#3 Tristar Panzer I Ausf A *COMPLETED*

Football games are the perfect background for assembling MK track runs, something I've done many times. If you want to give yourself more of an edge, you can try using a strip of masking tape to hold the links (especially as you get the runs together in longer pieces) as an ad-hoc jig while you add new links to it along with the pins. Looks like you're making good progress and the bin organization is an excellent way to keep track of all the parts.

Guys, thanks for looking and making comments earlier! 

Bill, there has been plenty of great football games for last two weeks.  Thanks for the great tip about using the masking tape to hold the links.  That's what I had in mind too and it helped.

Here's my quick update... being married and having two young boys you can be distracted very easily!  I haven't touched my workspace until tonight and I finally did one side of MK tracks... yes, 88 of those little bastards but with help of the masking tape to hold them down really helped!!!

Here it is... 88 tracks in one piece now!  I still need to remove and sand down some sprues.  One thing surprised me... the kit came with ONLY one spare track and of course I screwed up one while assembling leaving me with NO spare now.  Too close to call!

I hope I can do another half tomorrow so everything can be ready to be primed and painting over the weekend.  Have a good one!

Andy I think i've got  some Magic Tracks from my Panzerjager 1 if those would help if need be. BTW shipping free.

Tony Lee

Hey Tony I do believe that I have a bunch of the Magic Tracks you sent my way left over.If Andy wants those I'll just forward them his way. That way you'll retain a full set,just in case Andy,those MK's will add a nice touch of realism to your build. Everything here is kind of in limbo as I started the 12:30-9:00 pm shift at the new job and the house kind of goobles up the rest of the time! But as a good friend of mine once said" I'LL BE BACK"..

Up to you my friend. If Andy has a need at least we've got him covered.

Tony Lee

Tony, it was very nice of you to offer.  Right now I am OK as long as I don't screw up the other side tonight.  If I do, I will definitely take on your offer!  Believe it or not I haven't tried those Magic Tracks before...

Thanks buddy... I have been having fun watching your process on M7! 

Hey detailfreak!  I know it has been a while but I am very glad that you are no longer unemployed.   You will find me here especially in GBs as usual.  Thanks for the offer on Magic Tracks... will let you know how my other side of MK tracks come out. 

Hey Andy.  Sorry for the late check in but I have been scarce around here lately.  Looks like this one is relay coming together nicely.

Tracks are looking good Andy!

Thanks wing-nut and Bill for stopping by! 

Quick update... completed the another half tonight without any issue this time.  Pvt Mutt and detailfreak, no need to send me your unused magic tracks.  Appreciate your offer... thanks again!

The hardest part of modeling is over.  Everything is ready to be primed and painted over the weekend.  Weather is supposed to be much cooler finally so I can do the airbrushing in the garage! 

Have a good one!

Hey your tracks are inside out.

detailfreak, not sure what you meant by tracks are inside out... hope I didn't do it the wrong way?  

The tracks look great Andy. I have some MK's that I plan on using for my Wespe build, ( whenever I get to it!), and I hope I have the patience to do them justice.

Nate 

pro job so far Andy!

Nate- Those MK tracks will look great on your Wespe... I guarantee!

lespauljames- Thanks for the comment... I still have a long way to go!

Update on my little panzer... didn't do much because things have been crazy at work as we are relocating our office.  No fun!  I finally did some airbrushing tonight as I haven't done much through the summer because it was too hot in the garage.  Unfortunately something went wrong with my airbrush gun... you will find out why.

MK tracks were primed with flat black from rattle can.  Then they were airbrushed with thinned MM gunmetal.  Washes will be next...

Panzer was primed with flat black too.  Center panels and open spaces were airbrushed with thinned MM light gray.  Am trying this method to see if shades will be more visible this way hopefully. 

While I was airbrushing, something went wrong and it was starting to shoot paint badly.  Good thing I was almost done and it was only in its pre-shading stage.  Thinned panzer gray will cover everything... if you can look at the wheel closely, paint was shot everywhere!  What the heck...

