Blitzkrieg in the West (France 1940) Sept. 18 2011 - March 1 2012

I,m gone a few days....now y'all are talking about simple green and anal probeing........

Was able to get all the pieces to line up with each other.  may not look like it but there was much cutting involved.  The overall shape of the hull.

Few details were added to drivers / gunners compartment

The location of the lights will be moved to the fenders so the location recesses and molded on details had to be removed and filled on the front armored plate.  the molded on details above the gun position were also removed.  The armored plate is dry fit into position.

This is the rear plate above the Axel.  PE screen was added for part of the exhaust system.

shot of the simple Axel and exhaust

tread@ Rob  

looking great dude... man , you can really crank em' out... and nicely detailed. is the PE part of the kit?.... you are gonna need a special badge.  Did you ever receive the Vulcan kit ?

I am still building fiddly parts for the char B1 bis... this is one rare time when I seriously shoulda invested in the Aber PE...hope to have pics up this weekend and am looking forward to your updates which will come, I am sure, sooner than mine. keep up the great work

tread

Tread, thanks buddy.  No, there was no PE with the kit and I had no upgrade set.  When this happens I rely on a brass sheet, a brass micro mesh sheet, and the left over PE sheets from other kits.  Basically my brass spare part box.

I do have the Vulcan kit and had it on the bench to build before the Carrier.  After looking through it (it does look VERY nice) had decided to build the Carrier first in order to take a break from any intricate builds.  Now I think it would have been easier to build the Vulcan kit LOL.  After the Carrier the Vulcan Vickers Light Tank MK VI B will be built!

Don't rush your small parts, I will gladly wait to see the progress.  I agree with what you had said: The small parts is what makes a kit come to life.  Your work and attention to detail is amazing so I look forward to seeing them when ready.

Rob , looks like some heavy duty modifications you have been doing . Looking good

Rob,,,      Thanks muchly                      Agree with you about the details - - with that said your carrier details are awesome. I look back on one I built ages ago and think I would like to do another,,   using your detail methods,,,,  great job!

Nice upgrading so far Rob. Love those huge pinmarks. You wouldn't find them there on kits nowadays thanks to slide-molding.

tigerman

Nice upgrading so far Rob. Love those huge pinmarks. You wouldn't find them there on kits nowadays thanks to slide-molding.

Dont be so quick on that observation Tigerman. That UE carrier that I built here had plenty of ejector pin marks. Most of them were in areas that I could get away with not filling but... and it was 'new tooled' Tamiya. Everthing else about that kit I loved...

PW, nice work on your Universal Carrier. It is such a cool little AFV. I still have a couple of those in my stash and you are giving me some good ideas to upgrade them. And nice job on turning the thread away from discussions of aliens and certain penetrating experimentations

Well it's check in time again and I see that things are moving along great. Babill the radio looks great I never realised how small the unit is until I seen it attached to the kit hull.

Rob that universal carrier is coming along great I truly admire the amount of work your putting in.

Marc well I'm speechless looking at your Char finished its amazing.

Terry.

Terry,,    thanks, I hope to finish the interior today.       Will be getting back to the meat-and-potato's of the build again.

CARL, TERRY - Thanks guys.  Don't hold your breath though.  Since I have stripped almost all of the details off that means I have to scratch all of the ones to be put back on.  May have gotten in over my head but we will find out soon enough.

BILL212 - Sure would like to see your little Carriers.  These are pretty cool little vehicles, they are just so odd and not really fitting in any real classification category.  I too will have to get another one in the future so that I can build the MK II version.

ERIC, STIK - Yeah, this thing was loaded with pin marks and they were all in places that make them an absolute pain to fill or sand.

Well not a lot of progress was accomplished, had to work all weekend.  So have started on making the details on the rear of the Carrier.  Spent most of the day making this stowage box from scratch.  All of the MK I's seem to of had them so it is a must have.

I first made a template on paper and folded to see if the shape was proper.  Then transfered the template to a brass sheet and cut out with scissors.

Then heated on an open flame and bent to shape.

Box was made from styrene sheet and strips.  Wire handle was added and some brass hinges.  Finally the brass stowage rack was added. 

There still some final sanding and shaping left to do to it.  There will also be one more plate to be put on the rear of it, still have to make that part.  After that last part goes on might give it a quick shot of paint to see if there are any flaws with it before attaching to the Carrier.  Progress on this build may be slower then originally planed so updates could also be slow.

super nice,Rob..... I enjoy scratch building also .... it is the very tiny parts that are my bane

tread

Rob,,,   awesome bit of metal / brass work there,,    quite inventive!

hi guys : )

well, ... correcting the tool holding racks from scratch took more time than I care to admit to you guys, and little things like the gussets on the rail behind the turret could have been moulded in ... they took hours to cut and place correctly.... I  re-sized all the slotted screws in the turret, some by .005 and some by .010 by filling with sprue and re drilling... you may not notice from these pics, but to me it is very obvious..

Getting back to the tool rack, I used the pics included from Stephen Tegners 1/9 Char B1 bis and did the best I could to emulate what he built from aluminum billet... they aren't glued on yet .. I am still un decided ...as I said in an earlier post this is one time I wish I would have gone with aber for some parts.  let me know what ya think....

tread

BaBill212

Rob,,,   awesome bit of metal / brass work there,,    quite inventive!

Agree.

Hi Guys......

Tread,,,,  the tool racks look great,,,, I think ,   very nice

Well, in finishing up the pz I interior, I put together the MG 13 which consists of just 2 parts (mg handle / breach and interior housing).            

