Hello Mark!

It might help you to know, that I have this AFV kit in progress here: http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/165990.aspx

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Thank you pawel. I'll be following you.  :)

I am sure I am going to enjoy this one. M, did you get the "aftershock" panzer iv yet ?

Mike, very cool! I've been eyeing this kit too but have way too much stuff in the stash so I'm resisting buying one. AFV Club has the spring loaded retraction feature in their Hellcat model too, I'm not sure how many other kits have it. 

From my limited sample size of AFV kits, I found them over-engineered. They didn't need to over detail IMHO.

Hello!

Comparing this particular kit to others showing the same tank (Tamiya, Academy, ESCI), you might say it's overengineered - but if so, I like the way it's overengineered. Like the driver's hatch is a separate part allowing you to show it open or closed, easily. Then the scope insert in said hatch is another part, allowing you to show the periscope looking straight or to side - easily. Then the periscope and its cover are separate parts, allowing you to show the periscope installed or removed - easily. We might argue if making the rear deck 11 separate parts instead of one (not counting the handles!) is good or bad, but you would buy that if you wanted to install the engine kit in your model. Bonus - the insides of the grilles are detailed too. And the list goes on, so like I said - I like the way that kit is overengineered and I wish for more kits like that. Thanks for reading, and have a nice day!

Paweł

What you consider overengineered, I call detailed.  I would much prefer a kit with lots of details than a kit with all the details molded on, ala Tamiya.  I get pleasure out of building the most detailed kit I can, whether the detail is in the kit or has to be added.  I'll take an AFV Club kit over most others any day.

Okay. Progress has been made. 

I was wrong about this suspension. This is way mare complex than the M-103 lol. First, all of the parts actually work! As you will see there is a lot of parts on this lower hull.



All of the parts line up without issue. I did have to ream out all of the shaft holes to help things move better, and each of the torsion bars is a little on the thick side. At first I thought this was bad engineering, but then I realized this was done most intentionally, as I filed each down to where they slid in without any problems. If they had tried to make this fit the first time without cleaning the seams it would all be too loose and wobbly.





The only place I had problems was with a couple of gaps around the bump stops at the back of the hull.



I did drill out a few places and add my own pins to strengthen the links.



I color coded the swing arms so I can put them back in the correct places later.



I started in the interior by building up the driver's seat. There are a few VERY finicky little levers and I replaced one of them with some stiff wire. I built up the knobs with super glue and then coated them with some thick paint to smooth them out and let gravity shape them into lovely little spheres.

I've also started adding some texture to the inside hull. I'm going to leave it a bit over-exaggerated so it's easier to see later on.





After getting all of that squared away I primed the driver's seat and got out my new Neo AB. Excited as a schoolboy, I loaded up the AB with some light grey and ran into a most familiar problem.



Spattering! Again! Are you kidding me?!!

Well since this is a brand spanking-new AB I decided instead to check into my compressor. I carefully took it all apart and found a problem.



Seems I blew out the piston seal. It's not completely destroyed, but I've lost a lot of pressure without realizing it. I took some measurements and cut out a couple of new seals made of thick paper, greased the inside of the compression chamber with some thick silicone lube left over from my days airsofting, reassembled the entire unit and pushed the "on" button. Bingo! Now my compressor works a little better than it did when it was brand new right out of the box. Who knew?





I am seriously impressed with how this AB works in comparison with my old one. The difference is like night and day.

Now this is where I'm going to have to pause as I'm going to have to scratch build some of the forward ammo storage tubes. They sit to the left and right of the driver and can be seen clearly, so I just need to dig up some reference photos to go by and fill up all of that space that shouldn't be empty.

hard stripe

I am sure I am going to enjoy this one. M, did you get the "aftershock" panzer iv yet ?

Not yet. But when I do, you will know about it lol.

Pawel

Hello!

Comparing this particular kit to others showing the same tank (Tamiya, Academy, ESCI), you might say it's overengineered - but if so, I like the way it's overengineered. Like the driver's hatch is a separate part allowing you to show it open or closed, easily. Then the scope insert in said hatch is another part, allowing you to show the periscope looking straight or to side - easily. Then the periscope and its cover are separate parts, allowing you to show the periscope installed or removed - easily. We might argue if making the rear deck 11 separate parts instead of one (not counting the handles!) is good or bad, but you would buy that if you wanted to install the engine kit in your model. Bonus - the insides of the grilles are detailed too. And the list goes on, so like I said - I like the way that kit is overengineered and I wish for more kits like that. Thanks for reading, and have a nice day!

Paweł

 

I didn't like it at first, but I quickly realized that you can make almost every part function with a little drill and some wire. If I wanted to, I could make every hinge on this thing actually work as they do on the real tank. For example; I could have made the driver's seat fold and unflold just like the real thing.

That's not over-engineering. That's excellent engineering.

I also think that they could have toned it down in a few areas however. Some of this detail is just a bit much for even my tastes lol. I'm not looking forward to all of those super tiny handles that go on the engine covers lol.

M. Brindos

Now this is where I'm going to have to pause as I'm going to have to scratch build some of the forward ammo storage tubes. They sit to the left and right of the driver and can be seen clearly, so I just need to dig up some reference photos to go by and fill up all of that space that shouldn't be empty.

 

I added the leather arm rests to the Driver's Seat post and then gave it all a dark grey wash.



A quick coat of Krylon Camo Flat Black shows me that I have definitely embellished the texture inside the Driver's compartment. I think I will tone it down a bit. Once I get the LED lighting installed later on I don't want the shadows of those peaks casting too large, or long shadows. :D

I can see in my picture just how much shadow will show up and that's a bit too much.

Hello Mike!

