Tristar Pz IV Ausf B DONE 8/12 page 11

Can't wait to see this puppy built up!  If I had to pick a German armored vehicle as my favorite it would be the IV series.  They just look like the epitome of bad arsedness!

Brian

That's a pretty disturbing gap Dave. I hear that Tristar kits are very good, but haven't seen  many built up. Hopefully it's just a glitch.

I have this same kit in the stash Dave so will be following along to see how this one builds up. That gap at the rear can hopefully be overcome with some strategic pressure and assistance from other parts down the road...otherwise it may get ugly!

Not to hijack the thread, but I just won the Tristar Brummbar off of ebay, and fortunately for me, it's a one-piece lower hull. After seeing your thread, I was scared that I would have the same problem. I won it before I could check out the review.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

Brian,

Thank you for taking a gander at this beastie.  These were certainly the work horses for the Germans.

Eric,

Well, the gap came back to bite me in the buttocks.  Gluing the sides on with the warp in the hull pan was a bit more tricky than I had thought.  Hind sight being 20/20 I would have done it differently. I would have shaved the hull pan where the side meets at the rear and, glued the rear portion of the hull side first.  The left side of the hull isn't so bad.  Now the right side (rear that is) is another story.  I fear that it may come back to haunt me yet again.  Probably with the running gear.  I will make this work.  Congratulations on your Brummbar score.  I think it will build up into a stunning kit.  The caveat being, this ain't no Tamiya kit.  Not that it's a bad kit.  It is not for neophytes.  Take your time and let my venture serve as a warning to others.  . Just eyeball along the hull pan to see if you have any warpage.  If you do, take your time with it.  If you want give me a call and I can describe in more detail to help you out.

Bill,

Thank you for following along.  As I wrote above, "let my venture serve as a warning to others".  I fear that the right rear portion is going to give me fits on this one.  I will persevere! Head down, pull forward boys!

The sticks actually have nuts at the ends of them. It was just very convenient to glue them this way.

A detail shot of one of the nuts

Here is a detail shot of the left rear.  Now compare the step off to the right side.  Uggggh!

The right hull side stands a wee bit proud of the hull pan.  

An inside shot of the right rear carnage.  I had a coulda, shoulda, woulda moment when I saw this the next morning and realized that I should have used a bar clamp running transverse to the hull, just to keep the sides is.  At the time everything seemed OK.  Not OK now.

That's it for now as my work week starts here in a few hours.

Cheers

Dave

This is coming along nicely, Dave, I am sure you can overcome the, uh, fitment issues.  THere's certainly some group expernience here to help you through what will work best, present company excluded, I have been lucky so far.

I hear you about Edmund and groundwork, he recenlty talked me throug a baby base, looking back it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be.  I am a base maniac now.

Anyway, I wil be watching this, it's goiing to be very cool when you get it finished.

Bill

Bill,

It is nice to see you following along on this one.  Thank you.  The fit issue may rear its head down the road but, the more I have been thinking about the assemblies to follow I am inclined to think that it may not be as bad as I had originally thought.  I had a lot of elaborate corrections rolling through my head and, then realized the age old axiom.... K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid!  Its been a while since I've done a monochromatic gray and, I thought this one would fill the bill nicely.

Cheers

Dave

I got a bit of detail stuff done on this beastie.  Actually Tristar kits are made up of a lot of small detail parts.  The opti-loupes are getting a fair amount of use with this one. This shot is of one of the idler mounts.  Mind you the squares are one inch.

The level of detail on these Tristar kits is phenomenal.  There are thirteen parts on the rear of the hull, including the rear hull plate.  There are more parts to come.

The final drives and their armored covers are stunning little pieces.  The bolts are separate pieces on both the fore and aft armor covers

A mock up shot with the drive sprocket.

Here is the right final drive sans armored covers to show the bolt head detail.  It seems a shame to cover it but, I do not have a maintenance dio in mind. Pity.

I couldn't resist a scale pic to show just how small the bolts are for the final drive aft covers.  One, very carefully shaves the bolt head off with a scalpel and , attaches it with an incredibly small amount of cement while handling the part with a toothpick moistened with spit.  

Cheers

Dave

WOW!  Great details... I bought Tristar IV Ausf. D few weeks ago at AMPS show and I was amazed by how many parts it came in the box.  I will be following your work definitely!  Good luck...

This one was released at the same time that DML was doing their "Super Kits"...the overkill on the detail parts resulted in the "Smart Kit" evolution as the 1000+ parts count deterred quite a few builders. I know when I built the DML Pz IV E it was a marathon ordeal to get it all completed...your Tristar kit looks similar Dave, hang in there and keep on slugging away!