Y'know how sometimes you get jacked to work on a portion and you find that you didn't think far enough ahead and you have to scramble to make something right?     I do that more than I like,,,   explanation upcoming...

Anyhow         cleaned and primed the mg and the housing and glued together  (sorry for the crappy pics)

A bit of handling removed some of the mg primer,,, but, no prob as there will be multiple coats of paint a-comin'

First a coat of gunmetal....

Then a flat black wash....   and some highlights coming

Then a bit of a mix / wood for the grips.....

Then a bit of wash and drybrushing,,,, 

Now,,,  reverting to my lack of foresight,,,,   when I position this effort into the hull, I notice the mg angle is at a very "rested" position....       I did not take the mg angle into mind, other than it being straight against the mount,,,  duh 

Now,,    the kit exterior ball mount mg position is pretty much "straight-on".       Hm,,, now what?  ,,   no worries,   drill out a new position and fill in the original mg barrell "hole"....

Zap CA, let it dry,,  sand it,, buff it, resand, rebuff,,,,,

And end up with a pretty decent re-positioning of the mg     at rest.....

No wonder it takes me ages to complete a build.........       But,    this little curve ball suited the build well. My intent is to have the pz in a restful position all round. So the oversight turned out to be a plus.

Hope you like,,,, 

Bill

Rob... dude... nice detailing.

Terry... Thanks my friend

Bill.  The MG looks great.

Tread.  The tool holders looks sweet.  Do you have a link to the 1/9 scale build finished?  It was pointed out to me in another forum that the 2 hatches with the handles replaced with wire should not have the handle at all.  A couple of photos in the section about the Tamiya kit improvements in that French Char website bears that out.

Hi Marc... about the Tamiya webite on Char francais... if you look for alternate translations , the way it looks to me is the handles were ADDED after 1940....after you took yours off, I did A LOT of digging and decided to leave them on....here is the link to the 1/9th B1 ... not the HOME link, but you can get to it from there.http://charb1bis.blogspot.com/2011/07/tool-hooks.html   ..glad ya like the tool holders they were a PITA .. each one is 6 pieces !) the freekin gussets were just small and hard to place with out ruining anything else!... hopefully I am home free now... just 16 small additions I want to make  :  )

tread

Solid work on the interior Bill.

I'm afraid I have nothing to trumpet about. I'm slowly making my way thru this. Stuggling with some of the weathering. I kind of got the tools done, but I'm not happy with how they turned out. Some of the tools are fairly poorly molded, like the pick.

What are the typical camo colors again? I know reddish brown is one option, but what is the lighter color on the khaki-drab base? I'm thinking I have to try it.

Solid work on the interior Bill.

I'm afraid I have nothing to trumpet about. I'm slowly making my way thru this. Stuggling with some of the weathering. I kind of got the tools done, but I'm not happy with how they turned out. Some of the tools are fairly poorly molded, like the pick.

What are the typical camo colors again? I know reddish brown is one option, but what is the lighter color on the khaki-drab base? I'm thinking I have to try it.

ttread @ BaBill   solid work on the interior, just like Eric said!....every body needs a curveball thrown at them once in a while.... nice recovery

she is gonna be real sweet

tread

Tread, forgot to mention how well your Char b is coming along. Stellar work as I've come to expect form you.

Marc,,    much obliged!

Eric,,    cheers     !     Not sure about the khaki color you are referring to however.

Tread,,   thanks muchly...  and agreed - if you can stay in the box and hit the curve balls you'll be ok. 

Sorry Bill, I guess I used field drab for the base, not khaki. I was wondering what the spots would be painted for the camo? Looks almost darkish green in some drawings. The rings would be black I suppose.

The devil's always in the details and it looks like Rob, Tread, and Bill are keeping nice and worm with their respective efforts!

I've been plodding along with my tracks...the work load with my MBA program has been keeping me away from the bench except for 30 minutes here and there that I've been able to steal to work on stuff. Fingers crossed that I can get to some solid painting time between now and Thursday but no promises.

Eric,,    no worries.       The references I have on Pz green (camo) are both Polly S, one is called armor dark green # 508704,      the other is panzer olive green # 505113      hope this helps.

wBill,,    thanks.        Keep plugging with the MBA effort. The hobby will always be waiting (best of luck).

Tread- Man, I can't wait to build my Char.  Of course it won't be as nice as yours and Marc's!!!  I have been taking notes.  I am planning to order PE upgrade set from Royal Model for my Char... I think it was asking for $35 or $40.

BaBill12- Great work on the interior!!!  You have been on a roll... that micro Pz III for my GB and now this! 

TREAD - That is some beautiful work and well worth the wait

BILL212 - Nice save on the MG ball.  And yes , I often make the mistake of doing something only to find out later of the new problems created from my alterations.  In your case believe it worked out best this way.  The MG will look good in the relaxed position.

Andy,,    I hear ya pal,,,    but, I am not stressing, so it's all good. Given the timeframes these GB's are quite relaxed           I like that!

Rob,,   much thanks....   I wish all my fubar's would turn out as well.

deafpanzer

Tread- Man, I can't wait to build my Char.  Of course it won't be as nice as yours and Marc's!!!  I have been taking notes.  I am planning to order PE upgrade set from Royal Model for my Char... I think it was asking for $35 or $40.

BaBill12- Great work on the interior!!!  You have been on a roll... that micro Pz III for my GB and now this! 

Hi Andy, I am trying hard to put alot into this model because, although I didn't know it before I started it,the B1 bis was the pinnacle of French tracked achievement in WWII and really made an historic mark.. Therefore it deserves the best I can offer as a modeller and as an homage to the 6 week war that cost France so much. 

peace out

tread