1,000 Roadwheels - 2009

Nate - definitely see you at Valleycon! If you're up for even more modeling craziness in March, Downeastcon in Saco, ME is being resurrected this year - the Saturday before Valleycon. Then the fall shows for me as usual are AMPS East and Granitecon (reaaaaaly good turnout this year at GC).

As for paints, those are all Tamiya acrylics, but they were all thinned considerably with white for "scale effect". That, and there are a pile of lighter-colored oil and acrylic washes over the top of them. 

Hi Marc,

I might be up for Downeastcon, but I'll have to wait until it gets a bit closer. Definately going to Valleycon, Ampseast, and gonna try for Granitecon next year. I googled it, and Nashua is only 2 hours away.

Thanks for the info on your paint.....I especialy like the shade of olive you achieved, that is what I was looking for on my Jagdpanzer. (Which is rapidly nearing completion! I should be finished by this weekend)

Did you and Mia start your winter project yet? I believe it was the Nimitz? When you mentioned it, and the fact that you had all the PE, I wanted to pass on a bit of advice, but someone was talking to you. I HIGHLY recomend Gator Glue for the PE work. I actually am about 3/4 of the way done on a Tamiya 1/350 Missouri with the Eduard super udate ( 4 sheets of PE). I have used the Gator Glue exclusively, and have had GREAT results. This stuff gives you time to position the PE, and it dries clear. Very good product! If you'd like to see a few pics of the Missouri for inspiration, let me know. Talk to you later.

Nate

Nate - funny you mention our big project...it just came in the mail yesterday morning! Haven't had the whole thing out of the box yet, but I wanted to see at least what the deck looked like.

It's going to be a lot of work - and I'm not nearly finished with my research yet. Going to be a later (than 1975) fitting, most likely 1991 ODS. That way I can get some Tomcats and Hornet C's on the runway.

As for Gator Glue, I'll certainly give it a try! A very sizeable pile of PE that's going onto this one, so anything to make it easier would be welcome. Where is it available?

*back to your regularly scheduled roadwheels* 

Wow! What a MONSTER! I have the Russian Kuznetzov, but I'm pretty sure it's only about 2/3rds. the size of the Nimitz! I went on a buying spree of 1/350 ships last winter, but after putting so much time into the Missouri, decided to come back to armour. I can start, and finish an average tank in a couple of weeks. I spent a good 3 months on the Missouri, and it's STILL not done. I'll come back to it sometime later, I'm sure.

As for the Gator Glue, you can get it from Sprue Brothers. I have heard that it doesn't ship well when it gets below freezing, so you might want to order some soon. The stuff REALLY works good. I also use it for applying zimmerit sheets (Atak, Cavalier). If you put it on the part, and let it sit about 1 or 2 minutes, it gets tacky so it's very easy to place the part on the model. I think it really helps when applying all the PE railings and such on a ship.

Here's a couple of pics of my USS Missouri.

Nate

Nate and NucMedTech,

I'm lovin' your builds!  Nuc, goin' for the natural hat trick, I see!

I've changed my plan a little bit for 1000 Roadwheels.  Rather than trying to rush through a Dragon kit (the Nashorn), I'm going with the Tamiya Mobelwagen.  Been working on the running gear a bit this week and hope to have it up on its own 16 feet (technically 32, right) soon.  I'll post some pics when I have something interesting...

By the way, I'm gonna throw this question out in the armor forum, but I'll ask you guys too:

I know that the Mobelwagens were constructed on Panzer IV hulls that had been damaged.  In my research (which I tend to do on the cheap - so it is whatever I can find on the internet) I found one drawing of a Mobelwagen with zimmeret.  It look pretty cool.  What I am wondering it, I know it might be unlikely (I have not found a picture that clearly shows a Mobelwagen with zimm) but would it be IMPOSSIBLE?

This is the image I am referring to:

http://ww2drawings.jexiste.fr/Files/1-Vehicles/Axis/1-Germany/06-Panzerartillerie/Flakpanzer4/Mobelwagen-37mmFlak.htm

Nate

Check your PMs

Nate - holy Missouri!

Boyd - no problemo with the Mobelwagen. Let's see it!  

Hi Boyd,

I am by NO means an expert, but I've never seen a Moblewagon with zim, either. I looked at the image you linked, and to be honest, I've never seen a zim. pattern like that one. Theoretically, I suppose ANYTHING is possible.....especially later in the war. I personally wouldn't knock you for adding zim to your kit. By the way, I built that kit over the summer, and it's waiting for a spot in the paint shop.......super easy build!

I finished my Jagdpanzer IV (L70) today, and all I can say is, what a nice kit! Some Dragon kits can be a bit fiddly, but this one was extremley easy! Outstanding detail also. My only two regrets about it are: I wish I hadn't added the schurzen brackets, and I'm also not too thrilled with how the weathering of the running gear came out.

This was the first time I tried to replicate paint chipping, and this I think turned out rather well. Here are some pics of the finished model.

As always, comments welcome!

Nate

Thanks Marc! This was one of those build were most everything went very smoothly; MOST everything, but not all. I broke off the schurzen brackets a couple of times before all was said and done.

As I said before, I highly recomend this kit!

I have been tinkering with Dragon's Wirblewind while I was painting my Jagdpanzer, and have it roughly half built. I was thinking of entering it as my next build for this GB. It's either that, or the new Brummbar w/ zimmerit I just got in the mail today. What do you think?

Nate

P.S. Stripe added.

Nate - at this pace I don't see why you couldn't do both...

How many months do I have? Even though I've been working on the Wirblewind, I think I'm going for the Brummbar first. There's just something about starting a new kit that I find irresistable!

