AFV Club Achilles Mk.IIc - WIP

Bogies built.

God these things are stupid. Vinyl "springs", rocker, two wheel arms, and a return roller that have to be sandwiched between the housings...and the housings have no locating pins or anything. It's one hot mess to get them together, and all for a suspension that basically allows the wheel arms to wiggle a little bit (but with more force than the weight of the kit...).

I've been a watching.......

This one is coming along quite nicely.

Sherman style VVSS bogies (to me) seem to be overly complicated with the way they are set up........

     .........  conquered that problem many moons ago.

See how I made that problem go away near the bottom of page 11 of  "Recipe"

disastermaster - love your solution...I think the ability to pop the wheels in and out is huge. Alas, the way these bogies are set up, it's a pretty difficult way to go about things, since the wheel arms are a two-piece affair that joins around the wheel first, then connects to the main unit. 

Though, in afterthought, I probably could have joined the arms, attached everything up, then cut the "axle"...

Little bit more progress. The Achilles is slowly but surely coming together.

- I've been weathering the interior, but want to wait until it's done to show it off

- Markings are on. Decided to go with a British vehicle operating in Italy. 

- Tracks have received their base coat of NATO brown.

- The Tasca M2 is more or less complete...planning to get pics tonight. Sweet little piece, that.

- FINALLY mounted some of the ammo in the turret. Turns out, the way the ammo racks fit, the brass rounds don't fit side by side, so I'm just going with the idea that it's burned through some of its ammo. Using Tamiya tape for the restraining straps. As for the ammo ID stripes, I decided to just not even try. The rounds are just too small and the brass won't hold paint well enough for masking or intense handling...

- The Eduard PE set has several pretty nifty straps dangling off the sides of the turret...got those folded and brushed with Future. Hoping to get them painted and maybe mounted tonight.

Here's the latest:

those rounds do look good

Doogs, you are making a master from something that did not look like much in the beginning.

Doogs, pure and complete narlyisms! Love that shiny brass!

  I have to agree.... those shells are AWESOME!  I forgot where you got those? 

Looks like your Achilles is running low on Viagra?  I am having same issue with my Chaffee and it looks like I have to glue it permanently. 

Thanks all! I do love those rounds. deafpanzer - they're AFV Club. I got them at my LHS, but you can order them from the usual suspects, too.

And yeah, I'm going to be gluing the gun in its, uh, "up" position once I get the rest of the turret interior properly sorted. Just too hard to work in there otherwise.

Speaking of work...painted and attached all the straps last night. Attached the bogies. Discovered that the rubber band tracks are too short. Thankfully, they stretch. Unthankfully, the whole thing about using solvent on them turns out to be a pack of lies. The connection point snapped on both with disturbing ease. I've resecured them with gator glue...and if it comes down to it I'll staple the friggin' things. The upper track will be completely concealed by the upper hull anyway, so who cares?

Some pics...

I'm quickly coming to understand why people hate rubber band tracks.

Everything was going relatively swimmingly with the kit's T51 rubbers. They're too short, but they stretch a bit...and while that kind of shear tension is worrisome for long term durability, meh.

Well, I was test fitting them tonight, when this happened:

I'll point out that this is not along the track join, just a random link.

So I pulled out some AFV three-bar cleats I had intended to use on my Tamiya Sherman, and...

I understand too short...I understand they're supposed to be taut on VVSS suspensions, but this is ridiculous. Stretching these mojos to fit would entail 1) risk of snappage and 2) risk of compromising the suspension/snapping a bogie of the hull/you get the idea.

Anybody have any suggestions? Not counting childhood, this is only my second armor kit. I honestly don't see any way to use the rubbers without fear that they'll randomly snap in the display case. 

Injection tracks scare the bejesus out of me, but I do see that Friul makes a set of T51s...

Doggs,

Looking great! I have had the same issue with the rubberband tracks, I have used fishing line to tie them together and give them a little slack at times. If there are hidden it shouldn't matter if there is a gap.

Hercmech

Doggs,

Looking great! I have had the same issue with the rubberband tracks, I have used fishing line to tie them together and give them a little slack at times. If there are hidden it shouldn't matter if there is a gap.

Love the idea of the fishing line! I'd originally planned to say "meh!" and just leave a gap and glue the bastards down, figuring the upper hull skirting would obscure the problem.

Turns out...hard to make out from the pic above due to lighting, but the track teeth are totally visible along the upper run. Or...visible enough that a gap would be extremely noticeable.

Well, I've decided to pick up a set of Friul tracks - turns out the VVSS tracks actually aren't all that pricey, especially with the 20% discount at the LHS. Won't be in til next week, though, so work may slow down a bit on the Achilles until then.

     Just want to let you know that I've been following your build and I think it's great! I've recently gotten back into modeling and appreciate the tutorials and build-pointers that you and everyone else gives us. Thanks a lot! Can't wait for more!  

Chazzer(Scott)  

"Always keep it fun"

Chazzer

     Just want to let you know that I've been following your build and I think it's great! I've recently gotten back into modeling and appreciate the tutorials and build-pointers that you and everyone else gives us. Thanks a lot! Can't wait for more! 

Thanks man! That's a bit part of why I'm so thorough in my build reports - can't tell you the number of times I've come across an "expert" kit review that spends a ton of time talking about what's in the box, then brushes past the build in a sentence and says something like "I painted the kit with Tamiya acrylics". 

It's the travails of the build that interest me a lot more, so, while I'm by no means an expert, I do try to go in-depth to at least share my take on the build experience. Hopefully someone finds it useful!

