1st, let me wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!
Sorry that I dropped of the radar for a few weeks...
Christmas shopping was very lean this year for us (as it probably was for most).
So my wife Marie and I made many of our gifts this year.
As my wife was knitting some stuff, I was building things.
One of the "things" was an AMT D8H Cat bulldozer for my Father.
For those of you who are not familiar with this kit, "IT SUCKS!!!".
Also the kit I had was missing some parts.
Here are some WIP shots;
I also scratched up a canopy/ROPS;
Next I wanted to try that new fanged "Hair Spray Technique", so I weathered everything with Floquil paint and artist oils:
Next I painted it with Model Master Acryl Chrome Yellow, and
continued weathering. I then mounted it on a base made from 100 year
old oak that I planed and my step-dad and I routed;
Also of note, I replaced the hydraulic cylinder rods with drill rod,
made the lines from led core fly fishing line and bolted the ROPS on
with 00-90 brass hex bolts and nuts.
When my Father opened his peasant, he sat with it on his lap for
about 45 minutes reminiscing about operating one of these "Old Man
Killers" and telling stories about the old days. It was very
gratifying!
There were many other things made in my work shop such as some oak
frames for some of Marie's mosaic pictures and a Hand built AR-15
target rifle for my step-brother Rich, that were big hits too.
It would have been a great holiday season, but the day after my
father received his gift ( December 27th) I came down with a terrible
Flue. A few days later I found out that my Grand mother's kidneys took
a turn for the worst and Marie's sister lost the battle to take over
the mortgage of there Father's house who passed away this time last
year.
This week I am going to be assisting in moving Marie's sister and helping to care for my Grand mother.
I hope to be back at things soon, with updates on the Opel Maltier project as well as other things on or about the bench.
As for now I am going to be treading water to keep from drowning from all the stuff put on us at this point.
Sorry for the long post, enjoy the photos and here's wishes for a better new year for everyone!
For more on this ;
/forums/t/124224.aspx
I want to thank Andy and Kentucky Colonel for chiming in!
With any luck I will be back to posting WIP shots this weekend.
Stay tuned!
Tom F (PANZERJAGER)