Deafpanzer,

The details in the Tristar kits is amazing. Not to mention the parts count.  I like a low parts kit every once in a while to kind of hit the reset button but, I really do love these high count kits.  You can let your OCDness roll around in it. .  Thank you for following along.

Bill,

Oh yes!  I built that same kit.  I think the parts tally ended up being about 1200 pieces.  I needed to build a simple kit after that but, I do love those high count kits.  I was going to build a Bronco Cruiser but, I decided that I have built a few Bronco kits and, I wanted to see how the Tristars go together since I've got a couple of their Pz IVs and a Marder H in the stash.  Plus, I was getting an itch to tackle a high count kit again. . My wife calls me a "sicko" whenever I undertake one of these kinds of kits.  Albeit, it is said in a very loving manner. I've started on the bogies which are simply sublime. They each have seven parts sans wheels. The fine detail is well molded and crisply defined. The best part is that they articulate! One of the trailing swing arms has an EP mark that stands proud and requires some VERY careful trimming with a very sharp blade.  Otherwise the leaf spring will not fit through properly nor will the two halves of the trailing arm glue together.  I'll post pics of it later as I do not have access to the computer today.

Thank you for following along gentlemen.

Cheers

Dave

You better hang in there Dave remember you're one of my cheerleaders and it wouldn't be setting a good example for you to lay down on me.

I've been fighting this sort of stuff with ever build.

Tony Lee

Tony,

WOW! I am honored but, know this, I am NOT wearing the mini skirt.  LOL  A man has got to draw the line somewhere.  Anyway, legs are too hairy.

Trust me, I am not going anywhere.  Quit?!  What does that mean? Head down boys and pull forward!!!

Cheers

Dave

Here is a finished bogie and what goes into it. The seam line clean up really isn't too bad

The part posed below the assembled bogie is the only part that had a EP mark that had to be shaved.  You can see it just above the pin at the lower right portion of the part.  This has to be rectified, otherwise the leaf springs will not fit through the final assembly.

The EP marks on the bottom side of the fenders were fairly numerous and prominent.  The rear portion of the fenders had the same problem but, I did not take pictures of them because, well, you get the picture.

Everything masked off. I may get to sanding today before work.  We'll see, as I am in charge tonight and have to be there a bit earlier.  

This ain't no shake-n-bake.  I love it!

Cheers

Dave

Here is a finished bogie and what goes into it. The seam line clean up really isn't too bad

The part posed below the assembled bogie is the only part that had a EP mark that had to be shaved.  You can see it just above the pin at the lower right portion of the part.  This has to be rectified, otherwise the leaf springs will not fit through the final assembly.

The EP marks on the bottom side of the fenders were fairly numerous and prominent.  The rear portion of the fenders had the same problem but, I did not take pictures of them because, well, you get the picture.

Everything masked off. I may get to sanding today before work.  We'll see, as I am in charge tonight and have to be there a bit earlier.  

This ain't no shake-n-bake.  I love it!

Cheers

Dave

And the Beat Goes On

Will anybody show up at work knowing you're going to be in charge?

Delegate and get back to the bench until lunch break.

Tony Lee

God, I wish you posted this few days earlier!  Why?  I did the hardest way sanding last Saturday... without using the painter tape.  Tamiya kit... no kidding!

Took me forever to do the job.   That's why I love this forum because I am still learning great tips like yours just now.   Thanks for sharing...

Dave - looking good so far brother.  Geez talk about injector pin marks  good lord man. 

Bob

Tony,

Here is the really sick part.  The crew I work with like when I'm in charge.  They know the know the storm cloud that follows me and it has been said that I am proof the excrement has magnetic properties.  As I am an excrement magnet.    My crew has said on several occasions that I always have "such interesting parties". I work in a Surgical Intensive Care Unit.  My shifts are always interesting.

Deafpanzer,

Sorry I couldn't have been of an assist earlier.  I was up at Bob's (aka M1Carbine) this last weekend.  That was a hoot.  I am glad that it will help you with future projects.  By the look of the pics your work is cut out for you.  I agree whole heartedly about these forums.

Bob,

Glad to have you along brother.  Yes, the EP marks are something else but, Mr Putty and the disolved putty works quite well.  That is a nice start on the Sherman DV by the way!

Cheers

Dave

Looks good Dave.  i like what you did with the tape for the pins marks.  Gave me an idea to use a hole punch in the tape to do that.  I too have had some touch sanding session doing it the sloppy way.

