Well, I did it!
Friday night and Saturday morning my son and I stuck together italeri's Panzer 38t. Then we washed it with a grease cutter to get the mold release off, blow-dryed the water off of it to accelerate the process (bringing on a mini-disaster!), painted the wheels with a rattle can of Tamiya matt black, the rest of the tank with a rattle can of Tamiya gunship grey, and Saturday evening painted the wheels with the grey, using a circle template to cover the tires. Sunday morning I stuck on the wheels. Voila! He was so pleased to see a respectable looking model kit in such little time.
In fact, it's still a WIP, but I thought I'd post photos before I glossed it up for the decals and washes:
The disaster was: my wife's blow dryer was so darned hot it melted the turret gun barrels, both 37mm and the MG!!
![Laugh [(-D]](/FSM/CS/emoticons/icon_smile_newlaugh.gif)
Down they drooped. Panicked, I put the dryer back on and tried to get them back in shape. The 37 is still a bit wiggly, and the MG looks odd. What was I thinking?
![Dunce [D)]](/FSM/CS/emoticons/icon_smile_dunce.gif)
You have to stare to see the damage, but I'm going to completely fix it anyway. I ordered the Jordi Rubio replacement barrel, despite the fact that it's for the Macquette kit, not for this one, so it's going to be a royal pain in the tuchas to get it on the model. I'll put a canvas cover over the coax MG, like this tank, which is also from the 7th Pz Dv, which is the unit I'm painting my tank for (there are decals for the outfit in the kit):
The tank is going to wear a set of WWII Productions treads. My son was cool with this, as I gave him the rubber band track lengths to play with. I'm keeping an eye on them anyway though, just in case the WWII do not fit.
Of course, it's not
done done, but it's done enough to prove the point. I stuck this thing together, but I think it's going to come out not half bad, with a bit of work. So pull those tanks out and stick em together!
![Smile [:)]](/FSM/CS/emoticons/icon_smile.gif)