I've wanted to do one of these since the first, un-zimed offering came out a few years ago. I ended up buying two of them, and when they finally became available, two of the Atak zim sets. I was going to do one with skirts, and one without. Before I could start my project, I heard Dragon was coming out with a zimed version, so I waited for this one.

Looking forward to starting it!

Nate

lol.. no planes right now.. as for ship.. its just the Jap Mini sub for the GF.. ( gotta keep the GF happy.. know what I mean??..)..

this week was busy after work.. Weds night , had a Selectmen's meeting till 9....Last night, new U-joints in my brothers truck... and cleaned the garage some..Tuesday night was County Fire meeting in Tremont!! sheesh.. this weekend is looking good for glue fumes and paint... !

Finally able to get my pics up. These were taken on Tues so i have made more progress since. The Zim is milliput white. As well as the Eduard PE i ahve since added a few parts from a general Aber set which look more accurate to the clamps in the pic i am working off. I am hopeing i can get some paint on by the middle of next week. 

Looking good! VERY nice work on the zimmeritt! I envy you guys who aren't afraid to try adding your own zim. I usually end up buying an aftermarket resin set.

Nate

I think this is the third time  i have used miliput for Zim. It takes a bit of practice, the hardest part i found was getting it thin enough, but finally i think i have nailed it. I have never tried buying Zim, for me it seems an un-nessacery expence, that from somone who kisnt afraid to spend a fortune on metal tracks, barrels and PE. But mainly i like the way i can give it that individual look. Its acctually not as hard as it seems, just time consuming. I could have probably got it done in two nights, but stuff like this i prefer to do a little at a time so i don't get stressed, so it took a week on this. Luckyly it was minimal on this kit, and none on the turret.

If enough people are interested and if no-one does it before, next time i do zim i might do a tut on it.

Bish - I'm with you on the "individual look" advantage of homemade zim...same reason I haven't picked up any of Dragon's pre-zimmed offerings - they tend to look identical when you see them next to each other. Unless, of course, you have someone who took the time to bang the zim up a bit.

Looks good!

I think you hit the nail on the head when you mention it was time consuming. This, I think, is the biggest reason I haven't tried my own zim yet. I have a number of different zimmerit tools including Tamiya's rakes, and Lion Roar's different roller sets. I even have the various putties to try out zimming a model. (zimming.....is that even a word?) It just adds more overall time to the build, and right now I'd rather build, and move on.

At the beginning of summer, I realized that my stash is soooo big, that at the then production rate of less that 3 models a year, I would never put a dent in it. So, I started bringing kits to my job, and working on them in the morning, and at lunch. I have completed 11 models, and have 9 more pretty much built and waiting for paint, since the start of summer. I don't think I'm sacraficing quality in these builds by doing them so quick, but that is best left up to others to decide.

I'm not saying I will never try doing my own zimmerit, quite the contrary, as I would like to give it a shot someday. But for now, I try and make my life a bit easier by adding as little to the kit as I can get away with, and still have a decent, relatively quick build. 

I hope this doesn't come across as being defensive, I am just explaining my point of view.

Nate

Nachtflieger No, not at all. I hope i didn't come across as looking down on those that buy Zim or kits ready Zimmed. We all do things different, i buy lots of PE and AM goodies for my kits when i could probably scratch build if i so wanted. But like you i would rather see my kit come along than wait weeks to see any progress. Just for me, doing my own Zim is worth the extra couple of days.

As for putting things off, i have been doing dios for years but have yet to try my hand at tress as i keep putting it off. I really must take the plunge soon.

dupes thanks, i am hopeing i can get the final few parts done on the hull and the gun finished and my first layer of paint on by the end of next week.

No problem Bish. I think we both understand our points of view.

Nate

The zims looking good Bish

Nachtflieger wrote:

No problem Bish. I think we both understand our points of view. Nate

I recon we do. My main view is this. What ever we do to achieve the results we are after, we are all right. There is no such thing as a wrong way in my view.

Thanks stick man. I really must take a proper look at what others have been doing since i finished my Kugel. I tend to concentrate on the GB thread that i am currently building for and forget about the others.

Scott; Thanks a lot, it was an extremely pleasurable build.

Hi All,

Here's where I'm at with Dragon's new Brummbar w/ zimmerit. I've had a great weekend of building, and made quite a bit of headway. Basically, the hull and running gear are done. The wheels are once again attached with blue-tac, so I can remove them for painting. All I have left for the bottom half of this build is the tracks. This kit comes with DS tracks, and while they are VERY nicely detailed, I'm swapping them for a set of Magic Tracks. from another kit I have. I'm also going to build, and paint the schurzen on this one, but I'm going to leave them loose, so I can have the option of displaying the kit with or without skirts.

The zimmerit is very nicely detailed if a bit on the light side. ( In my humble opinion) I don't think I'll prime this one as I don't want to lose any of the detail.

Well, here's a few pics showing my work. After reviewing my pics, it looks like I'll have to go back and clean-up the roadwheels, and spare tracks a bit more. Nothing like some good close-up pics to let you know how good you're building!

And here's a shot with the casemate just placed on the hull for looks.

Thanks for looking, and as always, comments welcome.

Nate

Nice Nate, really nice.

I saw your PM.  I'll try to shoot a reply this evening.

ok,, back in the hobby room today.. Finally got my 1st run of indy tracks done. Also 1st time ever for me..

Also pics of the J model hull, with rear zimmermit hull plate in place..

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Thanks Boyd, I appreciate it. Take your time responding......I'll probably be back on-line tomorrow morning.

Nate