Bill the detail on the gun mechanism is an armor builders dream . Those zim pannels are fitting very well .[Y]
Bill - Nice small detail work. Zim is looking good. Hopefully the battle damage of the battle of the bitch can be repaired!!
Rounds Complete!!
Wow Bill, the Brummbar is really coming together nicely! Can’ t say enough good things about that Atak zim! Your exceptional skills, of course, make it look easy!
Sounds like a few mousetraps hidden in this one, you are overcoming them quite well. It’s a great thing for you to be sharing all this with the rest of us.
Seemingly zipping through this one Bill. Gun and case mate look great.
WOW! You are definitely on roll here. The Zimm just looks great!!! [Y] Do we really have to wait until next Sunday for an update? LOL
Yeah Bill I had to spend a lot of time getting the ball down where it belonged. I had to remove much material on the inside first, little by little, a real pain.
Good progress made otherwise Tex.[Y]
Tony lee
Carl,
Have to agree, Dragon did a fine job with the gun details. Most of it is on the non-hatch side so once installed most of it isn’t visible but I could see it being used in say a field-repair scenario for a dio or similar.
Mike, thanks as always for the comments! [B]
Ernest, glad you like how it’s coming together! The Atak zim (like anything AM) is never 100% and some adjustments are always needed here and there…for example on the left side superstructure angled panel, one of the openings for the schurzen braces was missing and I had to do a little surgical work there to correct it. Still beats having to putty and texture everything yourself IMHO! [;)]
Mark, my pleasure to share the good and bad when it comes to a kit…even if it might have been partially self-inflicted! Anything that helps someone else enjoy their build a little better. Thanks for the comments! [B]
Eric, so far I’ve been able to keep up a fairly good pace with it since it’s in the building stages. Things will have to slow down a bit once painting and weathering starts but I’m doing my best to keep to a regular schedule with this one. Fingers crossed!
Andy, yes unfortunately, you do have to wait until Sunday…unless something unusual happens mid-week and a window of opportunity opens up. [;)]
Thanks Tony, we must’ve been posting at the same time! Glad to hear I’m not the only one who had trouble with the gun. [;)]
Great photo of the barrel, looking foward to seeing this painted!
Thanks Steve, glad to have you along for the ride! [B]
The Memorial Day weekend just happens to coincide with the completion of my latest MBA class so in celebration I’m posting an update a day earlier than usual because this is as far as I’m going to get this weekend!
Work continued on the fighting compartment roof as called out in Step 10. All of the hatches were installed in the closed position with the exception of the commander’s “rabbit ears” scope hatch. I installed the base for the scope to the roof plate and will add the scope itself later after painting since a test fit revealed I could easily install it through the opening without problems. The plate was attached to the vehicle first and then the hatches and details added to avoid any complications with the fit. The gunner’s sight and the driver’s periscopes were masked with small amounts of blue tack putty to keep their faces clear during painting and small amounts of Steel painted on their rear faces to provide a little reflective color.
I also paid a little more attention to the ball mount collar…I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the fit/gap look around the edge so I used some of the thin resin carrier film from the Atak set and some CA gel to add some strips around the curved portion to tighten things up a bit. Careful trimming with the tip of a #11 blade removed the excess and a little bit of sanding to make sure it was flush was all that was needed to improve it to my satisfaction.
With that done, it was a case of going through the various steps in the instructions and looking for details that needed to be installed before painting and cleaning up the stuff that had been temporarily skipped. I used the kit-supplied PE to add the rear superstructure scalloped braces, installed the fire extinguisher, the rear Notek light, and the rear side tool box. The antenna mounts had their bases drilled out with a #76 finger drill to prep them for the installation of brass antennae later on. I also surgically removed the spare wheel portions from the original kit rear engine deck plate and transplanted them to the Atak plate and added the rest of the mounts with CA gel.
The front fender details also received some attention. The front Bosch light was assembled and installed with some 0.5mm solder added to create the missing wiring conduit. The jack was also assembled and installed into position to round things out. The other fender tools and details will be added later after the hull base coat is applied.
The reason this is where the update stops for this weekend is due to the fact that the next step is the MK track assembly. That’s a somewhat repetitive task and won’t get done this weekend so there’s no point in holding off as a result. Once the tracks are done it will be on to the painting stages!
A day early? WOW! Life is really good! It is really looking GREAT! Can’t wait to see it primed and painted soon after you are done with the tracks. Have fun with those MK tracks!
I neglected to ask you where do you usually buy Atak Zimm sets from… thanks! [B]
Hi Bill : )
Congrats on your continuing higher education, of course the Bear looks great and I must say it is unusual for your builds to have so much as a ’ hiccup’ but great recovery and have a great week end !
tread[H]
That zimm sure looks good Bill .[Y]
awesome work Bill!! i have the hole Family of Brummbars Early Tristar. and mid & late Dragons none with Zim. i like Atak zim, looks better than Zim added to the kit. just looking at your’s tells the hole story why. again AWESOME.
Clay
I have the Early Tristar kit too. Looks busy and even a little intimidating.
Moving along nicely…the zimm work looks like it has the vehicle pants on and a vest.
As much as you can, enjoy the weekend…
Rounds Complete!!
Andy, thanks as always! MK tracks are always a milestone with any build. They are worth the effort IMHO but kind of hard to show progress while they are getting assembled. I don’t buy a lot of zim sets due to not building very many vehicles that require it, but when I do I usually buy from Atak direct or through Jadar Hobbies in Poland. HTH!
Tread, thank you kindly sir! The MBA program is moving along, only 7 classes to go, so getting near the mid-point. It’s been a while since I encountered a problem of this magnitude in a build but they do happen from time to time. I always try to report them as honestly as possible when encountered, fortunately this one wasn’t a show-stopper! [;)]
Carl, thanks!
Clay, appreciate the comments, sounds like you’ve got the makings of a full line-up similar to what Tony has going on with the Jagdpanzer IV family.
Mike, that’s a good analogy, I like it! All that’s missing is a tie around the ball mount. [:D] I’m enjoying the weekend and setting some time aside for relaxation…in between reading 4 chapters on Economics that is! [:P]
Dealing with the track assembly is always a time-consuming and repetitive exercise but the payoff comes in the end in terms of flexibility with the weathering and other finishing steps, so it’s worth it. The MK set assembles fairly straightforward, just a matter of removing the links from their sprues, cleaning up the attachment points, and using the supplied jig to assemble the runs. The set includes 2 jigs, so it’s possible to work on two sections of 8 links at a time which allows the glue to set up on the pins and guide horns but not cause an interruption in the process. The pins come with their own handles which simply twist off while the guide horn handles need to be removed with sprue cutters and the attachment point cleaned up a bit with a sharp blade tip.
The set recommends 99-100 links for a Pz IV family vehicle but I stopped at 96 links to allow for flexibility when the time comes to install the tracks onto the suspension and will add the extra links needed at that stage. So 192 links, 192 guide horns, and 380 track pins later, the runs are done!
Next up will be painting the exterior and moving on to the remaining details.