Dragon M7 Priest Early Prod. Questions

I'll probably get "the feel" with some more styrene experience. Thanks for continuing to help out the newbie!

I think it's like when to switch out razors for shaving -- how does it feel?  

If i have a particularly exacting cutting job ahead of me (like when I need to cut very precise and very tiny bits of plastic for scratchbuilding), I'll switch to a new one.  A less than new one is fine for snipping parts of the sprue, scraping seams, rough cutting of styrene, IMHO.

I have #1, #2, #5 (I actually have Mr. Cement S), #6, probably #7, and #9. That leaves #3, #4, #8, and #9. Do you have any good rules of thumb regarding No. 11 blade sharpness? The one I'm currently using seems to still be sharp, but I'm never sure.

no prob.  to me, getting a good set of basic tools will enhance your enjoyment tremendously.  My suggestions:

1) Exacto knife w/replacement blades-- a sharp knife is a safe knife.  Don't be cheap -- throw out the dull blades (or save them to apply super glue)

2) finishing sandpaper -- different grades   The multi colored padded nail buffer/sander is great too.  Less than a buck usually

3) Pin vise and miniature drill bits.  For the suggestion I just made, I would have drilled holes at the various corners of the rectangle, scribed the cut lines and continued until I got through.

4) rat tail file set

5) Tamiya super thin cement -- and when empty, refill it with the cheaper stuff.  The applicator brush is superb!

6) green cutting mat.

7) 15cm long metal straight edge -- use for cutting styrene.

8) non-serrated locking hemostat -- can be more flexible than tweezers

9) tweezers

10) vision manification

Numbers 3, 4, 7-10  can be had very cheaply at Harbor Freight.  Those are my basics.  I have other favorites as well -- but they're a bigger investment.

Well, weighing the risks (I'm a relatively new modeler with no good styrene-cutting equipment) vs. the rewards (which aren't actually as significant as I thought) I've decided to just use it as-is this time around.

toadmanstankpictures.com/m7_09.jpg

This is what you'd like your end result to look like.  The entire recessed area should be cut off.  If you can save those round things, those aren't bolts but  emergency fuel cut off valves.  In the pic, you see one of them in red, near the bottom.  That raised guard was an unofficial mod.

Also download the TM here  https://archive.org/details/TM9-731E

Ok, I just measured the crack roughly, and apparently I need to brush up on my off-the-cuff metric estimates. It appears it's more like 1/4 or 1/2 a millimeter.

It's just where the metal barrel meets part A4, and it doesn't interfere with the fit at all. It's the very smallest of cracks, and it's not 360 degrees around either. I don't know, maybe I'm having noob over-zealousness or something. I do think it's a little noticeable though.

Ok, I'll consider drilling it, and I'll try to get something like an exact measurement to give you an idea of the size of the crack.

I didn't have that fit issue with the barrel & A4.  Perhaps separate the two and drill the hole deeper in A4?  I'm looking at mine and there is no fit prob whatsoever.

This isn't a clear pic of that seam but you get that there was not an issue

Thanks for all the info! I can't tell you how useful that is to me. You just saved me a lot of headaches!

Don't worry so much about markings on the black fiber tubes -- the seal taping was more important.  Also, know that the endcaps were painted black metal.

www.usarmymodels.com/.../3%20105mmFiberContainers.html

For the transmission cover (or succinctly, the Final Drive Assembly), that long horizontal seam is incorrect as well as any seams present when the curved bulges are glued in place.   In actuality, the FDA was three separate cast pieces, bolted together via those two vertical bolt strips.  These are your "curved braces"  and they should remain.

www.toadmanstankpictures.com/m7_04.jpg

Here's toadman's entire gallery: www.toadmanstankpictures.com/m7.htm

Here's a much later M7B2 (but you may still get some useful details) www.toadmanstankpictures.com/m7b2.htm

More M7 GMC galleries:

www.modellismopiu.net/.../main.php

www.modellismopiu.net/.../main.php

www.primeportal.net/.../m7_priest.htm

svsm.org/.../M7_priest_family

public.fotki.com/.../105mm_howitzer_moto

Photo galleries are a plenty.  Just post a request and lots of us can chime in.

Additionally, make sure you fill the seams in A23 & A24 (it was a solid block).  Spring parts A9, A32, & A38 are very fiddly (be careful).  If you have some very thin styrene sheet, it's nice to place one inside A13 and A43 to hide that nasty seam.  I'm not sure of the assembly sequence but try to glue bolt strip B43 to the final drive assembly (it was integral to that piece, NOT the hull armor that the directions would have you glue it to).  If  you're adventurous, carve out the plastic below mesh MA1 -- in reality, that area looked down into the engine compartment -- DML would just have you paint it black, I suppose.

(BTW: I'm in the middle of converting the mid production DML M7 Priest kit into the ultra late M7B2, to be painted in Bundeswehr colors!)