~David~ I'm happy you find value in it. I like to think it's a resource for future builders to build on. No doubt some will take usefull bits and some will get ideas on hw to do even better....
~Buddho~ Thanks man~good to see you here~Please stay tuned.........
~UPDATE~
~~To start off
Happy New Year ! Here in the Land of Milk & Honey we get one whole x-tra day off to do as we please(a small Wahoo!) The new year has me smack in the middle of this somewhat sizable project, and things are in general pretty good otherwize. I hope that's true for you as well...........
I wish all my friends here the best in 2010 ! ...
to the build.....
~If anyone is wondering why I haven't gotten to completing the cab, it's just that I wanted to have this next task out of the way 1st, and not have the window-masks in place too long, and I'm going to have the air-gun going later while I finish carving out this tilt, and no doubt I'd blow those masks out of place. So before I get to all that dusty work;
~The Canvas Tilt~
Ok, clockwise starting(at 11:00 O'clock) is the Tamiya part representing the supports for the tilt. That's all you get OOB, a solid moulded frame stack. I replaced this with some supports cut & bent from some.037 " music wire.(shown center) Much less forgiving to bend than brass, but way more sturdy, and that counted later. Use a seperator-disk(1;00 O'clock) to cut this material, as it will destroy your wire-cutters. At (5:00O'clock are some round-bend pliers I lifted from the wife's jewelry making toolbox, and are just the ticket for matching the radius of the kit part. At 9:00 on the clock are some toothed square-nose pliers needed to hold the steel wire for cutting as it really heats up.
While I toyed with the idea of just having an open bed back there, with the desert sun beating down on what little is left of the troops' vital stores, I decided after long consideration to display a really torn-up old cargo-area covering.
While not the true method of attachment, this seemed to me to be the best in the case of this model. I drilled out a closely-sized hole and added a drop on thin C/A to lock the supports in place. The 4th one I decided not to use as if it's gone missing. A few members asked for a little info on this tarp-making process. Not much to it really....
I mixed a large ball of A+B epoxy putty as it's cheaper and sets harder than my usual choice of Milliput. Later I missed it's nice fine texture, that I'll need to make-up with sanding & surfacer. (Above) I'm using the silicone tube as a rolling-pin, and I'm using generous amounts of talc(baby powder) to roll out the mixed putty(that is now gotten soft, sticky and a little warm)
Once it's flat and thin as I can get it, I cut it with a blade dipped in water for a smooth cut.
At this point these pieces are easy to roll-up or use to wrap boxes and such, or just to show a tarp or garmet hanging or just thrown-aside. These 3 are just some quick examples and really need to have some details either sculpted in before setting, with some wetted tools, or carved-in later with burrs, grinders, files, and the like, before paint.
For this cargo-cover, I rolled out a huge piece and layed it over the tilt supports, folding it over to pile-up in the back. Later I trimmed it off with the wet knife, and worked it into shape. A number of A.M. companies make some replacement tilts for your Opel truck, Mig Production makes a few nice ones, but I wanted this one to be a little bit different and in the end a good deal more thrashed than I'd seen. (May have saved a few $$'s too
)
You may choose to let the epoxy-putty set-up a while before using it to model fabric, as it gets less sticky, droopy and soft, and will hold shape pushed into it. The last thing before your're ready to let it harden-up is to push into it any objects that might be making a dent in it - in this case the rear of that spare tire I'm going to have fixed to the cab-roof.
Here is not the end-product, but the hardening putty tilt , I'll later go back and work it some more after it's firmed-up, as I'm a better carver than sculpter.
I'll add in a few tears, and some sign of it's original attachments
~The next step was to carve in some subtle details, nothing to sharp, and smooth out the ratty look of that cheaper epoxy putty. For this I brushed on my Favorite, Tamiya Liquid Primer, with a wide brush, using laquer thinner to smooth it out as I went.
I started at the rear of the tilt, and I think you can really see a huge improvement. The other putty is correcting a few spots I needed to be just so, like around where I've drilled-out a few grommet-holes.
I selectively thinned the liquid putty over areas I liked, and layed it in thicker into spots I wanted to fill, a method I've been working at perfecting for surfacing.
Here's a zoom on the front-driver's-side, where I've quite purposefully filed-in some fold-detail, followed by sanding & another go with the liquid putty. An entirely smooth surface isn't needed or wanted to model the fabric of this covering, but, hopefully this works!
I added in a few tears here & there
Now I can work on the glazing & getting the cab buttoned-up...and......and.....
......... PAINT!
So here it is after painting & weathering...........
Ok,OK....just kidding
but isn't some beautiful destruction? I feel bad not crediting the modeller, but I found this randomly in a search engine. I won't be weathering this heavily, but man...I love a good wreck , don't you?
~~~~~~~Back soon~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Indy Out !