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                        Magnifier Saves Kettenkrad!

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                        36 replies
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                        wbill76
                        • Member since
                          July 2004
                        • From: Texas
                        Magnifier Saves Kettenkrad!
                        Posted by wbill76 on Saturday, August 7, 2004 2:33 PM
                        In an attempt to cure my jetlag symptoms I started work on my Kettenkrad at about 2 am this morning MT and this is where I'm at so far. Even at 1/35 scale, this sucker is tiny. For the first time in my modelling experience, I'm actually dreading assembling indy track links. Painting is coming up next then the tracks, so I can delay for a little while at any rate.

                        I bought a nice little desk magnifier at Office Depot for $25 in anticipation of this little project and it has already paid for itself. If anything, this kit has increased my respect ten fold for those who routinely engage in 1/72 and turn out such magnificent work in the process.

                        And now for the current state (ruler is in inches) of my rendition of the tiniest of all German manned tracked vehicles along with a towed Pupchen...


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                        Anonymous
                        • Member since
                          November 2005
                        Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, August 7, 2004 2:55 PM
                        Great start Wbill,
                        That's the Tamiya right?
                        I've got the Dragon with Feldcable, so I know what you mean about the size. Dragon just sent me a sprue that was missing from the kit so I may resume when things calm down.
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                        wbill76
                        • Member since
                          July 2004
                        • From: Texas
                        Posted by wbill76 on Saturday, August 7, 2004 2:58 PM
                        Ausf,

                        This is the Dragon kit # 6114. Very nice detail for such a small subject. Over 300 parts, including the tracks. I've had to work with this one more on fit and sanding/filling than usual with Dragon kits but i write that off to the small size of everything. The tolerances are very tight given most parts are about 1-2 mm in size.

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                        Anonymous
                        • Member since
                          November 2005
                        Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, August 7, 2004 3:20 PM
                        Looking good.
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                        yw18mc
                        • Member since
                          April 2004
                        • From: sunny imperial beach
                        Posted by yw18mc on Saturday, August 7, 2004 4:40 PM
                        Come on Ausf, and Claymore68! Wbill76, really didn't post a picture, did he? I don't see anything? What is the problem with my dang computer? semper fi, mike
                        mike
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                        wildwilliam
                        • Member since
                          December 2009
                        • From: West Grove, PA
                        Posted by wildwilliam on Saturday, August 7, 2004 4:46 PM
                        good call on the desk magnifier, Wbill!
                        looks like you are off to a good start.
                        keep us posted, and make sure that little critter does not hide behind a paint bottle or something. :-)
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                        wbill76
                        • Member since
                          July 2004
                        • From: Texas
                        Posted by wbill76 on Saturday, August 7, 2004 5:39 PM
                        Time is running out, going to have to tackle those tracks soon! Camo job done, now for markings, running gear, and weathering!

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                        wildwilliam
                        • Member since
                          December 2009
                        • From: West Grove, PA
                        Posted by wildwilliam on Saturday, August 7, 2004 6:26 PM
                        Looking good!
                        thanks for the update.
                        good luck w/ the tracks. better you than me!
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                        tigerman
                        • Member since
                          March 2003
                        • From: Rain USA, Vancouver WA
                        Posted by tigerman on Saturday, August 7, 2004 7:03 PM
                        Good looking little kit there Bill. I wish you well with the tracks. You will REALLY need that magnifying glass for those.

                        http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y269/wing_nut_5o/PANZERJAGERGB.jpg

                         Eric 

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                        wbill76
                        • Member since
                          July 2004
                        • From: Texas
                        Posted by wbill76 on Saturday, August 7, 2004 7:43 PM
                        Eric,

                        I'm REALLY glad I got the magnifier. It's got it's own 60 watt light and a 4" lens...I'd have lost/broken quite a few pieces already if I was doing my usual eye-to-finger method. Big Smile [:D]

                        I've been up for over 30 hours, I'm hoping my body will let me sleep tonight.

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                        tigerman
                        • Member since
                          March 2003
                        • From: Rain USA, Vancouver WA
                        Posted by tigerman on Sunday, August 8, 2004 12:39 PM
                        QUOTE: Originally posted by wbill76
                        I've been up for over 30 hours, I'm hoping my body will let me sleep tonight.


                        Wow, that is one way to finish a kit. Maybe you're onto something there.

                        http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y269/wing_nut_5o/PANZERJAGERGB.jpg

                         Eric 

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                        wbill76
                        • Member since
                          July 2004
                        • From: Texas
                        Posted by wbill76 on Sunday, August 8, 2004 1:08 PM
                        Managed to get some sleep in between watching the MTD progress (it's ironic in that I opted out because I thought I'd be too strung out from my trip and here I am working right alongside them indirectly!), the last thing remaining now is, you guessed it, the tracks. I'm looking at them and trying to decide if it might just be simpler to remove the "workable" pins and just glue them together as a static track like usual...

