Marc: that's the first time I've seen someone rock the surface texture into a kit! Had kits I felt like throwing rocks at though!

I do think the media overplayed some disasters but things do look bad around the coasts of NY, NJ, and southern New England. My prayers to those in the path of the storm.

Tony , should be a good kit .

Yes , this storm is a real beast !!!! Hang tight my friends back east !!! Guess the media didnt over sell this monster ..........................

Marc , di you get that "model detailing rock" from Micro Mark ? ...............

Hang onto your kits tight guys on the East Coast. Hope it's over soon with as little damage as possible.

I hope I don't jinx it but my power is back

woohoo!!!!

You survived !

Been watching the news .Looks like N.J. got beat up pretty bad .

Glad you made it through ok. Hope all is well with other members too.

Looks like it was one of the worst storms we've had.

Hope all the members are alright and prayers sent for everybody that got hit.

Marc- Glad you are OK!  

Guys- No more trips for a long time!  Spent some time at my workbench for last two nights working on those feisty tools clasps.    

Am disappointed with this Voyager PE set... they are so fragile that they break into pieces if you bent more than once.  Keep in mind it is my first time using Voyager.  Here's another example they should have done better... they wanted me to use kit supplied part and cut off molded straps on fire extinguisher and replace it with PE.  That would take me a long time to do this.  Fortunately I had styrene rods and one was pretty close but little smaller.  Who cares?!?   It made my job a lot easier... why can't Voyager just include a piece at first place like other manufacturers do.  

So far I am done with all tools except for the barrel cleaning rods and steel cables.  Here's four more...

Have fun tonight giving out candies... Happy Halloween!

Unable to keep up with all the GB posts, a lot of good stuff ... just getting back to my Tiger I DAK vehicle adding PE details to include locks on the back storage bin, drilled placement points for all the PE fastners and starting the turret smoke launchers ... using voyager detail set ... photos below. Armor86

Great work on the PE Andy.

Armor, love that texture work.

Spent the better part of the last 3 days reading all the posts since I am starting tonight on my Big Cat. Boy am I behind schedule and WOW what great ideas and progress.

Shellback....love the idea on your road wheels. So I understand your steps to achieve that look they are:

1. Paint the wheels black.

2. Paint the Hubs

3. Use a graphite pencil

4. Future at a right angle.

I used Magic Tracks for the first time on my DRAGON - Bergepanzerwagen IV and never will again. I like MODELKASTEN and Fruils because they are flexible.

Speaking of which does any one know which MK tracks are approprite for this KT?

I found the Sk-6 tracks http://www.modelkasten.com/modelkasten/sk/sk-6.html but they say they are for the

IBuild ...........

Shellback....love the idea on your road wheels. So I understand your steps to achieve that look they are:

1. Paint the wheels black ..answer....  Black will work , i used a dark gray . Just make sure you use a matt finish .

2. Paint the Hubs ...answer.... I have the hubs off still and they are painted dunkelgelb . I think you meant the the "face " of the wheel . I sprayed the "face" of the wheel in red oxide with dunkelgelb over that . I sprayed at a right angle to the rim to keep as much paint as possible off of the dark gray rim .

3. Use a graphite pencil ....answer... Correct .

4. Future at a right angle....answer...Also correct . This will keep the rims shiny and help to prevent the graphite from rubbing off unto the inside of the track surfaces durring assembly .

Here's what i'm referring too .

Oooo a big kitty to play with my little kitty.

Here's the latest progress.  The brass PE screens came with the kit and the nickel plated ones are from the spares box to replace the solid plastic parts that cover those vents.  The scale is a bit big but still a better look than the plastic.  Scrap brass for the vision ports on the front and new fenders and a mug guard, the other side has a busted hinge. from plastic card.

Just all around great stuff guys!

Marc: I'm going to try to duplicate what you've done but I was going to airbrush a fine layer of mud and dust over the running gear. Guess I can temperary assemble the wheels and tracks, spray, and then paint the time. Hmmmmmmmm...

I like those details Marc . I meant to ask you about the straps holding the shovel and other equipment ...are those made of copper ? The reddish color is what made me think of copper . I'm still looking for the "mug cover" that you mentioned .......................i know , i'm sarcastic .........

I've never had any luck bending card stock plastic like that , it always breaks for me .

MEGA thanks Carl on the detailed technique. Spent 2 hours cutting, sanding and painting the road wheels black.

My pleasure IBuild . Lots of wheels on these Cats isnt there .  

Here's a midnight update (for me anyway).

The deck is only sitting in place for the photo, but you can see a gap between it an the rear of the hull.

I've since added a shim to close it up, and sprayed the interior flat black to ensure that viewers won't see anything inappropriate through the vents and grills.

