Years ago I was in with a group of war gamers who built motorized 1/35 Tamiya kits, either American or German.
These games basically came down to which side would over run the positions of the others. Starting at maximum pellet gun range, the tanks advanced one side at a time so that the opposing engineers would be able to clear the range.
This all involved a several-day camp out on the desert.
I helped build, armor and engineer the AFVs but certainly never was in the game.
Heh heh, fun stories all! Weren’t motorized models so cool?
Back at the M41, I noticed the separately molded guards for the commander’s and gunner’s forward facing periscopes were really thick, which impeded fit. Woody points out the culprits.
The parts had their edges beveled to “cheat”.
Woody also poined out that the left exhaust fouled the body, so a small notch was cut into the exhaust backplate to allow it to slip in place.
And the dreary work of cleaning up the road wheels has been done.
Despite only having a few wheels compared to a Tiger or LVTP5 (or Objekt 279!), I’d forgot how boring the work was.
I’d better continue work on Woody too, as he lacks legs at the moment. [:O]
Those periscope covers are a perfect place for weld beads. In reference pictures there are double stacked welds along the sides.
Good for you. My kind of post.
Quite innovative and entertaining.
Welds! So much fun on this build. A few pictures for reference if you care to go for it.
That build gave me a TON of weld beads practice. I’ve gotten pretty good at them since lol.
I nominate Woody for “Presenter of the Year”.
And Mike, yeah, I did a LOT of weld beads on mine too, along with quite a bit of texturing.
Funny, I’m getting a bit nostalgic for an old Tamiya build, even though I probably do two or three a year.
I noticed the weld beads alright. Looks great with those tracks you added to yours.
True that!
Here’s my alltime favorite
and this one
I plan some day to crack out the Willys Jeep and do a '50’s era “Follow Me” truck painted bright red with a checkered flag on the rear bumper.
My all-time fav Tamiya armor kit is the Chieftain Mk5-ish, followed by the M113, 8-Ton Halftrack w/ 20 mm Flakvierling, and the T-34/76 1942 Model. The last one gets my vote for “Most Accessories Included In A Tamiya Kit”.
GM, I’m sure the 1943 model came with the same load of fun bits yeah? When I opened my kit, my brain almost overflowed seeing all that extra stuff in the box! I think the only other time I remember feeling that way was when Revell came out with their first 1/72 F-16 in the red/white/blue prototype scheme. I filled all the pylons with tanks and bombs, and STILL had ordnance left over. Heady days.
After mowing the lawn, I think I’ll switch on the A/C and continue the build. Woodie too, as it is awkward holding him in place while trying to take photos! I’d better check his boots for snakes. [:P]
Nice work on the weld seams!
Now I’m picturing Woody wearing a mask and handling a welding rig…
Or maybe he’ll just get Buzz, I’m sure his helmet can dim and he can probably laser-weld as well.
Gamera, ha ha, yeah I didn’t think about a welding rig for Woody! Buzz is still in hypersleep in his box, but will be activated at an appropriate time. [:P]
I got some work on the M41 over the weekend. I gotta say it’s refreshing to work on a kit with so few parts!
I almost felt like I had forgotten to add something to the hull. The gun crutch would not snap into its socket, so I bevelled its locator pins to allow it to be carefully jammed into place. Amazingly, it stays in place and still moves.
Since I wanted to use as much of the kit as possible, I started thinning the headlight guards.
The result is nowhere near P/E and more time consuming, but the hard work is rewarding.
I gave Woody the day off after I sent a tow hook flying off to the ether. It was just slightly misaligned, so I tried bending it. It was really glued in good, but suddenly snapped off. Gaaah, now I have to scratch a replacement.
I guess I have no excuses to not crack on with the build, as the AFV Club plastic tracks I ordered arrived minutes ago!
I just hope they fit the Tamiya sprockets…
And I just noticed the track pads are molded from a soft material - vinyl? If so, I hope the tracks are ABS not styrene. I have never had any success with vinyl parts on styrene.
Those are interesting looking tracks. So each link comes with two parts that sandwich pins to hold them together?
Gamera, I think the tracks snap together and the rubber shoes glue on afterwards. I’ll take a closer look tonite.
OK the tracks definitely snap together. I tried a few links to see how it would go, and before I knew it, I had two full runs of track! The links are loose in the bag, and once you develop a rhythm, assembly goes pretty fast. Pics tomorrow!
Good to hear! The snap tracks are as you said super easy to assemble. The sandwich types are really easy to get a little too much cement on and in the wrong places.
Totally agree Gamera! Compared to the SdKfz.7/1’s, where the track pad secured the links together, the M41’s track links just breezed together. And the fact that they came loose was a huge time saver as well. There was a bit of flash here and there, but not a biggie to deal with.
So here are some pics from last night’s work:
The tracks fit the kit sprockets!
A dozen extra tracks are provided.
Aaaaand fit to the running gear is similarly perfect. Hooray!
I’m a fan of AFVC tracks and I think I need a set of these for my M-41.
They look perfect.
I think this was the easiest indie link set I have ever done. I still don’t like the soft plastic shoes, but hopefully they won’t cause paint compatibility problems. My friend will be weathering the model and he uses mostly pigments, so maybe I worry for nothing.
Quick tracks! They look good too. How are they standing up to handling?