Been awhile, but the friuls are finally underway! Have to say, these VVSS tracks are far more complicated than the friul sets I have for the KV-2, BT-7 and Panzer IV. Track links, plus the rubber pads that have to settle down on top. And to add to the fun, a small selection of links with angled connectors to go around the sprocket, idler, and forward and rear wheels. 

I'd post pics, but Photobucket has been down near on two days for me...

DoogsATX

I'd post pics, but Photobucket has been down near on two days for me...

Lame. 'Bucket's been down for me too but the message says it'll be back up some time today.

So at this point, it's just starting to get funny.

I've been under a good deal of mental strain lately (looking at jumping ship from my current job to take on a new opportunity, toddler deciding he no longer wants to sleep, ever, etc), so I figured a good, mindless night of assembling Friuls might be just what the doctor ordered.

Got several four-link section assembled. It's tedious, but easy. Toward the end of my evening bench time, I decided to do a test-fit.

And the tracks do...not...fit. They don't fit the drive sprocket teeth (which, since one is permanently affixed thanks to that solvent spill...would be very tough to address). What's more, they space between the track teeth is just a hair too narrow for the return rollers, and they don't fit down over them. 

This is around the time I started laughing.

In desperation, I pulled out my one intact rubber band T51 track, and, with a bit of coaxing, it fit perfectly. The other is still short, and still broken, but I'm wondering if I can't use some brass strips bent in place to kind of "clamp" the track together. Seems like it would be stronger and more durable than some of the other methods I've considered. Wouldn't be visible on the finished kit anyway, since all you see of the upper run are the teeth. 

Sorry to hear about your woes. I know how frustrating a toddeler can be...if you like that wait till they are teenagers.

Anyway I can see the brass idea working well. It would be much better than the old fishing line thing I have used.

I wish you the best and look forward to seeing this one finished.

Hercmech

Sorry to hear about your woes. I know how frustrating a toddeler can be...if you like that wait till they are teenagers.

Anyway I can see the brass idea working well. It would be much better than the old fishing line thing I have used.

I wish you the best and look forward to seeing this one finished.

Not really woes...well, except for the toddler. I swear we could tuck him in, read him a story, say goodnight, and he'd fall asleep fast. Then, seriously the day he turned three, he started getting out of bed the moment we left the room. Every single time. He comes and lies down at the top of the stairs and whispers. It kind of creeps me out.

The rest is just...I'm running on all cylinders. Really need a simpler build right now to calm things down a notch. I'm tempted to set the Pup aside for a week or so and play with the LaGG.

As for the brass...yeah, I feel the extra surface area would spread the load better than fishing line. Then it's just a matter of positioning it over a bogie where it'll never, ever been seen!

Doogs,

Although I do mostly German armor...I must say that you are doing a great build of the Achilles. I have done 1 AFV kit and it was a struggle. You sure have past the kits short-commings.

Very Nice!!

Taps88

Doogs,

Although I do mostly German armor...I must say that you are doing a great build of the Achilles. I have done 1 AFV kit and it was a struggle. You sure have past the kits short-commings.

Very Nice!!

Thanks man - I probably won't be building another AFV Club kit anytime soon...but it's been great to get out of comfort zone. Hopefully the weathering starts soon...

Tackled the track issue once and for all last night. I hope.

As a reminder...this stretch broke along a link, rather than the join. 

I didn't trust it's ability to hold under tension, so I figured out a way to reinforce it. 

My first idea was to use a piece of brass strip, but it was a bit too thick and didn't fit between the tread plates very well. So I used part of a PE fret and it worked beautifully.

If you hold things right, the brace is visible...

But from the side, it's invisible. And once it's painted it'll be moreso.

Glad you got the tracks together, looks like it is coming along now. I really had to look to see the brace on the kit. I think unless you told someone it was there it would go unnoticed.

I've been under a good deal of mental strain lately (looking at jumping ship from my current job to take on a new opportunity, toddler deciding he no longer wants to sleep, ever, etc), so I figured a good, mindless night of assembling Friuls might be just what the doctor ordered.

The toddler bit is just something they do.  Is this your 1st child?  Went through that with both mine.  They are 19 and 24 now and the headaches are WAY worse.  doing something like the Friuls to take your mind off things is the way to go.  It's doing things like that in this hobby that keeps me same.  6 years ago when I got back into he hobby I was working on 109 and forgot the open the lightening holes in the gear bays before I glued the wing halves together.  So I had to do it they hard way.  I set about doing it and when I looked at the clock expecting to see that it took about 20 minutes, it was just over and hour.  Forgetting about everything for that hour really made me feel good.

Great idea with the PE If you reposition that so it's over the bogie I would be there isn't a judge out there that would see it.

Looks like a great fix on the tracks, I can definitely relate to the "world upside down" feeling you've got. Between having to travel a good bit lately for work and trying to train a now 5-month old puppy, I feel your pain!

wing_nut

  Went through that with both mine.  They are 19 and 24 now and the headaches are WAY worse.  doing something like the Friuls to take your mind off things is the way to go.  

I have 4 from 20 to 16 and concur with that one

         DOUBLE DITTO! I've got 3: 24 yo son, 22 yo daughter and another daughter who is almost 19. It gets     crazy but WAY worth it! The Friuls are a great way to be in yer own zone, kinda like "me time". Still a great build and thanks for taking the time to   share it with us. "Share"? Isn't that a "chick word"? I'll take it back and say "thanks dude"!!.



Seriously,, Thanks a lot!!

Chazzer (Scot)
Keep it loose and HAVE FUN!!!

The latest. That 17-pounder is finally attached. Tracks are on. Weathering is about to get seriously underway!

Even with the set backs...she is coming together VERY well and I am excited to see what it looks like finished