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                        wbill76
                        • Member since
                          July 2004
                        • From: Texas
                        Posted by wbill76 on Sunday, August 8, 2004 2:07 PM
                        The tracks are taunting me now...it needs to set up a little before I tackle them this afternoon.

                        Latest status pic minus the Pupchen:

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                        Anonymous
                        • Member since
                          November 2005
                        Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 8, 2004 4:21 PM
                        i like how its coming along
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                        Anonymous
                        • Member since
                          November 2005
                        Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 8, 2004 4:38 PM
                        LOOKS AWSOME! I love it. Gonna have to do the tracks sometime man. Actually for stuff like this I almost always do the tracks first that way I have an incentive to finnish the kit... Great job on such a tiny kit... My hat is off! I really like the camo too... It will look great once its all weathered up...
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                        wbill76
                        • Member since
                          July 2004
                        • From: Texas
                        Posted by wbill76 on Sunday, August 8, 2004 6:21 PM
                        Thanks Kenneth and AC! Got the first track done, took 2.5 hours but I learned a faster way to do it that will dramatically shorten the time needed for the second one. Completion of the 1st track has revealed a horrifying situation though. The front wheel is now off the ground entirely! I checked the fit of all the assembly and there's no question, the front spokes are short by about 2mm! I may have to get sneaky and put some lead strips on the front to make it sit down properly, going to have to think on it for the right solution.



                        In the meantime, a short break for dinner and then tackle that 2nd track. Big Smile [:D]

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                        Anonymous
                        • Member since
                          November 2005
                        Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 8, 2004 6:25 PM
                        1st rate. Skip all that nonsense and put it on a diorama of uneven ground... THEN next time you build one lenthen the struts...Big Smile [:D] Dioramas can hide all kinds of sins...
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                        renarts
                        • Member since
                          April 2003
                        • From: Sunny Florida
                        Posted by renarts on Sunday, August 8, 2004 6:54 PM
                        I wouldn't worry too much about the wheel being off the ground. Make a display base for this guy and put some uneven terrain to compensate for the lift. It will be hidden by the uneveness of the ground.

                        Besides, everyone will be so taken aback and amazed that you tackled the indy tracks, they won't notice the slight shortness of the front forks.....Wink [;)]

                        Looks good so far.
                        Mike "Imagination is the dye that colors our lives" Marcus Aurellius A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...that was fun!"
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                        wbill76
                        • Member since
                          July 2004
                        • From: Texas
                        Posted by wbill76 on Sunday, August 8, 2004 7:30 PM
                        I've never done a diorama or display base before...any simple tips for this one? The kit comes with a driver/rider and also some rounds for the Pupchen, might be able to snag an AT crew figure set to use with it that would be convincing...

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                        Anonymous
                        • Member since
                          November 2005
                        Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 8, 2004 7:38 PM
                        Pick up a small plaque base at the dollar store and a some Celluclay at the crafts store. Mix a bit of the celluclay with water and a little white glue then apply it to the base. Wet your finger and work the stuff around till its textured like you want. Use a paint brush to texture it a little more. Use the kit to imprint the track and tire marks the pull it out and sprinkle on a little yard dirt (sift it through screen first to get out the large chunks) let that dry then paint it. Or don't add the dirt and paint the dry celluclay white as snow. Does this Pupchen kit have skies? That would be appropriate if it did. Check out the Diorama section of the website for more info but this could get you started...

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                        Dwight Ta-ala
                        • Member since
                          July 2003
                        • From: Philippines
                        Posted by Dwight Ta-ala on Sunday, August 8, 2004 8:44 PM
                        Hey we are amor guys. We know how to hide those things. LOL. And we don't mind knowing they are there, too.

                        Seriously, great job. I don't think I can do something that good in a very short time.

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                        Anonymous
                        • Member since
                          November 2005
                        Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 8, 2004 8:59 PM
                        awesome job wbill. I agree with everyone else just make the ground uneven. From looking at the picture with the one side of track there doesn't really seem to be an obvious solution that I can see. Again it looks awesome. I cant wait to see the finished product.
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                        wbill76
                        • Member since
                          July 2004
                        • From: Texas
                        Posted by wbill76 on Sunday, August 8, 2004 9:06 PM
                        Kenneth,

                        Thanks for the tips, was planning to browse throught the Diorama area for some ideas. The Pupchen is the wheeled variety, no skis.

