I am participating in a GB which allowed me the opportunity to build this kit. I decided to build it OOB and detail with what I had on hand. Nothing AM, no PE, just from the box and my spares and scraps.
I started from the top down. Using references allowed me to detail the turret bits such as the hoist mounts.
I had some fine copper wire that I scrounged so it became chains.
I used references to replicate the armor plugs welded in where the periscopes were deleted. Made these from scrap sheet plastic (old “ForSale” sign).
Apoxie sculpt helped blend the mantle part to the turret. I’ve had this for years.
.020 rod stands in for the headlight tension screws.
I used .040 rod for the headlight mount tubes, and will use 020 flat stock for the field applied rails.
This kit also lacks the fender supports which are so prominent on the real tank. I won’t need the front as I have removed the fenders, yet the back supports will have to be made.
I like what your are doing here. I too like to use what is on hand. I feel that if a person were to buy AF parts and a bunch of reference material for each build, this hobby would go from relatively cheap to fairly expensive quickly. Besides, scratchbuilding can be fun and very rewarding. Look forward to seeing more.[:D]
Obviously there is quite a demand for AM parts, some of which, to me anyway, are unnecessary. Some kit manufacturers produce a level of detail which needs no help from the AM. This one is a bit weak in some areas, yet with clear photos and scraps a good model can be had.
I did obtain a complete PE set for this kit, but decided not to use it. There are something like four frets and six pages of instruction. Upon opening the package my first thought was Oh H e ll No.
It is quite rewarding to accomplish a task by using your own skills and ingenuity. What little I have anyway [proplr]
Looks like a great way to apply the scratch-build and spares-scrounging skills and still keep the cost of the build down Wayne. Looking good so far, keep it up! [B]
These are the .040 rods used to replicate the headlight mounting fixtures. These were capped tubes into which the headlight assembly was placed for storage.
One of the common mods to the Pershings was removing the front fenders and sand shields. This was accomplished with a #11 blade. I used a sanding stick to thin the fender to better depict sheet metal.
I buy sanding sticks, pads, and blocks at beauty supply stores. I use Valspar generic primer and CA from Home Depot, and only visit a hobby shop for specialized paint and liquid glue.
Here’s the rear end as she sits now. Photos show the crews left one end of the tow cable mounted to the pintle. It will soon look like that…
There some great work going on here, keep it up and keep posting. Will be watching this one with much intrest. Another thing you can do for sanding sticks, I use wood glue and glue a sheet of sandpaper to a sheet of 1/16 inch wood sheet and cut out whatever size or shape I want. Can get a lot of sanding sticks that way and it’s easy.
It is looking great! [Y] I am going to show your WIP to my 11 years old son tomorrow. He has been working on Italeri (Testor) Pershing for a while and it is about 75% completed but he just quit working. I hope this will spark his interested to give it another shot.
Here’s how I made the tow cable look better without using AM parts. I saw in photos where the crew left one end of the cable attached. I snapped the kit piece into the tow point and carefully bent the cable to match up. The other cable end received a scrap of wire “tying” it to the mounted cable. This looks more logical than the cable end floating in mid air, defying gravity.
The .50 mount require a bit of “personalization”. Tamiya molds the part with the cross piece in place. There is a prominent ejector pin mark right in the middle. [:#] GTFOH!
So, a scrap of evergreen strip, an .020 bit, and a length of .020 rod along with some careful sanding left this.
I had lots of chores on these days off so I didn’t get as much done as I wanted. Still I think we’re looking good.
Ok well I had the opportunity to take off early today, so I left work and here we are.
I replicated the rear fender braces with .020 rod and some scraps I sanded into mounting lugs, and attachment plates. The rear supports were rods with threaded ends for adjustments. The threaded area is up near the hull and so small as to be unseen in scale, therefore we use trickery.
Tamiya has some “inconsistencies” as to where some items should be located. For example the rear lifting lugs are not parallel to the ground but set on the hull at an angle. The correct placement of these lugs would require filling a substantial hole in the hull. Huh? WTF Tamiya?
I won’t even comment on the kit’s suspension. I will politely refer to it as “gimmicky” and ignore the mess. Accurate suspension will require more work than I want to perform, especially since most will be hidden by wheels and tracks.
A close check of reference photos revealed the front fender supports could/should be included. They were mounted in such a way as to support the fender even with the front removed as I have depicted.
Looking good so far. One thing though, the fender supports are not simple rods, but threaded rods with turnbuckles so they could be tightened and lifted as needed.
You can barely make out the turnbuckles in this USMC Pershing in the Korean war.
These can be easily made with some thin sheet styrene strips or metal foil. I made them for mine and think they look pretty good.
It was a long week at work so nothing was done until today.
Here’s my rendition of the front fender braces. I used some .020 rod and .040 half round for the braces themselves. I took small bits of scrap for the mounts.
The side rails are drying as we speak, and I’ll have pics up later tonight.
