You say you eather want the tank brand-new out of the factory, or a few weeks out of the facory. It was never stated wether or not you wanted it out of the factory as soon as it got painted and was ready for war, or if you wanted it to come out of a bombed-out factory re-discovered 10- 60+ years after the war.
I’m not real sure how you will take this, but it’s logical. The tank will still be “brand new” because it never left the factory, yet it’ll be as rusty as you want because it would have been exposed to wether comming in from a failing roof from a building that’s comming down slowly after it’s abandonment.
You could also do a tank that was knocked-out of action a week after it left the factory gates. There is an article by The Doog (Karl Logan) on the subject a while back on how to model a blowb-up tank. All you would need to do is paint it only with rust if you just wanted a fire insted of an explosion.
It’s food for thought, and my take on it. It just depends on what you think will work.
I’m going to go with the ‘used but not heavily abused’ look. Some pigment, some rust, light chipping etc. I like rust and pinwashes but I’ll be keeping the washes to a minimum as I want a fairly ‘bright’ tank with the factory cammo which I’m planning on. I don’t want to kill the cammo with washes like I did with the Panther.
Anyway, onto the build: I’d got all the pieces prepped and cleaned up ready for fitting onto the rear deck and the Armorscale barrel and mantlet assembled and mounted. Just when I was going to get all the rear deck items fitted half the family turned up so I’ve had to leave the build for today but at least all the parts are ready to be droped straight on tomorrow.
The Armorscale barrel and mantlet was a real PITA. Being particularly long the barrel does weigh a fair whack and normal CA just wouldn’t hold the metal to the resin or the resin to the plastic? So, I mixed up some Araldite Epoxy, fitted it all and the barrel is now resting on a perfectly placed banana whilst it cures 100% overnight! Looking at the armorscale instructions it seems that they had intended for the rear of the mantlet to be attached to the breech inside the build to alow the barrel to be moved but no way would the weight of that barrel allow it to be positioned as you like it so I’ve mounted it as I like it and it will stay that way.
The periscopes are also in place and the basic build will be completed by this time tomorrow (excluding wheels, Shurzen and tools). The Commander figure is surprisingly well detailed for a Tamiya offering so I might use him-not decided yet. I can’t get any base coat down until the PE grill set is in stock at the LHS - I’ve been promised it will be arriving with the delivery next week.
Here she is so far…
Thanks for looking guys, sorry there isn’t more to show you but she’ll be looking good tomorrow!
A bit of dust, the odd spill mark by the filler caps and the start of oxidisation on the spare track links but that’s it! It might turn into a battered hulk knowing me but I’d prefer something a little less damaged and weathered this time.
Hopefully I’ll actually get some serious build time in tomorrow and get her sorted. At least the AM barrel is sitting ok now but normal CA just wouldn’t have it! Araldite is the strongest stuff I know of. My usual CA’s just hated the metal to resin?
( Gorilla Glue may work. It’s basically CA that dries in about 2 hours, gluing everything and anything it comes into contact with together)
You are a lot more wethering conseous when it comes to wethering a model. I just pile in untill it looks ready to roll over and die, with rust on every surface (It works out great for junkyard dioramas, though)
I actually do have Gorilla Glue in my Dad’s workshop but it’s the brown glue that doubles in size like expanding foam as it dries, not the normal stuff! It caught me out on my very first model that stuff and caused havoc! [:(((]
It’s holding fine now and looks lovely. Apart from my StuG A which has the very short Armorscale Barrel/mantlet this is the first time I’ve used a full length big AM Alloy barrel - will this monster barrel need priming with metal primer before painting or will my normal plastic primer do the job?
I’m looking at my Gorilla Glue now. I’ve seen clear GG in the shops and hardware stores but on the back of my brown colour GG it says:…
“NOTE: After clamping, glue will foam and expand in volume 3-4 times over the next hour so be careful of ‘squeeze out’ on finished furniture. DO NOT OVER APPLY GLUE”
Does your GG say that? Perhaps you have different stuff over there? Trust me, I’ve seen it foam and when it foams that’s it - a pretty big mess is the result!
Well, she’s taking shape and quickly too! There’s nothing to this build!
I’ve gone as far as I can with the basic build as I need my PE grills for the rear deck so I can prime her and carry on. All the other bits are all sorted and good to go.
I’m going to go with the figure which is why I’ve left the front hatch open. the periscopes are held in place with Blu-Tack so I’m going to fir the periscope covers, paint the periscopes after spraying and then fit them from beneath-I won’t be able to paint them properly if I fit them now with the covers on too.
As there is no interior I’ll spray her with the the big hatch at the rear of the superstucture closed and I’ll probably pose it open just a little bit. The inside will be sprayed black so the interior isn’t an issue anyway.
Next weekend I’ll fit a wire to the Forward light on the Fender & (assuming I’ve got the PE set) I’ll prime and then base coat the vehicle. For ease of painting and weathering I’ll leave glueing the upper and lower hull pieces until last as with the Schurzen fitted getting the tacks and road wheels on won’t be easy! The tools & jack will be painted separately and fitted after the cammo has been laid to give some contrast.
