Hi guys, please excuse me a lot to say and a bit (lot) drunk.
Erush, Great work!!!! Its inspiring! I think my crew wont be able to use my extinguisher like yours. By the way is there any truth to the rumour you have a special 1:1 scale Aber set and a secret formula for shrinking it to 1:16 scale in a microwave? Lol!!!
Stupid question time:
How did you remove all the tamiya extenguishers detail so successfully and still keep the shape so well?
Going back aways to the periscopes under hatches, when you say they are moveable, would they pop up into the area above the deck into the applicable area and be viewable from outside? I've seen a hint of this on the Frank Hemling model www.tamiya.de with the "loaders viewport". Is it the way they would work?
Roo and Whitewolf,
I agree with Roo that the naked tigers are lovely! There is something quite brutal about them that I love. In fact I was going to go that route before I knew about Aber and got seduced by all that brass. If I ever finish my Tiger I may do another without all the glitz and really stripped down. I've seen some beautiful models like this that all somehow convey the sheer power of the tank by its "nakedness."
Whitewolf and all others like myself
I tried several times to get my fenders together with CA - all reasonably ok and then attached them to the chassis, and then the real test - apply a little lite pressure like you "nudge" something when driving. Result - Aber parts again! I thought it was me doing things badly or the brand of CA.
I've seen two flat steel plates glued together with 1 drop of CA hold the weight of a man. And then sometime ago I read a tip for glueing small parts - glue them to the tweezer tips and then to the model - twist the tweezers to release... what gives?
Apparently CA has fantastic lateral strength and poor torsional strength. CA just isnt up to whats required for 3D bits - well at least for the bits where its likely to get torsionally stressed.
Moral of the story is is ya gonna drive it and bump it, solder it! Even with soldering side skirts etc, they are going to go with a good bump - real battle damage! I think CA will be perfect for all the little details that will hopefully never get banged.
So I embarked upon the soldering route for front and back fenders and side skirts...
This is my crazy low tech hands off method thats been successful for me!
Being the complete novice and Klutz that I am, thought I should research and then experiment. After several disasters I discovered a product called "Carr's 188 Solder Paint" made in the UK. It's solder particles mixed with flux in thickish paint form, water soluble. Theory is if you can paint it you can solder it...
What I do is thoroughly clean the parts with a fibreglass "scratch pen" (IMPORTANT: do this in your wet sink with loads of water and some suds - otherwise those fibreglass bits break off and go everywhere!!! and hurt like hell!!!!!) then use multiple aligator clips and/or a "helping hand" or "third hand" stand, self closing tweezers, etc to firmly hold the two parts together in the desired position. Then apply the solder paint to the area you want soldered. It doesnt naturally flow, first brush seems to apply flux only, second pass immediately after seems to apply some grey gunk. Get a nice covering of grey gunk in there. With some parts I apply the solder paint to both part's faces and then position the parts together and clamp. I think the secret is clamping. If you can firmly position it with a clamp or tweezers and be hands free, it aint going to move with a bit of heat applied. Excess solder paint can be removed at this stage with a clean brush and water. Then I apply the heat using a disposable and adjustable flame cigarette lighter! 10 lighters for one UK Pound!
It seems its best to first apply the heat slowly to evaporate the water in the solder paint - it goes from wet looking to dry looking. If you dont it can be prone to spitting. Then zap it on full flame (the tip of the blue part of the flame at the area you want soldered) directly or directly underneath the parts. The tip of the blue flame is the hottest part. It takes only a few seconds to get going (apply to one area only and work your way along) and you'll notice it transforming from dried gunky grey paint to liquid flowing metal before your eyes - if it bubbles/boils its a bit too much heat. Take the flame away - ouch those lighters get hot! Dont touch anything for a while and then unclamp, pick it up with tweezers and clench it in water. Now it looks shit. All sorts of grey gunk as a join. This seems to be flux leftovers. Take your fibreglass scratch pen and scrub it gently. Hey presto a ugly looking soldered joint!
Now solder is easy to clean up, use a scalpel to scrape away bits, grab a fine metal file or sand it, choice is yours. First I use the file and then the secret weapon -the scratch pen again! (in the sink with water) It gets right in there! keep going to your hearts content, you can effectively remove all the solder and only polish the Aber parts - I stop when it has a suitable amount left to give the join some strength is smooth and looks close enough to our static model buddies CA joins!
Practise first, then move on to larger Aber eg, side skirts and you'll soon get the hang of it. I have successfully managed to do my front and back fenders, and side skirts using this method including those pesky wingnuts (without probs). I do one join at a time, clean it up and move on. Now I use a combination of lighter and soldering iron, whatever seems right for the size. If you are doing a joint close to a previous one, clamp both joints to be safe!
How do I get rid of the CA from my first attempt? Use the cigarette lighter again, one or two seconds of heat and they ping apart (dont breath the fumes, in fact hold your breath! This is likely to be some form of cyanide gas!) Then use the fibreglass scratch pen to clean up th muck.
If soldering goes wrong, clamp, apply blue flame and slide apart with tweezers. Clean up and try again!
Sans camera or would post pics. Will post pics when camera returns as proof that the low tech method works!
Need sleep and sausages!
Wlad.