OK I started my kit last night (12/20) to officially kick off the build.
I figured that assembling the lower and side hull pieces would still allow painting, yet bypass having to mask or scrape paint off the mating edges. Ejector pin marks will be out of sight once all the seats and accessories are fixed in place.
Fit is pretty good, which is a relief, as the hull is made up from “flat pack” panels and the edges have to mate perfectly to avoid losing the raised detail (nails?).
Looks like you’re off to a good start! Does the kit come with figures?
TJS
Tom,
It comes with these two guys from Miniart:
The two just invite a caption contest. Like the guy on the right could be thinking “Yeah, right. We ARE lost!” Amusingly, although the instructions give part numbers for them, the sprues have none.
Trumpeter’s kit of the same subject has a pair of guys seated and ready to go.
Yeah, I made the Trumpeter kit this year and the figures in your kit are better. The front gunner’s hands won’t reach the machine gun and the driver looks like a hunchback. Good luck with the rest of the build and Happy Holidays!
TJS
Looks cool G!!!
It would take a couple of bottles of vodka before I let anyone strap me in that crazy thing…
I wonder how well it steered, given the long skis? Probably like a WW II log. [:P]
I stuck the delicate suspension arms on last night. The skis will remain loose until after painting and weathering.
It is super fragile now! I’ll cobble together a jig to set the ski alignment.
Love it!
Good work so far, RealG!
Wow, yeah fragile enough I’d be tempted to perma-mount the thing on a base after you finish so she doesn’t get handled much.
Gamera,
Yeah, the ski attachment points are fragile, as are the suspension arms, so a base would seem to make sense. The skis have raised runners on their bottoms, so getting the skis nice and straight is tricky. To solve the problem, I cobbled together a simple jig so help align the skis:
The triangle on the jig indicates the front - I discovered the front and rear skis have very slightly different track widths.
Ivan and Sergey discuss the upcoming painting process.
I think Ivan’s head will need to be repositioned - he’s not looking at Sergey! Fit of the figures is 1970’s terrible.
I am stuck at home this week because a coworker came down with COVID and might have given it to me. The PCR test has not come back yet due to a backlog, but I was down with flu-like symptoms since Monday. Feeling better now, but still achy and with a sore throat.
BUT! [:D] That means I could work on fun stuff. Well, at least between naps. I made some progress and will post some piccies tonight after I drag out my sister’s old laptop (Flickr is smartphone-unfriendly).
Yuck, hope you’re feeling better soon G!
Thanks Gamera!
Oops, sis took her laptop to her apt it seems. [:(]
Thats a realy cool looking kit. I will be watching to see how it comes out.
Thank you for tuning in guys. My work computer is now set up at home so I’m back in business!
The kit propeller is… um… backwards. That is, the trailing edge is fatter than the leading edge, and the camber is on the front side. [6] To fix the boo-boo, I removed the hub detail and mounting shaft, and flipped them around. Problem solved.
I took a quick look at Trumpeter’s larger armored aerosan and IT HAS THE SAME PROBLEM. What the heck?! At least the Trumpy kit has a separate PE hub.
So I then pre-painted the hard to reach areas black and stuck on the remaining detail bits.
And then a blast of rattle can black primer.
A bout of COVID has slowed me down, but progress is being made.
As an aside, a friend gave me a full set of paint brushes for Christmas. So I used a couple to paint the insides of the model. What I have recently learned was that in the past I was putting too little paint on the brush. I used Testor’s Black Chrome Trim (because I ran out of my favorite Testos paint pen), a paint I never had any success hand brushing. By keeping the brush loaded with paint and properly moistened with thinner, I was able to get good results. Lesson learned.
Cool little kit you got here G. Hope you feel better.
Any more updates? Also is that kit still available? I may try to make an rc version of that.
You’re making great progress on the little Aerosan! I love that “jig” you made to keep the skis in alignment. I knew a guy who was a good friend, a model mentor, and a master model builder and he made jigs for everything that he built, from railroad cars to WWI fighter planes. Seeing your jig brought back many good memories of him.
TJS
Lurch, I don’t think the kit is available anymore, but Trumpeter makes one that should be around. DML had a 1/6 pre-assembled aerosan for their action figures. It was cool, but I only have one Soviet tanker guy, so I passed.
Tom, I have been trying to get out the airbrush, but work and COVID after-effects make it tough. By the end of the day I’m too pooped to do anything. I’ll try again tonite.
That’s really a sharp little build,looking good.
Firstly, look after yourself & do whatever’s needed to get well.
Secondly, that’s a great-looking model, more delicate than I’d have thought, and those figures look about ready to talk[:D] I like the custom-built jig, too!