The turned barrel is from RBModels.

I thought I'd have a go at building the whole thing before commencing painting. I've not tried it, so this can be the pilot for that technique.

Cheers

Tony

deafpanzer

" ... I love dirty worn finished tanks!"

deafpanzer: You and I are going to get along great!!!!...I'm looking forward to seeing your weathering work.  BTW: I'll be sloppin' up my Tiger tonight...

wing_nut: It looks like your tank is getting attacked by clamps in that photo!!!  How about throwin' that GIANT penny in those latest pic's...I'm curious to see some scale comparison.

armor86: Nice start on the PE!!!

taxtp: That is quite a gap!...did the shim work OK? BTW:  Did you glue the tracks and wheels on already or is that just a test fit? 

Good start Tony. I tried building the whole kit and then painting once with mixed results. I guess it turned out alright.

Hey Tony , she looks good . I do the same thing as far as painting the interior black , especially back where the grills are .

Thanks everyone. Here is how it looks after the black is applied, and with the shim in plac...better

Yes the tracks are glued on.

Cheers

Tony

Andy , that fire extinguisher looks too small !

Seriousely , nice looking p.e. details friend . Glad your going to be around for a while .

Armor , those are some small pieces of p.e. , looks good .The barrel looks really sharp . I'm waiting on my order from R.B. Models .

Hasen , i just read your post about the Bosch light on the glacis of the Panther ausf A  . Interesting about the electrical cable/ conduit . Supposidly the pic i posted was an ausf. A .......but i,m not sure .

The thing that caufgt my interest was when you mentioned D-o-n-u-t-s ......!!!!!! You make donuts ????

Nice save on closing that gap Tony.

Shellback - Yes lots of wheels and patience is a must for this hobby. I was hoping to get some bench time but after dinner, reading to the kids and putting them to bed its lights out for me also.

Looks much better Tony. 

Good morning everyone ..........no rain today out here in the Pacific north west .........at least where i am , 300 + miles inland from Eric's location .

I decided to scratch build the cleaning rods for this cat . The kit supplied rods are molded as one with the rack that holds them , along with the tow cables .

Here's a look at the actual rack and rods .

I used Evergreen styrene rod , 3/64th " , for the rods and .025 " rod for the threaded ends and the "eyes" on the end of a couple of the rods . I'm not sure of the purpose for the "eyes" on the end of the rods but i noticed them in the picture above . Perhapes they were used for attaching a cloth to swab the barrel lining with gun oil ? Here's how i made the "eyes" .

Here's the .025 rod .

I flattened the end of it with needle nose pliers . Similar to what i did with the copper wire for the wing nuts .

It will look like this ...

Here's the fun part , drilling the end with a # 77 micro bit .

After drilling the ends of the 3/64th " rod with a #72 micro bit i insert the "eyes" into the ends of the 3/64th" rod .

After  inserting the "eyes" and the threaded ends into the 3/64th" rod here's the finished cleaning rods in the racks .

Now to go paint them ........

taxtp:  Nice save on the gap repair! 

I asked about the gluing of the tracks because I know there are modelers who test fit without gluing and I'm at a loss as to how that's done with a Tamiya kit.  I wonder if there is a glue or technique that's used to hold but not secure parts?  I think I need to start a new post concerning this topic...

Shellback: Still diggin' those reference photos, thanks!  FANTASTIC work too!  It seems like you are really into the details..it'll be cool to see it all come together.

Tony, Andy, Armor86... nice work there boys.

IB148...  I chuck road wheels on my Dremel and it make quick work of the the sanding task.  Most times it just take a toothpick to mount the wheel and sometimes you gotta get a little more creative... sometimes it just doesn't work at all.  But when it does it really speeds things along.  I did 36 1/72 Tiger II wheels in a matter of minutes.

Carl... the clamps/straps are lead foil from wine bottles hence the red color.  I have all different colors too:P].   When I angles bends in thin sheet plastic I score the back side with a scriber.  I have one of the type that cuts a little thread of plastic out leaving a groove.  Make the bend and ran a line of Tenax down the line.  There is a bit of play time and the bend can be adjusted a bit.  Lovely work on the cleaning rods.  By some sort of amazing alignment of the planets or variation in the Earth gravitational pull... I am doing the exact same thing at the moment.  I do with I had the giant size pieces you are getting to work with

Steve, when I get a chance to pull out the camera again i will do one better than the giant penny.

EDIT:  Carl... or anyone... Got a good site with Tiger II walk aorunds?

The molded on cable was sanded off and replaced a new one made from twisted wire.

An upcoming task is going to be separating commander's vision ports that are molded together on the cupola and making a new MG mount ring.