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

dupes wrote:

Huh. Good for you! I guess that packing cheese into boxes, while very tasty, doesn't fulfill my "creative urges".

ACTUALLY, if I combined my job with yours it would be PERFECT!...I LOVE CHEESE!...I could have a pen drawing in one hand and a hunk of sharp cheddar in the other!  I'd probably "eat-up" my profits though...so to speak.

OK, back to 251's!...Did you read I'm thinking of going three color camo!  I resigned to the fact that with the rocket racks and the delicate PE on those racks that the soft-edge camo' route would be wise versus any silly putty hard edge method.  Then I thought, what the heck, might as well add the dark green while I'm at it!

dupes wrote:

SMJmodeler wrote: I'm getting some late GB excitement going!  You know the, "I hate that my job is interfering with my workbench time" feeling?! Hmmmm...I have that feeling all the time...don't you guys?

No, not me... not all the time....

Just when I'm awake....

SMJmodeler wrote:

dupes wrote: Huh. Good for you! I guess that packing cheese into boxes, while very tasty, doesn't fulfill my "creative urges". OK, back to 251's!...Did you read I'm thinking of going three color camo!  I resigned to the fact that with the rocket racks and the delicate PE on those racks that the soft-edge camo' route would be wise versus any silly putty hard edge method.  Then I thought, what the heck, might as well add the dark green while I'm at it!

I will be excited to see that!  Got any IP pics?

SMJmodeler wrote:

bbrowniii wrote: Umm, the steering wheel center bars?  To be honest, I am not entirely sure.  Didn't see anything that indicated such, but also have not seen anything to indicate it is not the case... I'm pretty confident on this one...BUT, with your two tone interior it might be the ivory color.

SMJ,

You really piqued my curiousity about this.  I did a little research on-line.  I could not find too much, but I did find a color shot of a 250 and the steering wheel is all black.  At the same time, I noticed that on some builds (Panzerguys 251/10 Africa Korps for example ), he did paint 'em (ivory, no less).  On others (Wingnut's /17), he did not.

I'll just claim mine came from a different manufacturer who only deals in black...

I'll chock that one up to experrience and hope to remember it for the next 251 I build (I've got 3 or 4 more in the stash!!)

     Did somebody cut the cheese?

    Boyd the actual color is Model Master's interior buff. And I've seen the steering wheels both ways. On the one I'm doing now, the /22, the wheel is all black. Another thing it would not be to far off having the shift knobs a little glossy. I do believe they were made of plastic maybe Bakelite and after a while they would have a shine to them.

    Okay did a marathon session and got the /22 all buttoned up and have everything on except the mud flaps.

  Now it's on to the paint booth.   

Steve

 That/22 is lookin' sharp!  I forget what you said the scheme is going to be, so I'll look forward to your next round of pics.

Thanks for the insight on the steering wheel and the shift knobs.

Well, the ol' AFV kicked me in the teeth again.  Just when I though I had worked out most of the kinks, and all I had to do was assemble all the small details, WHAM, it smacked me.  The backs for the troop seat benches that cover the rifle racks... yeah, they're too long .  Only be about a millimeter, but hey, a millimeter is a millimeter, right...  I'm trying to decide if I will sculpt new ones or cut down the old...

Marathon session is right! Looks like you're on the home stretch there Steve.

Boyd - you're getting there at a rapid pace as well...although at this point I'd probably caution against trying to scratchbuild some new benches? Maybe no one will notice. Heh.

Assembly is juuuust about finished on the /8 - just have to try to whip up a tarp to cover the interior. When you guys make your own homemade canvas, what do you use? Tissues? Toilet paper? I've been getting decent results with lens cleaning cloths, but want to give something new a shot. Ideas? 

bbrowniii: The steering wheel and knob thing is why we do these GB thingies...we both learned something.  Bummer about the seats, but don't sweat it.  I have a similar gaf on my seats. I used a combo of PE and kit parts and it pushed the seat back too far forward on the PE end (near the front seats).  It's VERY obvious, BUT I think my savior is that someone posted a great picture of a real 251/1 and it had extra rocket crates in the troop compartment.  Lucky for me I happen to score a set of figs and four extra rocket crates made especially for my 251 last year so wah-la...add the extra crates, fix a problem!