Thanks Brother.  I was looking at the scale nuts again....man-o-man, I think id have a migraine after that but you executed it perfectly bro.

Bob

Bob,

Thank you for following along on this one.  A small drop of glue, a toothpick moistened with spit, Opti-loupes, and no hurry to be anywhere and you can do it.  That's what I did.

Not much done last week as it was busy here.  End of year school stuff for the kids.  One of the kids and myself testing up for a belt rank. Work.  You get the idea.

Well I made up for it this week.  The upper hull is coming along nicely.  The small fiddley parts will be put on after I join the upper and lower hulls. 

ALL of the EP marks filled and sanded.  I'll post some pics later of what I used to sand them.  It really cut a lot of time 

This was one of the louver assemblies that was warped prior to assembly.  I opted to glue it in place and then contend with the aft portions that were warped.  Turns out it too care of its self as soon as I glued the rear plate into place.

Bogies, drive sprockets, idlers are all done.  Now to figure out what happened with the hull pan.

I opted to use the returns wheels that used more parts.  It'll make painting much easier.

Road wheels galore.  These are masked and ready for painting. These came off the sprues rather nicely with minimal clean up.

Here is all 32  road tires sanded and ready for paint.  I remembered that there was a mold seam in the inner diameter that could be problematic with assembly.  If you forced it on you could split the tire.  The last two pics show what I used to sand that portion.  Just a couple of rotations of the sanding dowel and it was all good

Cheers

Dave

Oh sure, now you are inventing stuff.................LOL

Keep the pics coming bro

Bob

Wow Dave, I admire that fact that you filled the pin marks on the underside. I just couldn't do it. Props to you for going the whole 9-yards.

Bob,

I do believe that necessity is one of the parents of invention.   Trust me, I WANTED the quickest way to sand the insides of thirty two road tires.  Otherwise I was going to need sedagives! . As you requested there are more pics. What is thy biding my master.  Hehehehe.

Eric,

Thank you. The filling under the fenders is far from over. I was worried that the EP marks would show but. it turns out that there is an even nastier beast that lurks under there. You can see it in the pic looking down the left side under the fender.  Well at least I got the potential misaligned bogies figured out. Now to fill the newly found gap/seam/not sure what to call it under the fender.  I'll put that pic up first.  Some later pics I'll show you what I used to sand the filled EP marks under the fenders.

The was the best I could get to show the bogies aligned and without toe out.  There was a bit of a gap between the bogies and the hull in a couple of spots. These were flooded with Ambroid liquid cement. I'll go back and fill the remaining voids with some white glue.

I used two pieces of heavy styrene stock to spread the rear of the hull sides.  Another reminder about the warped hull pan, that I should have started at the rear and worked forward. No sense in crying about it now.

The bogies where they belong.  They do articulate rather nicely.  So I'm wondering.  I think it is time to get my feet wet with base work.  This means that I'll need to search out an early Panzer commander with a beret. 

The lettering and numbers on the sides of the tires and return rollers in fantastic.  They were painted with Floquil Weathered Black (Thanks Edmund!!!). That's all the painting that will get done this week as I will be using Lifecolor to color this beastie.  I've got a couple of set coming from Great Models early next week.  There are still plenty of other sub assemblies to get together.

This is the set of bits that I used to sand the EP marks under the fender.  Actually is was the two to the far right. I've used the others in the past with good effect. 

Just wrap your choice of grit around the bit and have at it.  

This is the beast that the bit go to.  I originally purchased it to sand the edges of drawers during a kitchen remodel my wife and I did several years ago. I did not use this on the underside of the fenders for the EP marks though, I may be sorely tempted to use it with the new area under there that demands my attention.

Cheers

Dave

Looks like things are falling into place nicely on this one Dave...you have to be careful when using power tools to sand plastic due to the potential for friction to produce heat which in turn melts or scars the plastic in the process. Like the trick on the separate rubber rims, will have to remember that one.

Bill,

Thank you for stopping in and checking up on my build.  Here's what I'm thinking of resorting to:

Do you think I should use the masonry wheel or the steel grinding wheel? After all it is a very unsightly area!.  I'm just pulling your leg.  The only time I use a power tool is when I'm grinding an area away with my trusty Dremel (the rotary one, NOT the sander). In reality the area in question really isn't too bad. Just trying to figure if it's worth tackling.  I probably will. 

Cheers

Dave

Looking really good Dave, I especially like the tape trick for filler and sanding, I will have to try it out some time.

Nothing wrong with power tools if used right, but the grinder would be over kill. Unless your going to build a wreck .

keep the posts coming, the Pz IV is my favorite.

Rob

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