251 Halftracks GB 1 October '08 - 8 June '09

wing_nut wrote:

It really was so bad.  I wanted to try make sone dents/pits onthe front plate.  I was practicing with the Dremel on every inside surface that would not be seen. I finally got it down, ot at least I thought so, then when I did the front of course it looked like crap.

Sometimes I get that effect by making small scraps and gouging with a hobby knife then with some liquid cement painted over it tones them down to look like old dents and pits.  If it isn't bad try painting it with liquid thin cement and letting it dry? I know you got it replaced now but what an experimental project!

Still piddling with mine. Still looking like everyone elses ( I wish)

Hey all, Im building the Dragon kit and ive come accross a couple of cautions that anyone else building a dragon kit should look out for.

No.1 the floor pan needs to be centred on the chassis. It sounds obvious but whern i dry fitted the sides, the right hand side wouldnt go in. Luckily i managed to pull the floor pan up and re-position it. I was sure it was right initially and it seemed to fit right on the location lugs but wasnt as it showed.

No.2 The Hinge plates for the rear doors (Pts D17-D18)  are very similar in size but are definately different!! If you cut all 4 pices off in one, dont be suprised if the rear hinging piece doesnt fit squarely.

...Guy

Ditto what Guy said.  Lots of play in that postioning. 

And after checking that I have the right parts inthe rightpalce... there is no way that radio fits under that ledge above the dash on the right side.... no way at all.

dupes wrote:

Whoah, tons of stuff today! White - looks good. Definitely keep me abreast of any errors you see in the B variant stuff.

I will keep you up on any thing that comes up. Oh can I ask if you or any of the othere modelers has a lay out for wiring this type of motor? I have looked all over and if any one has a Diogram that they feel that they can post it, would you it will help out a lot. I'll have some photos up soon (In 2 days) From to day the 14th.

Oh yeah, watch the rear door panel as well. Ive just had to remove about 1mm of the floor in order to get the sucker to fit.

The order of the day with Dragon seems to be DRY FIT, DRY FIT, DRY FIT. And dont take anything for granted.

...Guy

Hey ho, me again. Ive just about finished the interior of the beast so ive hit it with a coat of German grey all round. After this had gone off, I lightened the mix with drop of buff and then went round the centres and high points on the panels to give the plain coat a touch of contrast. This was then completed with a light drybrush of GW mithril silver. The pics dont show it too well but it looks good from where im sitting.

My tip for getting the sides on nice and neat is to glue the front first and give that a minute to go off. So its still a little flexible. Then press the rear sides in.

Oh, on the underside of the top structure, there are 2 head pads for the driver and radio operator to stop banging thier heads when looking through the vision ports. These are badly represented by Dragon. (They just show the bases and no pad) so i made mine out of milliput.

Simple, just like me

Come on everyone, start posting. Its easy to say your at the same stage as whoever....Prove it!!! LOL.

...Guy

Lufty - looking VERY good! What technique did you use to "leatherize" your seats? Going to need to try to replicate that look.

"Mithril Silver"??? I prefer "Boltgun Metal" myself.

Wing_nut - I was reading about a technique similar to what you're trying to do with the Dremel - but I can't remember where it was. Let me see if I can come up with a link for you. Anyhoo, it involved doing just what you did with the pitting/skipping etc, but followed it up with running some epoxy putty back over whatever panel you're trying to damage partially filling in some of the holes, making them much less pronounced, followed by a sanding to get the main face back to level.

White_R34 - let me see what I've got about the 251 engine. Just happened to get a Tome Of Great Knowledge (otherwise known as Tank Power Vol. 57 - Sd.Kfz.251 ) in the mail (Royal Post, even!) yesterday that I believe has some shots of the engine compartment. I'll poke around in it shortly.

Is that 'Font of all Knowlegde' the book that i may have seen Dupes? If so could you scan a  pic for me. Its the one of a /6 from the right hand side showing the aerial attachment to big scaffold type aerial.

Cheers bud.

...Guy

Ahhh, yes sir, it most certainly is. I owe you big time!

You guys should know that Luftwoller is my new favorite guy, found a book for me that apparently isn't readily available here in the states, and had it in my hands about a week later. Once I finish digesting all of it's juicy contents, I hope I can aid all of you in your builds with it.

I don't have the tome on me right now, but I'll be sure to get a scan for you tomorrow morning - I think I know which pic you mean. 

Hey, I still want to know your seat technique!

Oh so that's how it is.  The mod has to be showered with rare gifts to become the pet of the group.  Well I won't do it I tell ya!!! 

But if it makes you really look for that article about the metal pitting.... we can talk

dupes wrote:

Once I finish digesting all of it's juicy contents, I hope I can aid all of you in your builds with it.

Dupes,

Photos of a real /18 are few and far between, especially interior shots showing radio configuration and mounting of the scissors scope.  If you find any in your new tome of knowledge, please pass them on.  They would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I'm out of town and away from the work bench for the next week or so, but I'll try to check in once or twice to see everyone's progress.  Guy, I'll post some pics when I return... promise.  Right now I'm happy just to follow you and Wingnut through the minefield of building a Dragon 251 and dodging the craters that you leave behind...

 Don

wing_nut wrote:

Oh so that's how it is.  The mod has to be showered with rare gifts to become the pet of the group.  Well I won't do it I tell ya!!!  But if it makes you really look for that article about the metal pitting.... we can talk

Haaaahahhaha...no bribery needed.

