MTD badge and comments.

Great badge!! Already added it to my profile.

The events are still to close for me to tell about them. These big life altering experiences needs time to settle before you can share them with others.

Thanks for creating the badge! I'm not a badge person (I only host the towed gun badge for those guys who want it -- I'll be removing it from my sig file soon guys, so grab it while you can!), but I appreciate your doing it -- just one more contribution you've made to the build.

I actually didn't lose any pieces but one -- one of those pins that holds the mantlet in. It went in too far, I pulled it out with tweezers, and it flew onto the rug. The light grey rug.

I ended up plugging the hole with a bit of sprue, levelling it off, and then using the little plug thing at the back of the turret (for the storage bin) as a replacement for the external part of the pin. It looks fine.

Say, this might be a good place to discuss 1/72nd scale Tiger I kit quality.

The Dragon zimmerit kit isn't bad, and the fit is generally pretty good. I found the tools molded onto the hull roof to be a blessinng, needless to say!

Here are the exceptions.

The attachment of the steel and the plastic parts of the tow cables was a bit problematic, as the steel parts are a bit too thick to join correctly with the plastic pieces. They do look great though.

The biggest problem was that the rear idler did not fit correctly into the gap in the last roadwheel. I filed the inner edge of that roadwheel down to be paper thin, and that helped a bit, but the last roadwheel buckles out still. It's a real fit problem.

I didn't have any problems with the fit of the turret roof, strangely enough.

The rubber treads are, let's face it, terrible. They were produced for the motorized Tigers and they need to go on the static models.

Huge accuracy problem -- no spare links! Are they kidding? These Tigers all had links on the vulnerable turret sides, and many had links of the lower hull front and even on the upper hull front too. But the turret links are really a must. Shame on them for not providing them.

Ok, that said, the kit is a good build-up, but I don't think it's a kit for beginners, like Cookie Sewell's review claimed. You've got to drill holes out, and some of the little pieces are quite hard to get off the sprue -- like the light and the hull MG. Working with the steel cables would be tough for a new modeler too.

The zimmerit is a big plus. When I put the whitewash on, and then scrub it off, the whitewash will stay in the zimmerit recesses, just like on the real tanks. Cool.

At this point, though, I really wish I'd built a Tunisian tiger using Revell and just done the typical painting, washing and weathering. I'm a little disappointed that I bit off more than I could chew, and as a result I didn't really finish. I could have built the diorama as a long-term project, and built a single Tiger as a mini-display item. Live and learn: Set realistic goals.

I did find time to work and complete my Tiger. The olny problem I really had was the indy tracks. First time I worked with these kind of tracks. I have two 1/35 scale Tiger I's
with indy tracks on my workbench next. I started about 7:30 Denver time and finished about 10:48.

Nice bagde Ausf! I started at 9:05am and ended at 8:09pm. I only lost one piece (I think I'm lucky) and it was one of the single treads, which I didn't need so it was fine. The worst part about the build was the treads. It was my first 1/72 armor kit and I wasn't used to how the treads work for 1/72 kits. I had no tweezers and I was using super glue for the treads, so that was a massacre by itself. But it was fun, we should do this anually!

Ausf - thanks for the badge,
Larry - thanks for the heads up. i tried to make a copy of the badge for my photo-host.
we'll see how i did.

let's see build memories?
well i rarely use CA, and this was an almost ALL CA build.
the bottle had a perpetually clogged nozzle
eventually i tired of clearing it w/ pin and just cut it off.
dumped it onto yogurt lid and applied it w/ pin as needed.

got to try my new, temporary airbrush.
my Aztek A470 packed it in a few weeks ago and is off at Testors for replace.
i bought a 320 (?) to tide me over.
what i did not know was that apparently when trying to get the broken AB
to work, i jammed the grey nozzle somehow.
it no longer works. luckily the 320 came w/ a grey nozzle, but i had to find it first!

the only thing i can recommend the Airfix kit for is a reminder of how good you have it w/ the modern offerings. the odd enginering of hull & turret make for difficult assembly.
also the big disc that makes the bottom of the turret interfered w/ my scratchbuilt interior.
HA! just wanted to see if you were paying attention.
also very odd was the numbering of the pieces on the sprue,
seemingly designed to make sure you cannot find a piece.
let it suffice to say that the pieces are not on the spru in ascending numerical order!

