[:O]I will never curse MK tracks again.
Your a brave man Mr Logan.
Look forward to your build on this vehicle. I too have no clue about it, eccept for what you have writen. I to have fallen for the resin kit once. My Merkava IIID, didn’t have the resin tracks, thank god, but all the road wheels were. The dust mask came in handy for that adventure. I looked like I was 100. My hair was white. Why I bought another resin update, I don’t know. It is for the magach 7c. But I will be watching how you handle the tracks. Also how the weathering and colors come out will be something special, I am sure.
Nice to have you back from the car scene.
With any serious sanding of resin parts, I have a shop vac running to draw the dust “away” from my face! That dust is also bad for your eyes too.
Hi guys–well, here’s the first hull update. here’s how the hulls join;
The kit hull joins flawleesy:
…but the Modelhaus hull leaves a small gap:
You have to clip about 2mm off of this part:
…and she’za bee-YOO-tiful! [:P]
So, here’s the two hulls again, side-by-side before assembly:
And with all common parts assembled, excluding ones I’ll need to complete the hull; the Revell hull has been given a coat of primer gray for sake of comparison.
The improvements of the Modelhaus hull are as follow:
- Better mantlet definition
- more correct shape of mantlet–the Revell one is too bulbous and the collar around the gun mount too pronounced, as well as the MG ports looking overscale.
- better scale fidelity on periscopes–the Revell hatches are completely unsuited for being posed open, as they are portrayed as only single-layer
Here’s the mantlets:
And the hatches:
Here’s the Modelhaus hull so far with the gun, which is the Revell piece with about 50 minutes of careful sanding and filing to clean up–man, I would have gotten a metal barrel for this kit, with the tricky job it was to get it looking repectable. Of course, there will be one released after I finish this kit!
That’s it so far… I’ll be working on the lower hull next, and then those dreaded tracks! Wish me luck! [:D]
Thanks Karl for the side-by-side. The mantlet tells the whole story, huh.
Actually, Jeff, what I was most disappointed in was the lack of accuracy in the hatches. The single-layer error is a real bummer if you’d want to put in a figure set.
The mantlet is more scale-accurate than the Revell one for sure, but also looks a bit "squashed flat on top for me; I may actually sand it a little to make it more smooth in the transition curve?
being as this kit is based on the M47/M48 hull; why not just opt for a better set of aftermarket tracks? I know that AFV makes them, and also think that Friul does as well.
gary
Looks awsome, Doog… And by the way, that gun barrel looks all done to me… Finish painted and weatherd… really, it does… [:D]
Well. it’s not that they’re bad tracks, Gary; they’ll just be a bit tedious to do…but I’ve already spent the money on them, so I’ll make the best of 'em. Besides, the vehicle itself as far as I know was NOT based on the M47/48–just the gun is the same calibre.
Do you have documentation of that claim? I’d love to have that info, if it was! As far as I know however, the tracks are an entirely independent creation from the M47/48 series.
Thanks, Huxy! That would be a bit too weathered for any tank, IMO, the way it looks there, but at least it looks presentable; ie, without any seams now…[:D]
I no little if anything about this track, but I thought I read somewhere that it was based on the M 47 hull. The running gear sure looks like it right off an M47/M48 tank. And remember the NATO standardization thing.
gary
Hey Doog. Looking Good!
Maybe it’s just me, but the Xenon light box(?) on the gun trunnion for the Revell kit looks better detailed than the Modelhaus.
Serious project, those tracks. They kind of look like Leo 1 tracks, maybe? Interested to see a one-color paint job from the doog, very interested…
Well Karl, This one i want to see. Its a very interesting subject.
Terry.
The Jagdpanzer Kanone, Jagdpanzer Rakete and the Marder I were all in the same family built by Rheinmetall Landsysteme which Rheinstahl was the prime contractor.
Well, guys, here’s the next big update:
I jave assembled all the components in these next three photos.The sides had to be putty’ed and sanded, as there are no seams on the real vehicles.
I decided to build periscopes rather than use the kit parts, as the kit parts are simplistic; the perisciopes and guards are molded as one unit–cheesy. So I used .040 X .060 strip to form periscope guards, and .040 X .100 for the periscopes themselves. Here’s the comparision.
The wheels have no detail on the back–I don’t know if that’s correct or not. I leave them on the sprue, glued togethe, for ease of painting.
I also started on the tracks. The good news–they were a cinch to remove. Just snap the bar off next to the link, here…
… and then you can snap off the link cleanly–wouldn’t you know for the photo that I didn’t get a clean snap! [V] (99% of them come off clean though.)
And what you’re left with–the remains of the bars, and the links. It takes 92 links per side for the track runs, and the little open guides are quite fragile–at least one of them is broken on every bar of tracks. You can see the broken guides on thelid of the plastic container. Yes, I eventually reattached each one of those little half-circles with super glue and my Optivisor!
I put a solder wire lead into the searchlight…
and gave the whole thing an undercoat of Tamiya Khaki Drab + Olive Drab + Black.
…then a sloppy coat of pure Olive Drab…
…and then, the coat that “counts” --the highlight “post-shading”, of Olive Drab + Dark Yellow + White. I accentuate the insides of all panels; weathering will tone down the sharp contrast somewhat later. Hee it is with the wheels added. The tools are not yet added.
All in all, I have to say that the kit’s quality is less than I would have liked. The moldings are somewhat heavy, and the tools especially are clunky-looking. The Modelhaus hull really dresses it up a bit more to acceptable standard. The kit’s parts–especially the hatches and mantlet—are consistent with the rest of the inferior molding,but the Modelhaus hatches are thankfully correct.
Another modeler who built this kit said that he felt that this was just like an old Italeri kit, quality-wise; I must concur with that assessmnet. I am grateful still, for the release of a kit I’ve wanted for a looong time! [:D]
Well, now on to the tracks…[:-^]…they have to be cleaned up a bit, and then I’ll have to figure out how to best assemble and paint them…stay tuned, as well, for the doog’s decal tutorial! [:D]
Comments and questions welcomed!
Doog, This is one “RAD” build! Too cool for words, it looks like you took on a challenge with this kit. But if it’s the only game in town your the man to do it.[tup][tup][tup]
The paint and shading are fantastic man, can’t wait for the next episode!
Karl - Looking great, love the OD shading
Rounds Complete!!
Great start doog! I haven’t looked at my kit yet but those mirrors are really too big compared to the real thing.
Looks awsome! I want those airbrush skills too! [:D]
As said, too cool for words.