LIGHT ARMOR Group Build

Yann Solo wrote:

That Hotchkiss looks pretty cool Larry.  I like what you did inside, it is nicely weathered.  You made a great investment with these indies.

Thanks a lot for noticing Yann.  I put a little effort into the interior to spruce it up a little bit. I had problems assembling the indies that came with the kit.  The Hobby Boss have been pretty nice to work with.  This is my first time actually attaching some indies to a model.  I was working on the links that came with the Dragon Hornisse until I decided to scrap that particular build.  The Dragon links were my first indies.  After all the apprehension I had about working with individual links, I found them quite enjoyable to work on.  I can't quite figure out why.  Same thing with the Hobby Boss.  I stayed up till 1 AM last night assembling them, and would have stayed up a lot longer to finish them, but I didn't want to drag too much at work this morning.

Thanks again for the encouraging words Yann.  Hope all is well "wherever you are"

Plastic_Cross wrote:

Hope all is well "wherever you are"

Hey .... I'm still here ...... I've never left the place. 

Wow....good looking little tank.

Amazing the size difference in the pre-war and end-of-war designs.

One has to wonder if such rapid progress in designs is even possible in the modern warfare anymore.

cj95 wrote:

Wow....good looking little tank.   Amazing the size difference in the pre-war and end-of-war designs. One has to wonder if such rapid progress in designs is even possible in the modern warfare anymore.

Thanks CJ95. The size is difference alone is amazing. Along the same lines, I recently snagged the AFV Club Weisel Mk2 kit.  I thought it was a cool looking vehicle.....and was really surprised to see how small it is for a contemporary AFV.  I didn't think anyone made such a small armored vehicle.  I think the difference would be quite striking if compared with any contemporary MBT.

btw - it is a great looking kit, with just a few sprues.  I'm thinking (hoping) it will be a relatively easy build.  For some reason the white plastic that it is molded in has a certain appeal.....that says "build me"

Larry

Larry

Getting closer.

I nearly have the construction phase completed on the Hotchkiss.  Of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't make several blunders along the way.  Rather than repair every error, I decided it would be nice to let a few of them slide by and actually finish a build, since I see it's March already and have very little to show for my efforts in 2007 so far.  On this build I've accomplished 3 "firsts" for me: (1) assembled and installed indie tracks, (2) made the muffler heat shield from scrap brass sheeting, and (3) finally figured out how to get those microscopic sized hull "things" attached without flinging them into orbit or making a gluey mess out of it.

Here's a few more photos of the work in progress.  You'll notice a lot of low hanging fruit for the critics out there.  Oh well, at least I'm enjoying the build.

Closer still.  But not quite finished.

Larry,

 The Hotchkiss looks great!  Mine is so close to being finished, I've got decals on and need to weather and put tools on and it will be done.  I started a home remodeling project last fall that's kept me occupied til recently, and haven't been able to get much modelling in.  I'll post some photos when I wrap it up.

 Jeff

Thanks a lot Jeff.  I'm actually now a little stumped on how to finish this build.  I typically do very light weathering - two reasons (1) I'm still learning basic model construction and finishing, and (2) I like the looks of a tank that looks like it's fairly new from the factory.

But I think that this Hotchkiss needs a little bit of additional weathering, but I really don't know what top do at this point.  Do you have any suggestions?

 Thanks,

 Larry

Stick a fork in this one....I think it's done  . I really like this little tank.  The Bronco kit was excellent...I only had problems with the kit indie tracks (which I think was soley due to me) and used the Hobby Boss indies instead.  I took the photos in a rush this morning, and so they aren't the best.  Thanks for looking - Larry