24 Hour Challenge - COMPLETE!

You are insane. That's all. Good luck though!

With a welll chosen kit- simple build, monotone sceme, minimal decals and light weathering, it can be done. Something like a basic Tamiya jeep without the figure. 24 hours will be pushing it, but 36 hours woul be easily feasible.

It takes me 24 hours to get the shrink wrap off the box. Really.

Heck, when I was a kid I could get one done in an afternoon...

Tamiya T-34. That is all. 

Are you kidding?  I can have one knocked out by lunch time! 

Here's mine:  24 hour challenge kit  

Best of luck to ya!

For simplicity's sake, chose the Tamiya M113A2 kit. Build it buttoned up with just generic desert sand markings. All it is is a shoebox, add some road wheels and then the tracks. Even easier, make it a stateside ride without all the gypsy wagon gear.

haha, good suggestions and replies. I'll check this out 

You can easily get a Jeep done. One color models should be no problem to paint up. Also, wheels over tracks, if that's within the rules?

Thanks for all of the suggestions.  The kit has been chosen (it had to be from the pile of ones to be built for him).  I can do research / planning today without it counting against the time.  From what I've looked at, just some details need to be added, typical of Tamiya kits.

24 hours?  I've only dared the 48-hour group builds here, and those still had a "rushed" look when done.

Good choice with the Tamiya kit.  The few that I've built had little need for filling, so if this one's the same quality that'll help.

Bronto,

Good luck. I look forward to seeing your project done. My club has hosted a death build at a local hobby store a couple of time. You come in a 10am when the store opens with an unstarted kit and you have until closing time, 5pm, to make as much progress as you can. The winner, who gets a gift certificate at the store (if I remember correctly) is the one who finishes the best looking model.

Cheers, Aaron

24 hours isn't a "rush job" for most tanks...  Seriously...

The hard part isn't completing a tank in 24 hours... The hard part is getting 24 consecutive build hours in 24 hours...

I average,  for S.O.B. builds (which I seldom do though), around actual18-20 build-hours...   Just don't get a dumb-attack and pick a kit with 150 links, 300 connecting links, and 150 separate pads or cleats.   Two one-piece tracks work nicely and will likely give you a 4-hour "pad"...  Don't burn up time by doing something you don't have to do even if it kills ya to use "rubber bands"....   Even if you have to clean them up a lot, it'll still only take about an hour to clean up, install, paint, and weather two tracks... You can cut a LOT of time off them (and in turn, the roadwheels) by using "mud" instead of paint too...  I prefer sheetrock mud for that...

You can replace the tracks (if that's your thing) after the fact...

Like the afore-mention Tamiya T-34/76, or maybe the Panther A, or something along that line (both those kits are still in production, therefore easy to find if you don't already have one or both)... If you aren't ready for the first coat of paint in 4-5 build-hours, then you got no business even taking that challenge, lol...  KISS-rule applies...

Another time-saver is to shoot the overall color from a rattle-can.. Take you about 20 minutes to prep for and shoot the first coat, with no build-time lost to airbrush cleaning...

Good luck, and don't waste time posting a bunch of photos until you're on the downhill run (with 5-6 hours left and not much to do while the paint dries, lol..)

As for your pal asking you when it's "gonna be done" all the time, I tell my clients up front that the more they ask about it or bug me, the higher my rate goes...

My labor rates are:

 10.00 per hr straight time

15.00 p/h if they watch.

20.00 p/h if they help.

30.00 p/h if they call me to find out when it'll be done.

40.00 p/h if they are "just in the neighborhood and decided to drop by" to see how much longer it'll take.

and, finally:

100.00 p/h if they tried to build themselves first, then brought it to me...

Hans von Hammer

My labor rates are:

 10.00 per hr straight time

15.00 p/h if they watch.

20.00 p/h if they help.

30.00 p/h if they call me to find out when it'll be done.

40.00 p/h if they are "just in the neighborhood and decided to drop by" to see how much longer it'll take.

and, finally:

100.00 p/h if they tried to build themselves first, then brought it to me.

Love the rates!  I don't charge by the hour however, and I wish the last one didn't happen as much as it actually does!

A real modeler would do a Dragon kit........by the way I got your dull coat you were looking for but you left so I sold it to someone else.

Thad

Good luck!!!  I have same kit and I think I can finish it in three months top!  Please post when you are done. 

I am just starting this same Panzer II kit. I could see building this in about 10 hours.

Painting and weathering would take a lot longer. No oil paints for this one.

KINGTHAD

A real modeler would do a Dragon kit....

It's not about that, it's about winning the challenge, lol..