I took the airbrush gun apart and found the cause... I couldn't believe it!  A small piece fell off its rod and it won't be re-attached as I tried everything to fix it but no luck.  It is an Iwata Eclipse HP-CS and it is about a year and half old! 

I am afraid this part has been damaged for good unless you can tell me otherwise.  I will stop by Hobby Lobby where I bought it using 40% off coupon of course to see if they sell a replacement or not.  Has this happened to you before? 

Thanks for looking!

        Sorry to hear about the airbrush Andy,hope you can get it fixed at a reasonable or even better yet,no charge.As for your tracks ,well you know how much I enjoy B.S in you guys. Hey bud you were saying you could perhaps send a scan of your instruction sheet. If you can send it to my e-mail.I'll P.M it to you ok.. The little one is looking good so far keep us posted.

I have missed a lot since I last saw this thread. Nice job so far Andy.

Sorry to hear about your airbrush. That sucks when it breakes during pre-shading.

Condolences on the airbrush demise but at least it wasn't while you were applying the base coat so there's some bright side at least!

detailfreak- LOL!  Sure, I email you the scanned instructions this PM.  Just let me know if you got it OK.

jetmodeler- Thanks for looking!  Glad it didn't break down earlier or later when I am doing the final phase of painting!!! 

Bill- Exactly!   Very good thing it broke during pre-shading... no big deal there... gonna look around for a replacement.  I can't wait to paint panzer gray on it!!!  Thanks for dropping by!

Think this one is coming along beautifully.  That pre shading should do wonders for your final coat.  Sorry to hear about the airbrush.  Hope you get all back running shortly.  Sounds as if your track situation is all worked out but if you want more for anything, I to have some spares I could send you.  Those tracks look great also.

Rob

I'm not liking this DP!

Lespaul's Panzer I ends up in the bin after a painting disaster of some sort & your AB has broke! Are these Panzer I's cursed?

I remember when I built my original Ausf B and I accidently melted half the Fruil tracks that were too near the stove (Mum turned it on without knowing).

I'll be painting my Panzer I this weekend (I'm going for the pre shade too - the last two times it failed but the last attempt nearly worked, just one AB pass too much) so hopefully she'll be ok. I know how to do it it now - in theory anyway.

Keep the blog running buddy!

ATVB

Ben

Thanks Rob for dropping by!  Ben, you can see I am catching up...

Guys, it has been three weeks since my last update.  New part for my broken airbrush has arrived a week later but my parents from FL were in town visiting for a week (mom will not leave me alone but I  her!) then I had to go away on a business trip to NC for five days.  Now I am back and the BEST part is that I will be a bachelor for three days... no wife and no kids even no dog too... they all are away on a fall break trip while I am stuck working BUT I am loving it!  Please don't tell them I said this...

With my airbrushing work like new, I applied highly thinned MM Grey Panzer (50/50) so it will not hide the pre-shading and it worked better this time.

Painting wheels can be no fun but not if you do this...

Circle template is the way to go... it even worked for those tiny wheels!

Gotcha!  Painted wheels in minutes... I  you my circle template!

Letting the paint dry for at least 20 hours before I can airbrush a coat of acrylic Future for the decals.  

Unfortunately not everything went smoothly, I accidentally applied too much paint on one of the muffler guards as you can see...

I think I have to do it again... I doubt I can use green stuff Doog used on his Patton recently because I used an enamel MM paint.  Will a paint thinner do the job if I can let it soak in a cup overnight?  If not, any tip to remove enamel paint off the PE?

Thanks again for looking!  Two more night of bachelor life for me...

Please don't tell them I said this...

Hmmmmm..... And just what is our silence worth to you?  I'm sorry, I couldn't even keep a straight face while typing that.  My wife knows I do the same thing when she goes out of town for conferences.  Cram in the bench time whilst you can.  Speaking of which, you've made some nice progress since I've last seen this wee beastie.  Down time on the AB stinks.  I am glad to hear that yours is up and running again. 