Dragon kit was quite good. especially w/ the Airfix present for comparison!
i forgot to put the 'bushings' in the 'middle' wheels, which made for a VERY
sloppy fit. the directions had a mis-numbered part or two.
the idler wheel was as bad as everyone said.

Larry is right - tools molded in were a big plus, missing extra links was bad.

i thought the Dragon tracks looked decent, but i am not familiar w/ the 1:1.
(i know they DON'T look like the Airfix tracks!)

if i could do it again, i would build one kit,
make cardstock stencils for markings instead of free-handing them.
and a number of other things.

my build timeline looked like:
Saturday - sleep 9:30pm to 11:55, set up for midnight camera shot.
Sunday - midnight - take picture, post same to Forum. check out other builds.
put on a pot of coffee.
model from abt 12:30 am to 7 am. post some stuff, check out other peoples builds.
sleep 7 am - 11 am.
eat, shower, start more coffee. put Iron Maiden discs in player.
build until Cup race starts. watch race, check forum etc.
have a beer.
finish Dragon kit around 9. have a beer. post. chat w/ girlfriend.
take deep breath and go back to Airfix kit.
shot final pics of that at abt 11:30, post,
scrub paint from hands, go to bed!

QUOTE: Originally posted by wildwilliam Larry - thanks for the heads up. i tried to make a copy of the badge for my photo-host. we'll see how i did.

Oh, I'll still host the image. I'll just be removing it from my sig file.

Great builds guys. Maybe I'll make the next one.

Larry and Ed's comments about the Dragon. I, too, was caught by the miss fitting idlers. I however, thought that the mounting pin was too long so kept cutting it back. It got so short on the first side that I was barely able to glue the idler to it. I figured out the problem and shaved the back off the other idler like Larry did. It fit better, but no cigar here! And I also forgot to put the inserts into center road wheels. Missed it in the directions. Now I know why they are so loose!! lol

Which brings me to another triad about Dragon's instruction sheets. They really need to get a new editing staff! The biggest problem I had with the kit (other than above with the running gear) was that there are several parts they showed already attached to the turret or hull, but don't tell you what the part number is. You have to go through each sprue and try to find the part that matches what it looks like after it's been attached. I almost put the wrong disk on the turret for the ventilator.

I thought the tracks looked pretty good, myself, for rubber band tracks, but they are probably about 3/8 inch too short to be able to sag them properly.

The Revell kit was really nice to get together. Everything fit pretty well. My big hang up with it was the close to two hours it took me to put the "rubber" on all the road wheels. And I did them with a sharpie. I hate to think how long it would have taken with a brush and paint! Actually, the biggest problem with the wheels was the mold parting lines. Getting them somewhat cleaned off took most of that two hours. Also, Revell molds the muzzel break closed over on the end. I drilled it out with progressively bigger bits until I got to a #50. It's probably a little bigger than it should be, but I wasn't about to measure and scale it out. It still looks better than a solid end on the brake!

I took my start pics at 12, then opend and washed the kits (including the new Dragon BergeTiger (one of the idler mounting pins was missing in the kit). I laid them all out to dry and went to bed at about 1:15. Back up at 5:30 to do papers with the kids and started building about 6:45. Worked pretty much during the day on the two kits with breaks while paint or glue dried, and to take care of meals, etc. for the kids and me. Finally called it quits about 10 PM as I couldn't see straight anymore and had to wrestle the kids to bed.