Seriously, I'd just get for the simplest  and cheapest (yet most entertaining) 1/35th tank kit on the market, In or OOP, and blow through it in a few hours, leaving ample time for painting and weathering...   And you never know when you're gonna get a "Monday kit", either...

Any of the armor kits from Revellogram would do nicely...'Cept this particular ONE I'm working on right now...   If I weren't scratch-building all the stuff I want to add to it,  I'd have it done by now, with actual build-time of about 3 hours, leaving 20 or so for painting and weathering (not that I'd need all of it)... 

The kit itself is ok, but my copy had a short-shot on the turret bottom half, forcing me now to cut plastic sheet, laminate it to fill in the big-gass hole, then putty, then sand, sand, sand.... The aternative is to cover it with miscellaneous gear and tarpage which is certainly quicker, but I chose this route in order to show how I get it done, just in case anyone was interested, had the same problem, and/or didn't wanna WORP....

 IMHO, missing, damaged, or lost parts don't constitute a "Mulligan" or a time-out while WORPing for the kit... (WORP= Waiting On Replacement/Repair Parts)  Ya gotta FIDO... (Forget it, Drive On, in polite company)

At any rate, I ain't gonna sweat it, since this kit's a fun build, and not a little nostalgic for me, as it's the first armor kit I ever built, and that was way back when it was first released with Shep Paine's Diorama Tip sheet depicting his M48 in action in Hue during the Tet Offensive in '68...

Back when I was 12 or 13, and it was my first armor kit, first 1/35th scale kit and first diorama...  From that kit onward, I've only built dioramas...  It was a major modeling "milestone" and it was at that point I became a "serious" modeler, lol..  Didn't know squat about tanks though... The figures were WW2, and the tank was modern (it was 1972-3 then), but I didn't know that I wasn't building a WW2 tank, lol... At least, not until I read a book called "Vietnam Diary" and there was picture of the author standing next to an M48... Before then, I thought M48s were not only WW2 tanks, but were also German WW2 tanks, lol...  I'd just seen 'em as Germans in a war movie! Guess the other "first" with this kit was that's the point when I got serious about doing research too..

I was an Air Force Brat though, so I gave m'self a "Gimme"... The diorama was an M48 in action against a squad of Germans who'd knocked off a track with a Panzerschrek, forcing the crew outta the tank and into a dire hand-to-hand battle...

KINGTHAD

A real modeler would do a Dragon kit........by the way I got your dull coat you were looking for but you left so I sold it to someone else.

Thad

It figures you would do that to me!

Hans von Hammer

 

Seriously, I'd just get for the simplest  and cheapest (yet most entertaining) 1/35th tank kit on the market, In or OOP, and blow through it in a few hours, leaving ample time for painting and weathering...   And you never know when you're gonna get a "Monday kit", either...

 

I couldn't just pick any cheapo kit to build.  It had to be one from the pile of his that I have to build, and I can't just build it without doing the same things i do to any other kit, fixing accuracy, adding details that need to be added, crew figure, etc.  (hence the can't compromise on standards part of the deal).

Hans I could not let Bronto off easy, That Jarhead can take it. Besides if anyone could do a Dragon kit in 24hrs he could. His stuff is pre-mo.

Thad

LOL.. Ok, I gotcha, KT..... Check an' a Rog.. I was under the impression that the kit-pick was from your stash Bronto, rather than his...

Time has started!

Are you done yet?

Thad

Hans von Hammer

24 hours isn't a "rush job" for most tanks...  Seriously...

The hard part isn't completing a tank in 24 hours... The hard part is getting 24 consecutive build hours in 24 hours...

I understood that.  There are very few kits that I've had to put that much build time into for decent results.  It's when the total time available, including having to allow for paint and cement to dry, is so limited that it gets tricky.  My total build time spent on those 48-hour GBs was probably only about 12 hours or so, but there's only so much you can do when you're waiting on putty, primer, or paint to dry before going to the next step.

And, of course, there's the extra time any mishaps can add...

KINGTHAD

Are you done yet?

Thad

It's getting there, a few more latches to make and a couple springs for the rear fenders and I should be able to start painting.

I have never built that kit.....I dont see any filler, is any needed?

Thad

KINGTHAD

I have never built that kit.....I dont see any filler, is any needed?

Thad

Besides the many ejector pin marks, just a little was needed on the back of the turret.  The main painting is now done.

Completed with an hour to spare!  Replaced all the tool clamps, headlight lenses, and added the rear fender springs to it. It's a good kit, couldn't find much more that needed to be done to it.  Comments and criticism welcome.