Everyone probably knows by now that I’m new to the hobby. That said, I thought I’d post some pics of my Italeri 1/35 Demag D7 with Flak 38 w.i.p. I’m very much winging it with the help of the wealth of information found in these forums. Any and all comments are welcome.
The first thing you will notice is the fact that I really didn’t have a good plan when it came to getting parts primered and painted in an order that would provide for the most efficient assembly.
I had purchased this particular kit for my son a while back. He tinkered with it for like 37.5 seconds before losing interest - and the shifter column, shifter levers and knobs noted in this photo. As such, I was left to scratch build replacement parts. It didn’t turn out tooo badly, but the only means I could come up with for the knobs was to roll some half-dried putty into balls. It appears I may not have gotten them down to scale, as they look like billiard balls on the end of the shifter levers.
Lastly, the windshield hinges went together a bit too tightly, causing me to snap the windshield assembly in half when trying to squeeze it into place. This last image shows the result of my repair. I’m not thrilled with it, but I’m hoping I can minimize any detraction it might have from the overall look once the kit is finished.
Wow, looks like you are off to a great start. You said it…lose the goofy balls on the shift knobs, but otherwise, looks really cool already, …can’t wait till you get that Flak gun in there…nice work
Great start! Here’s a real easy way to make all kind of small size knob. Take a bit of solder and but it on a flat piece of aluminum plate. You just have to heat up under it with a lighter, and the solder should form a ball with a small flat side for you to glue on the stick. [;)]
You guys are right. I’m not gonna be happy with it unless I come up with a better solution for those shifter knobs. I may try the solder tip. Thanks Jean-Michel.
How about dressmakers pins? They come in a variety of sizes and you already have the handle, which is close to scale as it is. yes the primer looks pink in the photo’s. No worries though, since the plastic is close to what the base color will be anyway.
Hey Rich, the idea Kykeon gave you works the same with stretched sprue also. Just stretch the sprue to the thickness you want and then hold one end close to a candle. Not too close, just enough to get the sprue to melt. It will start to form a nice ball on the end.
Or maybe you could go with what you have. On top of the knobs just paint small white circles with a little number 8 in them.[swg]. You could your Demag ‘The Eightball’…LOL.[(-D]
white glue, gesso, fabric paint, dimensional paint, all work great for making shifter knobs.
Cut your wire and bend to shape. Take your knob end and dip it into the glue and pull up. The surface tension will cause it to ball up. Let it dry (I suspend them from a piece of foam or “extra hands”) and either let them air dry or you can use a hair dryer to speed the process. Successive dippings will increase the diameter of the knob till you get the size you are looking for. Once they are dry, paint to suit.
Yep, it do look pink - think it’s a combination of the film you used and the type of lights you were photagraphing under - were they florescent lights?
I was some sort of “true light” standard 60W incandescent bulb - Sylvania, I think. The camera is an Olympus 4MP digital. I’m guessing that the various resizing and conversion to .JPG format caused it somehow, but I didn’t notice it until I linked them from PhotoBucket. /shrug
I forgot to mention that it does look good so far. Nice, clean construction, from what I’m seeing in the pics. Oh, and don’t worry too much about broken pieces, as long as you can fix them. Those little tiny snap lines won’t show much once it’s painted and weathered.