Well I built the Revell early Tiger and it was a pretty decent kit except for the indy tracks which were some thing of a pain in the derrier, although you get a lot of extras including the 6-7 molded specifically for the turret more than enough to install in the front if you wanted. Now that I've had some sleep (oh that was yesterday just got home from work) I think that some of the track fit problems might have been of my own making as my only other indy experience are my Ital Tiger (1/35) and my 2nd sons dragon Nashorn (1/35). I like the fact that they werent all molded seperate and had long runs molded like the Ital 1/35 Tiger.
I didnt like the fact that I had to drill out the 88 barrell (lack of sleep equals farely large hole) and the huge main cables for the top of the, they cant possibly be scale cause they are thick. I actually only used CA when I was doing the tracks as plastruc drys pretty fast. I really want to thank AUSF for a great day and I cant wait for the next Mad ? Day (did I hear Sherman?). Like I said in the other thread I wished I had done a nice camo job like the rest of you guy's Ijust didnt think It would go together so quickly and was looking for a low hassle finish.

Wipw - good call, i had forgotten abt the ventilator cover.
i was looking at the hole in the pice and the directions thinking
"hmmm . . .they make it look like it's molded on. uh-o!"
eventually found a piece on the sprue that fit.

i was grateful to get the tracks on w/o breaking off any running gear.
i tried to CA them to the roadwheels, but the tension just popped the free until i gave up.

The parts the fit the worst for me were the tracks. I thought they were nice, until I had to put them on, they wouldnt fit. Took 1/2 hr to get them on. other wise everything was great. Dragon did a good job.

Ausf, thanks for being a host for theis build I had lots of fun. Now I wonder who will be starting the Mad Sherman build?????

Oh, I had trouble with the Idler wheels too, but they were fixed a lot faster than the tracks.

I actually built and painted the lower the lower hull with the intention of installing the roadwheels and tracks and then the upper hull but I got stuck on stupid and didnt do it much to my regret. I thought that the outer wheels were out to far at first, but then everyon else started post pics of their earlies and I felt better. I picked a lot of helpful info on indy tracks from building this kit and I am glad I got into this. While Im at it how in the heck do you post pics in the thread instead of using hyperlinks?

cplchilly,
just put [xxx] right before the link and [/xxx] right after it.
but instead of 'xxx' put 'img'
(which i cannot do as it will think i am embedding a picture.
so it will look like
[xxx]http://image-location-web-address[/xxx]

the same way your badges are in your profile!

QUOTE: Originally posted by wildwilliam i was grateful to get the tracks on w/o breaking off any running gear. i tried to CA them to the roadwheels, but the tension just popped the free until i gave up.

Try putting a touch of ca on the wheels or track, or whatever, then bend some pipe cleaners to go between the sponson and the tracks to hold the tracks down onto the wheels. Then let it set up real well. It's worked for me in the past.

Did you glue the tracks together before putting them around the wheels, or did you string them through first then glue the tracks together? Did you use ca?

And thanks for allowing me to use the badge for the build. I didn't say before, Ausf, but it's cool. You did a great job!

Hey Ausf, cool badge and thanks again for organizing such an interesting experience.

As you could probably tell, I got started right at midnight. I'm normally not a fast builder, so I figured to get every moment I could. The first few hours went reasonably well, and starting with a clean workspace always helps.

I had some trouble with the fit of the hull in the front. Finally after about 30-45 minutes of fiddling, I was able glued it together and just filled a large gap that I had in the front.

The turret would have been a snap, but I think that I rotated the top just a smidgen when I glued it. The fit around the edge was still good, but this causes an angle between the front edge of the roof and the mantlet, making the gun appear cocked. So I fitted a thin sliver of sheet styrene and sanded down to be even with the mantlet. This exercise probably cost me 30 minutes. Unfortunately, when I painted the turret, my repair was very obvious, so I had to rework the join, and repaint probably costing me another 30 minutes.

