While it’s not an aircraft, it’s so closely tied to aircraft, that I decided to post it here. We’re talking about MD-1 aircraft carrier tractor. I’ve just got a kit of that little machine from F4MODELS. Although pricey, it’s a nice kit with resin parts, PE and decals. It allows building one of three versions of the tractor - a shorty/bob tail tractor, a platform tractor and a huffer - that is a tractor carrying an aircraft starter. That’s the version I’m planning to do. Here is a shot of the box top:
I started the assembly by cleaning up the body and glueing it with the platform. After that I put on the fenders. Most of the parts have very tiny, sprue-like pour gates, it’s just the fenders that have chunky pour blocks on their top surface, so that took a little more cleanup than the other parts. I also started cleaning up the starter box :
I took some time to putty and sand the bottom of the tractor smooth - there’s no detail there, so at least I’d like to have a nice, smooth surface there. I also glued the first PE parts - the rear wheel hubs. I also replaced the wheel attachment points by copper wire, I could even make the rear wheels rotate if I wanted to:
And that’s it for now - thanks for looking and have a nice day
Thanks a lot for your comment! As for your question - I thought this is going to look good on the shelf next to my 1/72 Scooter (you know, the A-4B Skyhawk!). I decided to buy this kit after reading this excellent webpage here:
I have seen some of this company’s other kits, i was thinking about their pickup truck and flightline tow tractor. But they are really expensive even for resin. It looks nice, but do you really think these are worth the cost.
Gamera - nah, I do all kinds of stuff :-)) Like those babies:
I’d love to do some boats, but I’m still working on the technology to do some water…
The tow tractor is almost two inches long - 49mm to be more exact.
Bish - that’s right, those babies are expensive. I gave almost 25$ for this tractor, but this money saves me lots of time when compared with scratchbuilding, so I’ve said, let’s do it. And it’s a nice kit with PE and decals.
Toshi - welcome aboard! I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t add some wire to my model, now would I? :-))
Speaking about the wire - I have a little update for you, where I put some more parts together. I replaced some of the easier PE with wire so that the details would be sturdier. The huffer box on the rear isn’t glued in place yet - I want to have it separate to put on a very delicate exhaust shroud made of PE mesh (from the kit). Here’s what it looks now:
Thanks for looking, I hope you liked it - best greetings and have a nice day
Thats very true, if you wnat it bad enough, you will pay for it. I still have not decide if i want those trucks bad enough.
That does look very nice, i thnik you made a good choice in useing the wire instead of PE. I don’t think those parts would have looked right in flat PE.
Bish - I know what you mean. I was just in the mood
Many times I prefer details made of wire over simple PE or styrene parts. With styrene it’s often easier and faster to make a grabhandle out of wire than it is to clean the mold seam from a styrene one. Here I had fine PE handles, but I decided to replace them with wire because of two reasons - one of them is the shape, but the second is that I can drill holes and glue the wire parts firmly to the model, so that I don’t have to worry about knocking them off later while handling the model.
Thanks a lot for your comments and have a nice day
I’ll be soon putting some primer on my tractor, so I wanted to show you, how it looked like before. I added the PE hangers for the starter hose. I also did some research and I found how I can enhance the model just a little bit more, so I have scratchbuilt the front hitch and the hood hinges. I’ll add the front grilles after I put some yellow paint on that baby, and paint the radiator cavities some dark colour, so as not to get the overspray on the radiator. So here’s the photo:
I have primed the basic structure in Tamiya gray primer (spray) and put on the exhaust shroud. That part is really fine and on itself a reason for being of the PE sheet:
This was followed by a light misting coat of white primer. This way I started to build up some shading:
I have managed to to do the front grilles on my tractor. The main grille was backed with sheet styrene in places to give it a little more substance - I’ve read that 1:1 it was done in cast iron like the whole front, to give the tractor better traction. The top grille was a little to small for the opening and because of that a littl hard to secure in place. I’ve also completed the driver’s seat:
Took me a lot of time, but I have managed to do the air hose for my tractor. I have made it from soldering wire painted tan. Then I have cut a long, thin strip of Tamiya tape - about three times as long as the wire. I have painted it black and wrapped it around the wire. I have also turned two fittings out of sprue, using my Proxxon and painted them aluminium. Here’s the photo:
Gamera - sorry for taking so long to reply! Thanks a lot for your kind words.
As for the hose, I have folded it and now it rests on the supports:
There is some touch up nesessary, but that will be done soon. As you can see I also started working on the driver. He started as a resin copy of the driver from the Fujimi deck crew set. Of course he didn’t fit at first, but then I started working him with hot water. That worked some, but not enough, then I cut and wired the joints - “ankles” and “knees”. That worked and now his feet rest on the pedals, there should also be enough place for the driving wheel. I’m going to paint him as a “green shirt”, which I was told would be correct if he operated the air starter.
So I’m movin’ on to work on the figure - thanks for lookin’ and have a nice day
