Daniel,

Great job! Don't forget to take the GB ribbon. Either I or Aaron will put your LVTP in the Hall of Glory.

Everyone - Again, sorry I've been absent so much. I'm working hard to get this special interest magazine out the door. Bear with me -- I shall return!

In the meantime, I keep checking in, and I am thoroughly overwhelmed with the  amazing work I'm seeing. Now off to edit video ...

Tim

Good news - I contacted the proprietor of IMA concerning the troubles I was having with the resin tracks.  He admitted that it is normal to loose a few teeth, but it's also possible I have a brittle set.  So he will be shipping out a replacement set tomorrow, free of charge.

In the meantime, I've persevered and have a track link for one side completed. 

I also took a different approach to the construction.   First was determined the total length required, measuring the acrylic template with tape and placing that flat on the table.  By joining about 5 1/2 sections together in one continuous link, I was ready to dip the whole thing in boiling water.  Took about three sessions, as after each I would twist tie down the more severe curves.  Once I had three twist ties on, I gave it one final 'hot' bath and then held it with finger tip pressure on key points for a couple minutes.  Both surprised and happy the superglue stood up to the hot temperatures and exerted pressure.

regards,

Jack

Daniel, really nice job on the build, I have not seen these very often.

Jack, that don't sound good.

wayne, stick with it, I know PE can be frustrating but is usually worth it.

Daniel: That LVTP looks fantastic! I love the camo work and the weathering!

Jack: I'm very interested in seeing how those resin tracks turn out.

the LVPT looks great.

the PE on my BM-21 is just kicking my butt.

Daniel - lovely job on this, the weathering is noticeable but not overpowering.

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John, thanks for the vote of confidence.  Not too often this happens, but had to leave the bench area in frustration.  After cleaning up 8 of the 14 track sections, I noticed there were guide teeth missing on all but one.  These things are really fragile, and easily bend/snap off when handling them.

Now have to decide whether to continue with the resin, and re-glue individual teeth back on, or rip the Vulcan tracks apart and try and MacGyver those back to usefulness, or combine the two, even though they don't match.

regards,

Jack

Ouch, what a mess! Hope you can get the water heater replaced soon.

The LVTP7 looks great, the camo as I said before came out perfect and I love the weathering on the hull sides.

Jack, I am looking forward to seeing the product from all those parts and efforts.  That looks like a lot of work.

I am calling my Royal Thai Marine LVTP7 complete.  I wanted to finish it up earlier in the week but a self-destructing water heater displaced me and the wife from house to hotel for several days.  With temps hitting -6° with wind chill a non-heated shower was out of the question and I had as much desire to hang out with a funky wife as she had to hang out with a funky me.  So the model took yet another rest from attention until all was back to normal.
I still have one item to affix to the model but need to find thick enough clear plastic to fashion a Troop Commander’s periscope.  Until I come across said material, I am calling this AmTrac done. 

Academy’s 1/35 LVTP7 with Eduard and Voyager PE in Royal Thai Marine markings:

Thanks for looking,

Daniel

You'll win, Jack, you'll win!

Jack: So you have to buy an option kit to even get the tracks on the right direction- gee friggin' whiz! Looks cool but I think I'll give this kit a skip for now!!!

Finished or not, that LVTP7 is looking very nice, and great job on painting on that camou.

---------------------------------

My build here began to languish the last week or two.  Been working on a couple more figures for the turret, but is requiring a lot of customization to the arms and hands.  One even had his boots lobbed off so he could fit through the hatch opening.

Also found out that Vucan's instruction have you install the tracks backwards.  Having the ends pre-shaped  does make more work if you plan to just simply swing them around in the correct direction.

Since we were blessed with an extension, I opted to try some resin replacements from IMA 

They arrived today:

The track detail is not as thin as those provided from Vulcan, but this actually makes them seem more accurate.  The Vulcan ones appear to be too pointy on the sides when compared to close ups of museum photos.  This set also provides a pair of drive sprockets, and they too are more meatier with detail, and the central hub looks more accurate in size.  The back sides (not pictured) are also great as they provided a lot more surface when it comes time to glue them on.

 Another neat addition is two acrylic templates to assemble the tracks on.  One is normal, while the other gives the option to create much more sag.

 

regards,

Jack

It looks done to me, deatillo.  Just came out of the paint shop!

She looks pretty close to perfect to me, the camo just looks great.

