Ah.....my first WIP. This first night of building was very enjoyable. I'm really glad I took the time to get things set up. I had everything I needed immediately at my disposal, and then some. Tunes, reference materials, tools, good lighting. I was a little anxious at first, hoping I wouldn't screw anything up too bad. But, once I got going, it became very pleasurable, very quickly. I'm taking things very slowly at first. I want to learn how to do things properly from the start, and minimize bad habits. I get the most out of things that way. Most people I know just dive into things, and I don't discount them at all. I can do that, but it has a tendency to cause me frustration. This method works best for my sensibilities
Anyhoo, I'm building the Tamiya M113. I chose this for my first build because it was recommended as being very simple. And, so far, it is. The decals are pretty generic, which led me to the idea of doing a generic "unknown" theme for this APC. I dedicate it to all of the veterans of the War in Vietnam
It will be buttoned up entirely - there will be no interior visible. Therefore, I am not building any interior components. It will have a .50 cal mounted - though it will have no antennas (which is unusual, if I remember correctly, to have a crew serve mounted without radios installed, but, for simplicity's sake with respect to my very limited - read "pretty much zero" - scratch-building skills, I'm making the call to mount the gun anyway). I'm going with a single color dark OD scheme with white stars. I'm going to attempt VERY slight weathering - a simple wash and dry brush, tracks reddish-brown but not overly rusted, a few scratches here and there and maybe showing a little time in the Sun. The idea is to replicate what might be a monument piece in 1:1 scale
I started this a while back, and I got all the rolling stock assembled
I started this evening out by assembling the vinyl track. I thought about trying the hot screwdriver technique - which I have a very good tool that would work for that - but after dry fitting, I didn't see any reason why super glue wouldn't suffice. So, I used some thin Loctite, then after letting it sit for about 30 minutes, I snipped the little round protrusions. I think it turned out well
Next, I decided to attach the post that the TC's seat attaches to, because it's used as a support for the roof. I didn't take any pics of that. I just used regular Testors liquid cement for the bonded areas, then filled the gaps with CA. I don't know if any of the techniques are common, but they seem to have worked well. If anything I do is undesirable for good model construction, I'm completely open to any and all criticism. I'm also open to any ideas, advice, or any comments in general. Consider me the Jimi Hendrix of modeling: I love feedback
I decided I wanted to install the ramp. So I snipped all the parts, dry-fitted, got out a flat needle file and a medium-grit sanding stick, and went about the fitting process. After I got everything to look how I wanted, I taped the door in place with the hinges located, then used liquid plastic cement to glue on the hinges
After the hinges set up a bit, I used some liquid cement to glue the ramp in the up position
So that's as far as I got on this first night of my new hobby. I'm really digging it, A LOT. I can't wait to start throwing paint. I've got soooooooo much to learn and experience. This hobby speaks to me on many levels. It's an excellent hobby, and I actually think it chose me and not the other way around
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. God bless
Harold