Neo Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Should have mentioned - all the camo is freehand. Paasche H with the #1 tip, 20-28 psi. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 Thanks for the props, but it's really not that hard in this scale. There are guys in my IPMS chapter who can really make me cry - Luftwaffe mottling and fine wavy demarcations on Bf-109Ks in 1/72nd - that I'm not up for just yet! You'll also find more than a few inaccuracies if you hold this up against a photo of the real thing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 Latest progress. Decals on, antennae added. Making decisions on weathering now. These guys will get their arms soon: The vehicle itself: Bye for now! ;) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Excellent work! Love the figures, the woodland camo looks really great. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Whiskey1968 Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Excellent work so far. That is actually my next bench project. Just finishing up a "Panther II" kit. I'll def be watching this thread for tips and pointers. Darryl Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 Thanks for the reinforcement, gents! Hope it doesn't go to my head. I put down a coat of straight Future on the tank last night. I'll be doing some filters and pin washes before I put on some road dust. I want this to look relatively clean. It is an HQ tank, and I imagine it would have been taken care of well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted May 2, 2012 Author Share Posted May 2, 2012 OK, I've had a minor disaster. The odorless spirits I used for the dot filters seem to have shrunk the tracks or softened the styrene on the idler wheel axles. In any case, the idler wheels were tilted inwards towards the hull, placing them and the front of the tracks out of position. I glued syrene blocks between the rear ends of the wheels and the hull and reinforced everything liberally with CA. Fortunately the skirts over the tracks hide this mess pretty well. The shame of it is I was spraying a coat of dust as the penultimate act of finishing this thing before I saw the issue. The OTHER big mess is that the paint keeps flaking off of the rubber band tracks now. This will probably be my last time using this material. I'll look for kits with styrene or DS tracks so I know the paint will stay where I put it. In the meantime more hand touchup work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Oh man, don't you hate stuff like that so close to the finish line. I hope you will get it fixed (somewhat). BTW, it might be too late now, but there are aftermarket tracks for the M1 around. Good luck! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted May 5, 2012 Author Share Posted May 5, 2012 Pete- Yes, this WILL be done h**l or high water. I had it at our IPMS chapter meeting last night and said the same, so I can't chicken out in front of two groups of fellow modelers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted May 6, 2012 Author Share Posted May 6, 2012 (edited) There is some recap here, I am posting this in my IPMS club forum and I don't feel like re-typing the whole thing. Well, the weathering DID screw things up, but not as I had anticipated. I Futured the model in anticipation of oil washes and dot filters. I accomplished said weathering with liberal amounts of odorless mineral spirits. It appears that the spirits a ) shrunk the rubber band tracks, and/or b ) weakened the styrene idler wheel axles. In any case, as I was airbrushing the first dust coat, I noticed that the front ends of the tracks were now rubbing the inside of the track skirts: Looking further, I noticed the idlers bent backwards until the rear edges of the wheels touched the hull :( : Well, I've come too far to scrap this thing now. My initial idea for a solution was to replace the styrene axles with metal ones. Unfortunately this would entail removing the painted and partially weathered skirts from the hull. This was unacceptable due to the time and labor involved. So, I went the lazy way (I am an engineer, we specialize in creative laziness). I built some blocks from styrene plates to shim out the backs of the idlers and restore them to their proper place. In the process of getting them in the axles snapped completely and much of the paint came off of the vinyl tracks in the stressed areas: The styrene block appears in gray. I have since painted these NATO black, along with the areas of the track that lost their paint. The metallic gray of the vinyl is very noticeable, so I am taking pains to cover it up except where the sprocket would touch and rub the rust off. So, I feel the build is back on track (pun intended). More soon. Edited May 6, 2012 by bdt13 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 (edited) Problems fixed. I put a coat of 25% Tamiya flat (in Future) on tonight. We'll see if it's flat enough. Then to paint the viewports and lights and glue the figures in, and DONE! Edited May 10, 2012 by bdt13 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cpoud117 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Nice to hear that you've managed to fix everything! I'm sure the end result will be stunning! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted May 26, 2012 Author Share Posted May 26, 2012 Done - has been for nearly two weeks, but I was too lazy to take an post pix. I'll try to get better pictures for the finished builds gallery. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 Blimey! That looks the part! Excellent Abrams you got here, really love the figures too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share Posted May 28, 2012 OK, here are some better photos. Just a note, this thing is NOT as shiny in person! The flash seems to increase the sheen, and I didn't take the time to set up lights to go flashless. Thanks for looking! Lest we forget those who gave "the last full measure of devotion"- observe this Memorial Day. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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