Another problem that I had with the turret was the mantlet, was a bit thick underneath, which preveted the gun from being depressed to level. Since I thing a Tiger looks kind of cool in profile with a level gun, I decided to pull of the mantlet and rework the back side clearance problem.

The camoflage went on fairly easily, especially since I never had done a free hand camo before and since I was using a new airbrush.

The tracks, as I related in the other thread, were a nightmare. Far an away they were the most frustrating part of the build. Aside from the aggravation of installing them with those idiotic interleaved road wheels, at one point I painted the bands with Model-Master Acrylic Rust, as part of the weathering/washing process. I wasn't expecting the rust to be glossy, but it was. Nothing I tried, really eliminated the problem.

Still, this was a pretty fun project, and the result will look nice in my display case. I have a tendency to get wrapped up in little details, scope creep, etc, so my normal kit completion is very slow. The 1 day time frame forced a definite limit to the project scope, forcing an out-of-the-box build with no enhancements. I spent 18 or 19 hours building it. With my experience from this build, I could probably knock 4 or 5 hours of that time if I were to try an duplicate the project.

You're quite welcome Bill. The badge was the easiest part of this thing.

Here was my day...

I played the part of the frivilous squirrel, spending most of Saturday in my empty house (wife and kids were away for the weekend) eating Deutsche Brats and drinking Warsteiner, thinking I had it all figured out. I had planned on building a Tiger from the 502 to put in a dio with my T-34. I was going to cut it down to the upper deck so it looked like it became swamped, abandoned then frozen as winter set in. I was going to crack open all hatches and the engine cover and the only real worry was to build a Maybach out of sprues. I was completely going to avoid wheels and tracks, brilliant eh?
Well here's stupidity knocking on the door. I get up about 6:30 (on my own, sheesh, no kids waking up or anything) get the paper, make breakfast and post the pics. I crack the box, still not even looking at the cover art (what a dope) and start washing. Hmmmmm, these exhaust covers are.....Noooooooo! This is a real early one, too early for the 502.
So at around 8 AM, your humble narrator is flipping through Tiger books looking for a build. Set my sights on the Bon Ficha and figure, get this, how hard can narrowing the tracks and making hubs be?
This is what I used as a reference:
The results...

and before they started...

I had to cut, shave the inside, file the outside and drill out the horn on each track.
The roadwheels had to be put in a different order and the 8 double outers had to be cut to off make hubs. then the backs had to be cut off to make the hollow outer hub piece. then the axles on the hull had to be shortened so I could use the bits for the other 8 hub ends. Here's when Mr. Tweezerpult stopped by for a visit.
My biggest problem, being non-toxic man, I used only Testors blue tube, no CA and the cut down wheel stem didn't have enough strength to support themselves. Even after four hours of dry time, they would still droop. That and trying to cut all the pioneer tools off with an x-acto while holding a little 1/72 tank in my lap not touching the roadwheels and not ending up in the emergency room. All on my deck while my Lab's nudging my arm to go play.
Had a little difficulty creating the shot holes so they looked like the photos. The real ones are 'splashed out' as if the armor turns liquid when hit, and I couldn't drill from the inside because the hull was too weak without the top in place. I ended up just sticking a pair of tweezers in the hole and giving it a spin after I broke two drill bits.

Basically spent most of the day looking at my watch and telling the Dog, "alright, If I glue this now, I'll eat then AB the tracks, then I'll have a half hour to...."

All in all I had a great day, the only thing I would take back is the Buff coat, I hid a lot of wash detail with it. I guess you get what you deserve when trying something new after 14 hours of stooping over a model.

Glad you guys had fun.

Wipw,
i wrapped the treads around then hit the ends w/ CA.
also tried to melt the pins w/ very hot exacto blade.

i broke one of the tracks at the join while trying to get the tracks better aligned w/ wheels and sprocket.
so i gave up, basically.
not sure if i will try to tweak these or not.
they are on the shelf, and likely to stay there.
i have to get the Pzkpfw IV-D done to clear the path for the Stug build.

