Thanks guys! Maybe when I do the lite drybrushing that will make some difference on the wash? Jim, you’re correct about the wheels being steel, and the bumpers being rubber! I’ve still got some work to do in those areas, so, hopefully there will be some improvement there. What I did on the wheels was used the Floquil smokey black on rims, as well as the tracks, so they both need to be touched up with some steel! I know you guys have gotto be getting tired of looking at this beast, so I’ll not post anymore pics till she done. Once again thanks for the feedback. Semper Fi, mike
It’s looks great! Very nice progress. Look forward to more pictures.
Update: Threw rod on compressor a few days ago. New one should be here next week. Working on drive train at the moment.
I prefer heavier washes myself Mike, so like you said, it’ll soften up after drybrushing.
Mike, that wash looks fantastic! Looks like a really good balance to me. [:)]
looks good to me mike!
Mike, great job all around. I’m jealous after seeing your camo, considering I still think I screwed mine up!!
Well base coat is on (clap clap). Amazing how you spot the errors afterwards. My barrel looks like poo. Oh well, hopefully the camo will make up for it.
I was all excited, came down the stairs, stepped into the kitchen, saw a big mess that my daughter and her friend made with easybake cake crap and worse of all, my ceramic oventop was broken by a large object that fell on it. [banghead] Of course my daughter denied it at first, then slowly leaked details as I put 2 and 2 together. Argh!!! I was also happy, because I found a missing piece to my travel-lock. I now feel like a deflated balloon…ppfffftttttttt…
Well, Guess I’ll be the first to post finished product pics. My attempt to cover some of my inept camo painting went fairly well, as I oversrayed the lower portions with a dark brown and the upper with a misting of a dusty tan to simulate dust and dirt. It went on a little heavier than I intended but the final flat/future coat knocked it down a bit. The photos actually helped in that regard as well. Here they are (in miniature form, as usual - click on the link below for larger views):
My next project will be (GASP) a wingie thingy for the Midway Group Build, but I may start my halftrack and try some simultaneous building.
Thanks everyone for the help and Eric for getting it together.
Pete
You’re welcome Pete and thanks for participating. Looks like a nice all around build. Good job on the camo. Your zim turned out better than mine. You may want to post it in the forum, so more treadheads can enjoy it.
Now, get that cool badge from Dwight.
Eric…sorry to hear about your woes with the stove. That is a complete bummer!Hopefully, at least no one got burned!
I’ve been struggleing with my 1/72 tracks. I got one side on, but it’s not a pretty site. I think I should have gone with the vinyl tracks! [:(][banghead]
Great job, Pete. And now you can have the honor of being the first. Here’s the badge…wear it proudly.
dammit… major snag.
I am using the Friulmodel tracks with my Dragon 1/35 Elefant. The tracks are coming along nicely. The Friuls also came with metal sprockets that are very nice, but in order to use them you have to modify parts E5… since E5 has an axle and the sprockets have an axel. No biggie… I made the modifications, everthing fits nicely. I wanted to see what the Friuls would look like so I just did a little bit of dry fitting and guess what I discovered… the metal sprockets wont work with the Friul tracks!!! The teeth on the metal sprockets are spaced farther apart than the teeth holes on the track! what the heck!? I can only get about 5 teeth to line up and that’s it, looks like hell.
I snipped off one of the plastic sprocket pieces and tested them with the tracks and they work perfect. So… I am going to have to scrap the metal sprockets and use the plastic ones in the kit, but I will need to replace both of the E5 parts with new ones… crap… very discouraging.
Anyone know if I can order 2 of the E parts sprues from Dragon?
Other than that, the kit is coming along nicely… I think I need to take a break, grab a beer and watch some Military Channel… sigh [V]
Thanks for the kind words. Although I’m not completely happy with the camo job, I guess I’ll take it for a first time attempt. As far as the zim goes, the Cavalier was a dream. I wouldn’t hesitate to use it again or recommend it. Oh, and Eric, thanks for jinxing me. While moving the model around to photograph it, I knocked off one of the tow cable hooks and its now apparently lost forever!!![banghead][BH]
Ouch, Scott. That’s a real pain! Strange that Friul tracks wouldn’t line up with their own sprockets! What’s up with that?