                        Dwight,

                        I was absolutely thrilled with this Dragon kit, even with the tiny indy links, right up until I put that track on it and saw the shadow/daylight under the front wheel. It's correctable by throwing it into a dio but I'd hoped to keep this one as a stand-alone along with my other stuff. The second track went on very smoothly with the lessons learned from the first one, now it's a matter of markings and the weathering process along with a small shopping list. Big Smile [:D]





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                        buff
                        • Member since
                          December 2003
                        • From: Montreal
                        Posted by buff on Sunday, August 8, 2004 9:18 PM
                        That looks great wbill! The cam is awesome. Did you airbrush it? I tried that type of paint work with an airbrush for the first time on my MTD Tiger, and well.Banged Head [banghead]... I definitely need to practice!

                        On the bench: 1/32 Spit IXc

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                        wbill76
                        • Member since
                          July 2004
                        • From: Texas
                        Posted by wbill76 on Sunday, August 8, 2004 10:15 PM
                        Buff,

                        Yes, the paintwork is done with an airbrush. I use an Aztek (I can hear the groans now!) with interchangeable tips and a small compressor designed for airbrush use. The camo color was applied using very low pressure with thinned paint at a very close distance using the double action trigger slowly one line at a time.

                        Best thing for practicing that I've found is a plain white sheet of paper. Depending on your setup, psi and paint/thinner ratios will vary but have a big impact on finished result. Try out different settings before you use it on a finished model and it will save a lot of headache.

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                        renarts
                        • Member since
                          April 2003
                        • From: Sunny Florida
                        Posted by renarts on Sunday, August 8, 2004 10:51 PM
                        hey wbill76,

                        You'd be better off practice spraying on a piece of styrene thats been painted. Airbrushing paint on paper will have a different finish than on primered or painted plastic. While a very good test bed, it has different surface qualities than plastic.

                        I keep a sheet of styrene handy and check my spray pattern on it. When it gets too difficult to see what I'm painting I just hit it with another coat of primer and it gives me a new blank canvas. Too much build up can be cleaned off with some alchohol or just a new primered piece of styrene.

                        Nice piece of model building there. I built Tamiya version of this and I've been looking into building dragon's version. Hope its as good as yours.

                        BTW, I'm a big fan of the aztek and have used it for some pretty great paint jobs.
                        Mike "Imagination is the dye that colors our lives" Marcus Aurellius A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...that was fun!"
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                        wbill76
                        • Member since
                          July 2004
                        • From: Texas
                        Posted by wbill76 on Sunday, August 8, 2004 11:03 PM
                        Renarts,

                        I have an old "war-weary" vehicle (currently a StuG III B) that I use for various test purposes. Your idea would work very handy as it could be kept right alongside while painting. You're right about the paper, I use it just to test pressure/line width for splatter/overspray as opposed to scheme combos or overall schemes. Either that or a space on the spraying platform itself as a quick reference.

                        The Dragon kit came together very nicely I must say. The fear of the indy links being so tiny drove me to get the magnifier and it made a huge difference. I usually work in 1/35 scale and while this one is a 1/35, it felt like a 1/72 with a lot more parts. Big Smile [:D]

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                        renarts
                        • Member since
                          April 2003
                        • From: Sunny Florida
                        Posted by renarts on Sunday, August 8, 2004 11:19 PM
                        The indys will work perfect for the way I want to display it. There is a photo in the ketten manual that shows the proper way to change the tracks on it. It shows the tracks laid out stright behind the ketten on the ground and the operator uses a hand bar with a ring handle and a hook to pull the tracks around the wheels.
                        Thought it would be a different and great way to display the model. The indys just fit in to this.
                        Mike "Imagination is the dye that colors our lives" Marcus Aurellius A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...that was fun!"
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                        Anonymous
                        • Member since
                          November 2005
                        Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 8, 2004 11:38 PM
                        Mike is right I used to practice on paper now I use an old Tamiya King Tiger (70's release) I keep a couple around for this purpose only... What you are doing seems to be working for you though because your AB job is excellent!
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                        wbill76
                        • Member since
                          July 2004
                        • From: Texas
                        Posted by wbill76 on Monday, August 9, 2004 8:53 AM
                        Mike,

                        If I'd known I was going to have to put this into a dio, I would probably have gone with something similar to what you are describing, it sounds perfect, especially if you had a guy scratching his head in bewilderment about handling the track links! Big Smile [:D]

                        I scrounged around in my spares kit and found a figure from another Dragon kit that is posed carrying a jerry can. I think that will work nicely for a little roadside breakdown scenario as my first foray into dio building.

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