Gamera

Deattilio: Hey she looks good to me, I like the camo work. 400 parts you cut out for the track extenders? Gee, I'd be insane long before I got all of those made...

                I may have gotten the pieces cut but they became far too aggravating after about #20 and abandoned the original plan of using different track.  In doing so, I remembered why I dislike rubber-band track – easy but it does not want to sit correctly once released.  The port side of my hog looks all screwy because I could not get that bend out of the track.  Hot water, hair dryer and pressure was tried and while it laid flat when painting it re-kinked as soon as I got it around the idler wheel.
                I got most of it done but she still needs a ton of little details tended to such as antennas, tow lines, boat hooks, vision blocks and many more.
                Unfortunately, I have stowed much of my hobby gear in preparation for school next week.  I may be able to get in a couple more sessions but school does an excellent job of sucking the life out of me and robbing time from the hobby bank.

well that's damned annoying or i am sehr dense. it seems some of the VOYAGER  pe folding creases are on the wrong side of the part so i can't use my etch mate. had to go all orville and wilbur with multiple pliers to make the bends. this one storage box with interior shelves will take longer to build than a 1/72 tank. but it will look very cool opened up.

Gamera

Aaron: very effective pre-shading there!

i have done preshading once and that was unintentional. T-55 with VALLEJO sand primer which i thought was paint over gray primer. good lesson on reading the bottle and doing multiple passes. i may try it on this. seems i trying all sorts of stuff. any ideas on how to make a hole and cracks in a windshield?

deattilio i think it looks fine too. 

deattilio

With a break from school and holiday “to-do’s” I was able to tend to couple of my models.  School has made me a slacker in the hobby department and the same will occur with the Spring semester so I have to get in as much as I can in the short window of homework free time that I have.

The darker green did not come out as I wanted but am hoping to tone it down with some weathering once all the camouflage is applied.  I have several runs of track complete but have not started adding the track extenders yet but I do have nearly 400 pieces of .076” channels cut and ready to glue.

Thai LVTP7

I like the look of that, nice work.

Deattilio: Hey she looks good to me, I like the camo work. 400 parts you cut out for the track extenders? Gee, I'd be insane long before I got all of those made...

Wayne: Yow, that's a bunch of PE- makes my head hurt just to look at it.

Great work, all!

Aaron, I've used MM SAC green (and tan) for late (and earlier) IDF sand gray before, very versatile colors.

waynec

i just noticed the end date is FEB15. SWEET!!!

my BM-21 has a bunch of AM, actually somewhat overwhelming, and i don't want to rush it.

normally i  don't get AM PE for armor but the pic i am using has the storage boxes open so i decided to get the truck set. i drew the line at the PE for the entire rocket launcher. 

With a break from school and holiday “to-do’s” I was able to tend to couple of my models.  School has made me a slacker in the hobby department and the same will occur with the Spring semester so I have to get in as much as I can in the short window of homework free time that I have.

The darker green did not come out as I wanted but am hoping to tone it down with some weathering once all the camouflage is applied.  I have several runs of track complete but have not started adding the track extenders yet but I do have nearly 400 pieces of .076” channels cut and ready to glue.

Thai LVTP7

Aaron: very effective pre-shading there!

Nice looking paint job, Aaron!

Thanks for the extention, I'll need it as well!

Outstanding!!! I need the extra few weeks... I am working on interior stowage right now and there is no way this puppy would be done before New Years. I just found some periscopes to dress up the drivers station a bit more...

i just noticed the end date is FEB15. SWEET!!!

my BM-21 has a bunch of AM, actually somewhat overwhelming, and i don't want to rush it.

Guys,

Took the time to throw some paint on the M13/40 — in this case Model Master SAC bomber green enamel. It is over the dark brown primer so I worked from the inside of panels out:

Then filling in:

Then some more shading with darker shades and an thin overspray of the original color to blend the layer:

Next is detail painting, clear gloss, decals, flat coat, weathering, ... Glad we got an extension!

Cheers, Aaron

Cliff: I'm digging the camo scheme on your T-26! Very well executed too!

Jack: As always, your weathering is top-notch!

Thanks guys!

Jack: I love what you've got going there!

Gamera and Jack,

Nice looking tanks, guys! I'm hoping to get paint on my M13/40 over the holiday break.

Cheers, Aaron

Jack, that's looking really nice, that colourful turret is a really nice touch.