panzerguy: Looking good!  That is one big friggin' cannon on that puppy!  Can you imagine the sound and vibration in the troop area?!...wow!  By the way, did you saw off your bowling trophy figure and steal the base for your model?  Actually I really like it, where'd you get that?

dupes: Tarps, CANNOT be toilet paper.  You'll just have a wet messy ball!  Use facial tissue, with no frilly pattern...preferably white.  I recommend using a VERY diluted mix of white glue and water and slighty moisten the tissue.  Form it to the shape you want and then let it dry overnight.  When you paint it, use a thinned mix and dab-it...let the paint seep to the edges versus painting right up to them because you'll get too much build-up if you don't.  Let it dry completely again...reapply.  After the second application of paint the absorbancy should be gone and you can finish it up like any canvas.  Good luck!

Anybody know of a good dark yellow besides the Tamiya spray can.  I used it on my C model a couple of years ago with good results, but have had a couple of bad experiences with it since then.

Dupes-realize this is off topic a little, but I've put a few of my Hind shots on my fotki site.  Let me know when you're ready and I'll send you a CD.  If you, or any one else for that matter, want to have a looksee it's http://public.fotki.com/lewbud/helicopters/mi-24-hind/  Enjoy.  Will post pics of the 16D when I have something.

espins1 wrote:

Hey guys, this is my first open topped vehicle build.  Do you recommend spraying the interior first, and then installing the painted seats and the rest of the painted interior parts?  I'm thinking that would be best as I can then just mask off the inside with cotton or whatever.  Anyone have any better methods they would recommend?

     Scott I would say yes, spray the interior and the inside of the upper hull before you attach things like seats back rest's, steering wheel and hand levers. Then add them after their painted. Things like gas mask canisters fire extinguishers and dash panels I go ahead and attach before I spray the interior then paint them afterwards.

Unfortunately, I will not complete the group build by the deadline.  My company is shipping me off to temporarily manage one of our field sites for the next several weeks.  The economy continues to dictate that we lay off people, and those that are remaining get to pick up the pieces (which is infinately preferable to being unemployed).

Once the weekends are mine again, I will finish my kit and post the results.  Best of luck to the rest of you!

Looks like its a sprint finish here, but some great work goling on. Really looking forward to seeing your /8 pics dupes, thats deffinatly one conversion i want to do in the future. Can you just remind me, the /2, is that a kit or a conversion. If a kit, whch one and is it still available.

 bbrowni i am not 100%, but those seats do look like the wooden ones.

espins1 i will echo panzer guy. Paint the interior before fitting the other parts, especially those that are different colours. Oncew i had the interior painted and the top and bottom together, i just filled the inside with tissue.

Looking forward to seeing all the finished results in the next few weeks.

Well, was going to go to Warbirds over Addison, but it decided to rain so I started my kit instead.  Not much progress, got the chassis pe and road arm bumpers on.  Did some work in the pit.  Pics at http://public.fotki.com/lewbud/fine-scale-group-builds/251-group-build/

Bish wrote:

Looks like its a sprint finish here, but some great work goling on. Really looking forward to seeing your /8 pics dupes, thats deffinatly one conversion i want to do in the future. Can you just remind me, the /2, is that a kit or a conversion. If a kit, whch one and is it still available.

Bish - the /2 can be had in kit form, not sure if it's still available or not, but Cyber Hobby makes it. Number 6326 if I remember correctly. If you're just adding the mortar to do a true /2, it's not hard to find the additional sprues to do your own conversion of another DML 251 - their Mortar Team figure kit (6215) has the same sprue, and Tank Workshop makes a set of applicable ammo boxes.

As for the /8, not doing the true conversion with the whole interior replacing the benches with the welded cots and other assorted medical goodness, but am replicating a lot of the ambulance add-ons to the exterior, plus a funky ambulance paint scheme.

Russamys - sorry to hear you have to drop out at this late date. Maybe next time.

Bish wrote:

bbrowni i am not 100%, but those seats do look like the wooden ones. espins1 i will echo panzer guy. Paint the interior before fitting the other parts, especially those that are different colours. Oncew i had the interior painted and the top and bottom together, i just filled the inside with tissue.