Cheers

Dave

Lookin good so far Andy. Glad to hear your airbrush is working again. Hopefully you can make up for the 3 weeks in the 2 days.

Hey DP,

Looking good - the shading looks great! Don't worry about the muffler guards. I had the same thing happen to me on my Panzer PE guards but a LIGHT blast just after the paint had been put on via the AB cleared it fine. Always spray from from inside the muffler guard outwards or obviously the paint job will suffer.

I did this before on my Panzer I Ausf B and was planning to let the paint set and poke clear the blocked holes with a fine pin. I got bored of doing this after about 2 minutes so I took a Phosphor Bronze brush that we use for beaning our 12 bore shotgun barrels and rolled it around over the muffler - it worked perfectly.

I wondered where you had been - check out my WIP as I'm nearly there. The Magic Tracks are on and are painted base 'Gunze Steel' and I've drybrushed the raised areas on the tracks with Tamiya 'Flat Aluminium' (nice colour - not too shiny but just right imo). Tomorrow I've a bit of pigment to add to the running gear - not much as there wouldn't have been much dust around in a freezing cold Norway I imagine!

I've also got to fit and paint the MG barrels, maybe add some stowage and she's complete. I'm then going to make a small base using a picture frame, it will be a basic base covered in grass with snowy areas (I'll make snowy areas using Vallejo Snow & Foam that I have - I'm planning on having the tank positioned toward the background and in the foregound I'm going to make a puddle and am hoping to make it look frozen (I'll use my Water Effects stuff for the puddle) and am going to place a couple of 1/35 balsa wooden boxes as stowage effect and I'll also find a few thing to scatter about (maybe).

What have you got planned - a base or anything?

I'm hoping that this build will be all but complete by Sunday evening - woohoo! As it's my birthday on 4th November the kit my parents are buying me is my next WIP (Dragon kit # 6228, Sherman IC Firefly) so if I do finish I going to get all of my models off of the display shelf and tidy them up and improve the figures - roll on my Birthday! 

Keep us posted on your build DP - I'm looking forward to seeing these tracks on and the build weathered!

ATVB

Ben

Appears that the airbrush repair was worth the wait. This is looking very good!

Andy, before you redo the guards try a stiff brush from the inside to poke out the holes.  If it doesn't look good you are no worse off since you will just end up doing 'em over again anyway.

Dave- LOL  If I can buy you a , will you ?  Thanks for looking... my wife do support my hobby but she isn't crazy if I spend too much $$$. 

Jetmodeler- You betcha!  Worked on my model for 4 hours til 2am and I had to get up early for work this AM.  Guess it happens when wife isn't home to drag me into our bed! 

Ben- Thanks!  I know I have been absent for last three weeks... many things going on but I am back for good and I am on a roll now.  I plan to include figures but not sure if I will have time to build a diomara for this and two previous models I built.  Thanks for the tip about using fine thin pin to poke holes... will try tonight. 

DF- Thanks buddy!  Lesson learned... gonna stock up replacement parts for my Iwata airbrush that Hobby Lobby doesn't sell.  Even HobbyTown USA don't stock Iwata parts...

Marc- Thanks!  Will try very fine thin pin first... if not, stiff brush would be next.  If it doesn't work, will a cup of paint thinner remove the paint completely?  I doubt it cause I used primer too.   In my reference book, I see many pictures of damaged muffler guard so maybe I can go for this if nothing works.  It is my third build and I am still learning...

I really appreciate your taking time to make comments... this hobby is the best thing! 

Andy,

Nice work on the paint job!

DON'T USE THE PIN approach to cler the guards...the DML PE is very fine and it's very easy to push the pin tip in too far in an effort to clear the paint. Use the brush approach from the inside...possibly even dampen the underside with a little thinner first as well in order to clear the mesh.

wbill, thanks!  I will not use the pin... I thought it might work. I will try to locate the brush and clean from inside.  Can I use the same kind of brush w/ metal wires that we use to clean guns or will a standard toothbrush do the job? 

Looking forward to your next update on Sunday!