Elefant fenders

I used the Aber ones. Not so much fun. I have put the project up for a month or two, cuz of all the little parts from the PE set. They were getting to me.

The biggest gripe I have with PE sets is that most of the time, they expect you to bend tiny little pieces. If you drop the thing, and it happens to hit the carpet, consider it lost for good. Oh, and don’t expect that they have provided extra parts incase of this event.

I have found myself using the fenders, buckles, and straps from the PE sets, and constructing the rest of the details I want to add to my model from plastic card.

Thanks for the reply, edog.

Here's something that might help with the carpeted parts. As soon as you can after it happens, get a vacuum, put the hose attachment on it, put a nylon stocking over the end of the tube, and vacuum the carpet in the area where the part disappeared. Be careful to hold onto the stocking so it doesn't get sucked down into the hose. Turn off the vacuum, carefully pull out the stocking (mine usually form a little "pocket" around the "debrious", then empty the stuff into a small dish or pan. Pick through it and you might get lucky. I've found parts several times that way, but none that had been gone for a couple of weeks (months) from before I heard of doing this. It seems the little fellas get down into the carpet and the vacuum won't lift them out after a while.

I've got an Aber set, too, but it doesn't fit the DML Elefant too well. The Royal is specifically made for it. But there are little cresant shaped pieces that go somewhere on the bottom of the fenders. I can't figure out exactly how they line up or if they really support something. On the original, I think they braced the fenders to the sponsons or at least a reenforcing plate, but I'm not sure. And Royal expects you to take two of these things, bend another strip to match the curve, and glue the curved strip between the cresants so they make kind of a channel. It's a nightmare. I've been trying to figure out where they go by looking at the underside of the kit fenders, but it's not much help. Especially since I've already got the tracks mounted on the tank (Jaguar individual link kit -- FANTASTIC!). Doesn't leave much room to work!

Well, good luck with your Elefant. Hope you're having better luck than I. (I also used the Eduard photoetch zimmerit. Went on well, but I don't like the spaces left between the pieces, and it doesn't cover all the zimmerited pieces on the real tank. I also think they are much too shallow. I might wind up ripping them off and doing it with putty. What a horrible thought!! lol

Have a great day.

Bill

WIPW that is GRRRRREAT!
All I need now is a stocking (none here) :)

In the past I would resort to my best Richard Pryor impersonation to find my small parts. THANKS!!!

I been there and done that!

Go to Wal-mart and buy a pair of nylons (anklets will work fine, I think). It should be worth it!! lol

Thanks for the tip with the vacuum.

Lets see if I can help with those crescent shaped pieces. They go on the underside of the fenders to prevent the track from catching the corners of the fender (where it bends up). Take a look at the drawings at the bottom of this link:

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/4635/tanks/elefant/elefant.htm

If you look hard, you can see them on the bottom of the fenders. They should be located on the bend.

Yah, and the aber instructions were not much better. As I recall if you follow the aber instructions, you will not have put on the fenders accurately. My set actually fit quite well though, but I‘m actually building the Ferdinand from DML. I just hate the damn hinges that they make you fabricate!!!! I’m getting the hang of it though.

Good luck with yours.

Thanks for the info and the link, edog. But the link wouldn't come up for me. Said it was unavailable. Maybe they're doing some maintenance on it and it's temporary, I hope. I'll give it a try from work tomorrow! The Royal set has working hinges for the mud flaps. What a joy they are!! I wound up gluing the hinge piece with the two outer portions of the hinge on the fender, then forming the loops around a piece of brass wire, then setting the single "tongue" hinge into the middle of that and looping that around the wire, and finally gluing that part to the mud flap. Everything lined up pretty well. The big mistake I made here was trying to aneal the parts first. I got them too hot and deformed them pretty badly. But then...when have you ever seen a pristine mud flap on a tank!! lol

Keep them grinding!!

Later,

Bill