Here she is-not bad so far but it’s early days yet!
As for the Gorilla Glue, Yes, it does say that on my bottle of the stuff. However, I have never had problems with it.
Have you tried applying it without water? That’s what I do when I have a finished surface, and don’t need foam all over. It doesn’t stop it completely, but the lack of water makes the foam stay at less than1-2 times over.
I hope this helps. I’ve never used the clear stuff before. Mabe we out to research it.
Actually the Panther you did was Dragon and is a bit more detailed than the Tamiya JagdPanther and thus is in a different league all together. But it does lack the tricks that the Tamiya Panther and JagdPanther have with the ability to actually display an engine in it which is sold seperatly by Tamiya basically build the engine install it in the engine bay and boom your set since you take less time with that than a resin engine. I did bite the bullet though and bought the Verlinden JagdPanther interior (for Tamiya JagdPanther) CMK Panther interior for the Tamiya Panther G Griffon OVM tool rack set with the preformed brass gun rod tube and the Griffon Panther Shurzen set. Since I have the Panther G in my room and the JagdPanther is in the storage shed I’ll just use the Griffon sets on the Panther G and if they look good I’ll buy another set for the JagdPanther.
I know the Panther G was Dragon Mike, I had to pay for it! Not a cheap kit!
There is a step in the Tamiya build guide where it asks you to stop & to fit the engine. I’m not too fussed with interiors yet, I’m still working on my exterior skills.
Like I say, this one was a very cheap and older kit (1996) but like most Tamiya stuff has just fallen together. I really want to see what I can do with my AB more than anything.
I sat down after lunch to make a start on the JP. I fitted the periscope hoods and side rails and put some Mr Surfacer on the rear exhaust dampers to hide the nasty seam and to also give a bit of texture to the exhaust surface. I also made a short run of wire for the front fender lamp.
I had got two nice layers of primer down on the JP when my modelling buddy John turned up so that knocked any further work on the head that I had planned for today as I’m off out for a couple of beers tonight!
Anyway, she’s primed and ready to go so tomorrow I’ll be AB’ing the NATO Green base coat and hand painting some of the tools and accessories.
I’m working from home tomorrow (covering the company mobile) so I’ll probably have the odd quick phone call to answer to interrupt me but if the base coat is down by the end of the day then I’ll be happy.
I’ve got the weekend to myself next week so I’ll be thinking about cammo schemes during the week!
The PE grilles for the rear deck are on back order with my LHS. I’ve tried a couple of on-line stores that I regularly use too but they both have these PE sets on back order too! Why on earth Tamiya don’t supply them with the kit I don’t know? Oh, yes I do: because they know people like me will want to spend the extra £5 odd to get the PE set! Mumble [:S]
John bough a couple of his small scale builds round (that’s all he does and probably knocks out two and a half builds per year they are that detailed - both won Gold at recent shows in the 1/72nd category, my God are they awesome!
My JP ready for basecoat tomorrow…
Here are Johns two latest builds btw (As an idea of scale the barrel on my JP is no longer than the bases of these)…
Dragon 1/76 Sherman Firefly:
1/72 Italeri PanzerjagerNashorn on Scratchbuilt rail carriage base:
Looking good Ben! Only recommendations I would make would be to drill out the face of the gunner’s sight since Tamiya molded that solid. Also can’t tell if you drilled out the hull MG muzzle, if you didn’t that’s another area that you could add a bit of realism to before you paint. [B]
I did actually say to myself on originally cutting that item from the sprue that I’ll need to open the flat face of that sight-and promptly forgot! I’ll get that sorted tomorrow with a small drill but I don’t have the quipment for drilling out super small diameter items like MG barrels. I could open the end up with a small pointed new scalpel blade though-just stick it in the centre and gently twist to open the bore out a bit? If I drybrushed a bit of metallic grey over the opened out end when it’s been painted black/gun metal that should work shouldn’t it?
I did that on my 1/48 Flakpanzer and it turned out well.
I really should sort a pin vice and associated equipment.
If you’re careful with the scalpel that should do the trick! When you get the chance, you should invest in a set of micro-drill bits and/or finger drills. They come in very handy as tools go and are relatively inexpensive. Something like this and a pin vise will do wonders! http://www.micromark.com/20-PIECE-DRILL-BIT-SET-WITH-PLASTIC-INDEX-61-80,7050.html
I’ve just looked in my UK ‘Expo’ catalogue a the same sort of stuff - a lot cheaper than I was expecting.
I had a picture in my head of what a pin vice would look like and - I was very wrong!
I’m really regretting volunteering my services for the Sunday shift today (2pm - 10pm) but I’ll be working from home so I’ll be able to AB inbetween the odd call. What usually happens is I start spraying and the phone ring - every time. I’m sure the customers do it just to wind me up [:(]