Ausf, thanks for the badge, and putting this together. A quality contribution to our community.
I built the Dragon kit, and I think that all there is to say about it has been said. Seeing the rear idlers out of alignment in the instructions sure caught my eye though.
I started at about 7am by giving the sprues a coat of dark green, and the pe a shot of primer. I had stuff to do around the yard until lunch, then started up again at 12:30. I had real trouble throughout the day keeping the road wheels with the wide gaps glued together. I had started using Tenax-7 (I think that's what it's called), but then tried Tamiya Extra-Thin before reaching for the Testor's tube glue. I never got the idlers properly aligned, and that probably had something to do with the very tight fit of the tracks later on.
I had no trouble with the turret. Everything fit well. Same with the hull, except for the fenders/small skirts that run along the hull. I had trouble with them everytime I handled the hull. Tried liquid cement, CA, and testor's. Nothing really worked well. I only lost one piece, a small one that goes on the back deck, and I broke one of the plastic tow rope pieces. I had to glue it separately.
Once I had it all assembled, I gave the hull another coat of dark green, and painted the tracks. I never got the tracks right. I wanted a dirtier/rustier look, and didn't get it. Part of the problem was not having the right color pastel. It was too dark red, and sort of disappeared into the track. I tried the 2nd colour of the paint scheme (red brown) with my airbrush, but it didn't turn out. I have never done that kind of fine line work before, and this probably wasn't the time to try it for the 1st time. It was a valuable learning experience though, and next time I practice I think I know what to do. Still the red brown turned out ok by hand. I wasn't going to try the dark yellow with the AB, and doing it by hand really messed up the finish. The lines were too wide, there were brush marks all over, all the marks of a poor paint job. The wash darkened it a bit too much in some places, but worked well on the road wheels. I didn't have enough time to give it more than a real quick dry-brush with the original colours lightened, but it seemed to work well on the dark green. Gave it a couple of quick bursts of buff for some dust. I dropped it while doing so, and broke the mantlet and gun off its mounting and, of course, one of the side skirts. Quick heart attack (this was 11:45pm). Decals went on ok, but there is still some shine even though I put them on before the wash. I finished at about 11:50pm, took the picture, and after wrestling with photobucket.com for 10 min, got it posted.
If I had to do it again, I would pick one of the single colour variants. Doing the 3 colour scheme demanded painting skills that I don't have yet, and after all that work on Sunday, I was a little miffed that it turned out the way it did.
So, Mad Allied Day then?

Great to read the ins and outs and ups and downs of everyone's day! Thanks again to Ausf for organising and everyone else who participated.

I was the huge disappointment of the day. I had a friend I hadn't seen for 2 years rock up on the weekend, and a client gave me a 12 string guitar at work on Saturday, and i had forgot to tell my girlfriend I was unavailable on Sunday! So I got up at 10:45 on Sunday with a bad hangover, (these things were closely related) and struggled through Hasegawa's kit. My main problem was every time i looked at the roadwheels, I got quite emotional. I just couldn't do it. Hence my ridiculous result! My GF helped me out to make the silly little scene I posted. The upper deck on mine looked alright though; I did wash and dry brush it, and the kit was okay. I would love to try the Revell or the Dragon one day after seeing some of the efforts you other guys made.

Bottom line, it was fun; even my flatmates and GF got into it!

Phroosh,
Not only weren't you a disappointment, you captured the essence of the day:

Overcoming obstacles (however self-inflicted),
Adaptation to circumstances,
group participation,
and most of all having fun with it!

And you were the pathfinder on this mission, starting way before anyone else without any lead. Great contribution to the day.

Thanks a lot, Ausf. I would do it again; perhaps a Fokker?

Thanks again for putting such a fun day together, it really adds to the forum