Nope, they are not.  A complete brain-fart on my part.  I convinced myself early on that I could make them pass as wood, then painted them as such.  It was not until I saw the pics that I realized it didn't pass muster.  I put a coat of leather on them, so the wood effect is gone, but they do not match the back rests...  I think I'll probably have to live with it unless I want to pull 'em out and completely repaint them.

Espins, yeah, go with what Panzer and Bish are saying - paint the interior, mask it off, paint the exterior...

OK my update: I figured out my seat backs without having to do any scratchbuilding or major surgery (I realized the other boxes that they attach to are side specific, though the instructions don't clearly illustrate that).  I also spent some time last night doing some little fiddly stuff: I added slings to the three rifles I decided to put in, I wired the radio and drilled a hole in the side of the hole for the antenna wire...  Misc stuff like that is about where I stand at this point...  Hope to have some pics soon...

dupes wrote:

Lewbud - glad you've started! I know you build fast, so expecting an on-time finish.

Have you seen my group build tally?  You're an optimistic sort,aren't you. Will do my best.

Guys: A little WIP here...I've got several sub-assemblies going but each are moving forward well.  Here are the road and front wheels(bbrowniii: Now let's count, 1...34 wheels X 2 = 68 rims to mask with the circle template and paint...):

The racks and crates are painted and washed.  They will get some more TLC later:

The interor with some washes:

A little scratchbuild work on the width indicators and I added a wire to the front light (thanks R34_white for that one!):

I'm sanding and painting the rockets and should finish the interior within a day or two.  Then the top goes on, camo will be added, racks glued, etc...a lot to do in 3 weeks but I'm confident I'll make it on time!

Steve - looks REALLY good! Can't wait to see the hull buttoned up.

I will have to disagree, however...just because you have to paint both sides of the roadwheels doesn't mean there are 64 of them.

  Steve you've got some good progress going there.

SMJmodeler wrote:

[

 Two minor things you should be aware of. The fire extinguisher should be mounted to the rear bulk head wall and not the door. Also the two-pe chains that you have attached to the rear doors, one end should attach to the inside rear wall just below the two guide tabs. These were to keep the doors from swinging open to far and bending the hinges on the rear vehicle.

  Okay here's my weekend progress report

 After two days of painting I finally got the cammo done.

   So what do you guys think of my ambush pattern?

   The first wash is on and this will have to sit for at lest twenty-four hours so while I'm waiting for this to dry I'll start weathering the tracks to keep myself busy.

some assembly required wrote:

just a quick question for those of you building an afv club kit: did you have much trouble with the rear clam shell doors? mine were a bear and i still dont know if itll look good in the end.but i shall press on

Yes. A horrible time. I was in the same position as you and decided to press on. When I finally glued them on to the main hull they lined up a tad better than when they'd been off. If all else fails, they'll get posed in the open position.

Josh

some assembly required wrote:

just a quick question for those of you building an afv club kit: did you have much trouble with the rear clam shell doors? mine were a bear and i still dont know if itll look good in the end.but i shall press on

SAR,

OH YES!!  Those doors are a chore...  hehe... that rhymes...

Hey, can anyone answer this question for me:

Are the teeth on the drive sprockets hard rubber, or are they steel??

bbrowniii wrote:

Hey, can anyone answer this question for me: Are the teeth on the drive sprockets hard rubber, or are they steel??

The teeth would be steel and only the pads around the sproket would be rubber.  Great stuff going on fellows!  Been working a whole bunch but am inspired by all the hard work I am seeing,

The Dragon instructions show it a little better.

Crunch time fellows!

sfcmac wrote:

bbrowniii wrote: Hey, can anyone answer this question for me: Are the teeth on the drive sprockets hard rubber, or are they steel?? The teeth would be steel and only the pads around the sproket would be rubber.  Great stuff going on fellows!  Been working a whole bunch but am inspired by all the hard work I am seeing,

Aaron

Thanks.  That is what I thought, but today I looked at the instruction sheet for my AFV kit and was not quite sure... thanks for the confirmation.