Lookin' good! I especially like those armrests. I'd also agree about making that texture finer - the scale can be very unforgiving sometimes. Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Thank you Pawel.  :)

My Dad dug up some pictures of an M-60A1 trainer. You can see the storage tubes and everything that is visible looking down the hatch.

There is a load of stuff crammed in there and this is going to be interesting building all of that stuff. I've got the time [shrug] lol.

Hello!

You can never get enough real thing photos on the Net, so thanks for sharing! I'm looking forward to your detailing here! Pity the CEV which I'm building had a totally different layout here. Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

M. Brindos- If you want to scare yourself,look at Aber photo-etch. A good friend of mine laughed as he gave me (yeah,no charge,I don't owe him any money or favors) the Aber set for the DML Firefly Sherman. I HAVE TO MAKE SPRINGS FOR THE FENDERS!,replace all the periscopes..............

If you are looking for pics,besides prime portal, try The Chieftan's Hatch on you tube.

Mike, some nice detail going in there.

Allen, if you think Aber are bad, you should try Voyager PE.  Actually, on second thoughts, no, don't, not if you value your sanity.

Very cool work there Mike, great photos too. 

Thanks for the comments my friends. So far, so good!  :)

I've got all of the Driver's compartment kit parts finished except for the instrument panel. I've just got it primed, painted , and sealed - ready for washes and detailing.


^ The seat and fire extinguisher are looking quite fabulous. Almost bang-on from my reference pics.


^ Dry fitting of the parts looks good. but in this picture I needed to do a bit of chipping. Not too much, but enough to show its been used.


^ Post chipping.


^ Test fitting with the upper hull showed me that the Driver's seat post is a bit short to meet the locating tab (same issue Pawel had). I added some styrene to the top of the post and it now clicks into place and doesn't move around.


^ From the top down through the hatch.


^ This is one of my favorite shots. This looks really close to my references. Aside form all the parts and wires that are missing. The color and wear look just right.


^ I'm working on the instrument panel next and the I will start the work on the rest of the parts that attach to the top hull.

Thanks for checking in!

M. thanks for the trip down memory lane in the drivers compartment. I remember very well the escape hatch falling out while running in convoy, between 25 & 30 mph.

You suddenly relize that the 3/8" pin holding your set up went to the lowest bidder of a military contract.

I'm not sure how to take that lol. 

I've heard stories of the hatch falling out before, but no one has ever put it quite that way lol.

Hello Mike!

Nice looking interior, man! Interesting idea with this "highlight" of white and darker shadow outside! What's coming on now? Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Thank you very much Pawel!

Yeah that turned out pretty good. I was just trying to make it feel more clauserphobic in there. What's up next is that I'm still trying to find some tubing of an accurate scale to use for the ammo storage tubes so I can build those. Heck if I know what I'm going to do about everything BEHIND the driver's seat that will be far easier to see than anything in the front ever will be.

My Dad bought a set of Valkyrie figures and even though they are "Viet Nam Marines" I believe with some small effort they will work just fine for this project. One figure only needs sleeves and he's golden. Good poses except that the driver is a bust only. My plan is to have him out of the vehicle so you can look into the interior when I'm finished so I'm going to have to find another figure for him.

If I do anything you like, such as the forced shadows in the Driver's compartment, please use it yourself if you are so inclined. 

The figure set came in yesterday. Dad Ordered a set of Viet Nam era Marine Tankers, made by Valkyrie Miniatures, to go with this build. They are very well represented and I'd say that quality is just a bare notch under the Alpine figure I have, and a big improvement over MiniArt figures. My only complaint is the microphone booms are attached to the casting block in a difficult to remove way. I would have preferred PE instead of the fragile resin mics that are provided. Pity because they are so well detailed.




Excellent photos on the box show you just how well these figures can look. Sculpted by Gu Hee Jung in Korea, they show a wonderful talent for detail and I can only complain of their skinny faces and pointy chins. Some more variations in their facial structures would have been nice to see, but I'm not going to mark these down in points because of it.




I only had to use a bit of filler on the neck joint, but I had to build up the Mic Boom with a little thin styrene because when I removed it from the casting block I did manage to loose a bit of it. I'm just happy I didn't break in into pieces.


^ This thing is not easy to detach from the casting block without damage. PE would actually have been a better choice for this part.

So I'm thinking of trading out the Loader's arms, for arms with sleeves, and that's all I'm going to need to do to pass this guy off as regular ARMY. Unless someone points out any glaring issues as to why they can't be ARMY, I'm confident these figures will do very nicely.

Amazing Mike, simply amazing ... 

Very nice looking set of figures there- looking forward to seeing you work your magic on them Mike! 

Really nice detail here Mike! I"m jealous of that fire extinguisher--I can never get mine to look right!

The project is coming along very nicely!

Thanks Dave, Gam, and Karl!

Karl, the extinguisher was first painted white and then I used Testors flat red as a base. I gave it a black wash after painting the dirty gold/brass on it, and then I layered on some Crimson acrylic to brighten up the tank, and then followed that up with a gloss coat.

For your next extinguisher try some thin coats of a bright red/orange (80%red) mix over a red base and you'll get what you're looking for.

As for the figures, I started converting the second figure into an Army tanker. I snagged some arms from a Dragon M1A1 tanker figure and carved off all of the details, added seams and cuffs along with buttons and button holes that the fatigue blouse should have from that period. I used a spare head from the MiniArt winter German set I'm still not finished with yet and carved off the scarf from his neck which removed what little hair he had so I scratched that back in and reshaped the hat into something I remember seeing a lot as a small child. I still need to do more shaping of the hat, but he's mostly done. I've got him posed to be leaning up against the frontal slope of the hull staring at something interesting on the ground lol.






So far so good. I hope its accurate enough when I'm done.