scheme (or something rather similar) 😈

My next victim will be something Panzer IV based (not one of the straight tanks) as to which one, I'm still looking thru my stash and thinking (always a dangerous activity for moi ! 🤔), at present. I'll letcha know in due course wot I come up with...🙄🤫

Best
M of WW (and dangerous thoughts) 😉🙃

[JCON]

Looking good sir! Keep em' coming!!!!

[WardWorks]

Uh oh.... now I've dun it... 😈

Guess wot I decided would hit the line next... NOT a 35th...ooooh dear.. 😲

I was looking at the recently finished 72nds and I reckon they came out fine, despite my eye probs, they didn't look at all bad.. But the shelves looked positively empty around them.. Not going to exhume any of the (very few) survivors of my last 72nd collection, so had a shufti thru my mates stash and grabbed a few golden oldies at random, this is the first, an Academy P40 E which, with any luck will end up as an Aleutian Tiger (hopefully the kit decals will work !)



Looks like the Works Management have reverted to the original plan of 72nd Aircraft mainly, with the odd foray into 35th Armour for eye de-frying purposes !

Best
M of WW 😉🙃

[JCON]

Oh boy! Miniature flightworks back in production!!!