Great job, Pete, but now that the tow hook is MIA, you gotta’ give the badge back until you "re"finish the Elefant.
I finally got the link and length track on both sides. It really looks like a piece of junk, but what are you gonna do. At least it’s there and glued down. I’m seriously thinking of masking off the lower hull and reshooting the top of the tank, though. I’m going to change my Pasche tip from a #3 to a #1 and see how much difference that makes.
Pete, great job. The camo turned out well. I really like the tow cable. I’ll be tring that also. It looks good.[tup]
Wow! Everybody is going through rough waters here in the last 24hrs.? Pete, I couldn’t blowup your last couple of pics, but it looks like your weathering really made quite a difference in your overall finish. You should be proud of the job you did it looks great.
Eric! when you mentioned the incident with your daughter, and the stove, it brought back flashbacks of my daughter, and the night she had half the damn kitchen on fire cooking something after her mother, and I had gone to bed! There’s still black stains on parts of the ceiling in the kitchen, and that happened about 15yrs ago. God if they only knew how quickly they age us! Bill! What can I say my friend! anytime someone is working with braille scale, they have my unconditional admiration, and respect for working in such a small scale, Especially when they’re and old guy like you! LOL.[oops]
Can’t believe I said that. Scott! thats a bummer to hear about your troubles with the friul sprockets, I’m not sure how to address that situation, but I do have a suggestion if you can’t get replacement parts for E5. Get some styrene sheet, say 020. and using a compass make two circles! one the inside diameter of the DML sprocket, and one the outside diameter of the DML sprocket. What you have created is the basic design of the hub you need to replace. You can glue the two pieces together, and then attach them to the DML sprocket, which can then be glued to the lower hull. Just use the radius of the hull where the hub attaches to the hull as your guide for getting your alignment. I wish I could explain myself better, but I hope you get the idea. It’s really a pretty simple fix if you think about what I’m trying to convey. Good luck either way, and if you want, I can make a drawing, and post it if it’ll help. Semper Fi, mike
About half done putting on pe Ive got a carpet about the same color as the parts spent more time on hands and knees than actual building ill try to post a pic next day or so
whew, and i thought i had issues with my panzerIV tracks not lining up with the drive sprockets, sorry to hear about the mia towhook, from what ive seen, i know what im building next .
I am using the Fruil tracks and have not found a problem with the fit on the drive sprockets. I have not mounted the yet ( OK, I work slow and I have not had a lot of time at home to work on it. If my wife thought that I had an Elefant in the cellar she would think I was crazy! She thought I was when I said I had a Maus on my bench. LOL!)
I am going to drill out the shaft on the DML hub for the front idler and then adjust the position to get the proper sag of the track. That should be touching roadwheels three, four and five? Or a bit more, like they have stretched. I have also made sure that I have two links with the guide horns next to one another. That was something I never saw in any of the line drawings, but have noticed in a number of pictures in my reference books.
Does anyone have a drawing of what is under the floor in the fighting compartment? The engine was moved to the center of the vehicle, so what was between the driver’s compartment and the engine compartment on the Ferdinand/Elefants? I am building a Berge-Elefant and the structure seems rather small. Since they did not have a winch in there maybe it was just for a crew member to man the MG and jump out to hook up the tow cables and hold some spare parts for field repairs.
Make about 20 links put together and then just test fit it around the sprocket. You’ll get maybe 5 or 6 teeth to go in then it’s so far out of alignment that 2 of the teeth will be between 3 holes, then it gets lined up for the rest of it. If you match up a metal sprocket with one of the plastic kit sprockets you’ll see the diameter and teeth spacing is just a bit larger on the metal ones.
If you don’t have that problem then they must of sent me the wrong sprockets somehow, but they do fit on the tank after you remove the axel shafts.