I found it - nothing terribly extensive, but it looks like it gets the job done:

http://ausfwerks.com//techniques/texture/main.html

Jeff's shop is pretty darn cool, too.

THAT'S THE ONE!!!!

I've been looking for that very article for ages.  I ran across it by accidnect once (it was in my blind spot.... sorry couldn't resist) and could not remember where the heck it was.

Next Amps east you get to use some of my chipotle form my keychain stash on your burger

youdaman

Ahhh, excellent! I was hoping that would help.

AAAAND I earned me some chipotle from the stash...what could be better?

Did Keeley arrive safely too Dupes? Just wondered LOL.

Heres something else for you and anyone else whos interested. Its my 'How to' leather look seats. I like the effect and you's do too.

1st up, get your plastic seats and run a course sanding stick over the lot. Not too hard, just enough to scratch them up a little. Make them look slightly less plasticy.

Next, I use Tamiya XF-64 Red brown and hand paint the seat to give it its base colour. I hand paint to make sure the look isnt too uniform. It doesnt matter if its thin in places as this will aid the wash later.

After that has dried, I then mix up some Burnt umber oil paint as a wash. About 80-20 thinner to paint. Then i dab it on liberally. Try to get it to pool up in spots. As it dries I swish it around a bit more to give some depth here and there. With the base coat thin in places the wash will look better still.

I then went downstairs and made myself an enormous breakfast and stuffed my fat face with glee (Whoever Glee is) giving the wash a good while to go off completely. About an hour later i came to the last step. A little drybrushing of the edges of the seats with some more XF-64 cut with a little XF-60 to lighten it up. Voila!

Hope that helped. While i was waiting between stages (While not stuffing my fat face) I made these fantastic PE headphones and speaker.

More soon kiddywinks.

...Guy

Lufty, great technique! I'm sure a lot of people will be able to make use of that for this build. Also, SUPER PE headphones! Wow, those look good. What set are they from?

*Yes she did.

The headphones were from a PE set i have for Tank Radio's. Unfortunately it doesnt have the radio for the 251/6 but i think the kit ones will suffice. I was on a roll tday with the build. Came to a blinding halt at the wheels. I think i need to be in the right frame of mind before attacking them LOL.

...Guy

wing_nut wrote:

THAT'S THE ONE!!!! I've been looking for that very article for ages.  I ran across it by accidnect once (it was in my blind spot.... sorry couldn't resist) and could not remember where the heck it was. Next Amps east you get to use some of my chipotle form my keychain stash on your burger youdaman

Alright, so cool, dupes HAS to go to the next AMPSEast...  I'll have the couch ready for ya, Marc... bring some cheese, OK?

Started on this thing! Finally picked up the gray I needed and started gluing random parts together ... let's hope it looks like a 251 when i'm done!

(Managed to already break some things too, lol).

I'll have pictures when I feel they are worthy.

This is what i'm shooting for when it's finished:

Josh

FastasEF wrote:

This is what i'm shooting for when it's finished:

Haaaaaahahaha...too funny! I'm sure you'll do just fine, Josh. If you have any questions, just throw them out there, I'm sure someone will be able to help you out.

Boyd - I will most definitely be at AMPS East next year - if your couch is still available, I'm sure I'd take you up on it.

dupes wrote:

What sort of schemes does the Tamiya kit come with?

I'll check and get back with you!

...before I do though, do you know if there was ever the Panzer Gray with red-brown spots or zig-zag" done on the 251's?

Work has slowed, sadly, due to pain.  A few eeks ago I tore a couple of tendons in my left elbow and sometime it hurts when I am modelling.  The more the lebow os bent the more it hurts... the straighter the better.  But I am trying to press on.  Can't get too far behind.  Got the gun all done and holy moly this was some tough PE. fragile as all get out.  had to redo  a few parts a few times. Getting all the plates to line up right was rough.  About 45 pieces of PE on the gun.

getting close to putting some paint down on some of the subassemblies

What would the gunners seat be made of?  leather padded? Wood?  Metal?  From the looks of the part I am guessing maybe metal and painted the base color.

As fair as the color scheme I am going with an all dk yellow.

Wingy - that looks amazing! Did you superglue all of the larger pieces, or solder them?

Hey, no worries about "falling behind" - especially if modeling is going to kill you. We've got a few months left. What'd you do to tear tendons in your shoulder???

Id go with metal painted base colour. Fantastic looking work so far Marc. Did you solder the gun together? Bummer about the arm. How dya do it?

Ive just finished assembling the tracks on mine. I now remember why i havent got more of these in my collection.

...Guy

FastasEF wrote:

Started on this thing! Finally picked up the gray I needed and started gluing random parts together ... let's hope it looks like a 251 when i'm done! (Managed to already break some things too, lol). I'll have pictures when I feel they are worthy. This is what i'm shooting for when it's finished: Josh

It's all glued up with CA.    I just boughtthe coolest soldering iron at Radio Shack.  take 4 AA batteries and gets wicked hot and fast.  i'll get some pics of it up later.  I wnat to start soldering these PE sets with big parts like that.

As for the elbow... i was taking a 14' extension ladder off a house for maybe the 5000th time and it looked like there was an outside chance I was gonna hit the guys patio furniture.  Trying to steer it on the way down something popped in my elbow.  According to the doc.... torn tendons/ligmants, pop was more than likely a partial seperation the "popped" back in place.

FastasEF... very funny.  That would be a kick butt project if you really did that