I am building the monster by RPM. A terrible kit!

Furthermore I`ve got the Monograph book about the minenraeumer. The engine grille louvres facing forwards at the vehicle in Kubinka. I think the instructionsheet by CMK is not correct.

Thanks Bob although I think there's some way to go yet before you can call this one great...

and Thomas, thanks for the info on the grilles...I'll have to go with them as they are now though as I think I'd destroy them if I tried to get them off...

As an aside from the construction work I've been giving some thoughts to the diorama. I'm planning on the Minenraumer forging a path through Russian defences with Panzergrenadiers and Sturmpioneers following in it's wake and mopping up any resistance.
I'm thinking of using these four sets of figures...









Any other suggestions or ideas would be welcome...

I picked up the two Dragon figure sets at the weekend and will seek out the others soon.
I've started texturing the underside of the hull to simulate mud thrown up by the wheels.
The tracks have been base coated with a rusty red primer around the links, as have the wheels around the edges.
I now intend to attach the tracks to the wheels and arrange the shoes as per the instructions before gluing them in place. I can then begin painting the vehicle.
The other problem I've had is sorting out the axle of the rear wheel....pictures will follow tomorrow...

I think your diorama idea sounds great,looking forward to it. The figures look like the right poses for breaching a minefield.I'll be interested in how well the figures go together. Good luck!

Ok, so here's more pics...

The track links have been primed with a rusty red colour, the old Humbrol Authentics Hull Red in fact, along with the wheel edges. I doubt much of this colour will be seen on the finished vehicle as I'm intending to add quite a lot of mud and turf between the links as I imagine something this heavy would churn up the soil pretty good.



As I mentioned before, the kit does not provide a rear axle but suggests using a length of rod. This would be fine except that the diameter of the holes in both the wheel and forks are identical. Since the wheel is narrower than the inside measurement of the forks, the wheel slides from side to side when installed.
Another problem is that the forks,although beautifully moulded in one piece, toe-in towards the middle like so...



I tried putting them in hot water and bending them apart but it didn't work.
The solution was to form two deep spacers to slide over the axle which force the forks straight when the wheel is installed...





The spacers were made from part of a cheap ballpoint pen which happened to be the exact internal diameter I was after.
The forks are flexible enough to allow the wheel to be installed after painting...



I drilled out a small hole in either end of the axle to match the prototype and left it at that.



Next job is fixing the tracks to the wheels in the correct confiuration as per the drawing.



More soon...

Quick update...

Here are the wheels and tracks assembled to match the illustration...



The main wheels are handed due to the position of the shoes...now to clean up the link pins and add the etch...

Three hours later and I'm about to go out of my mind after installing SIXTY tiny etched plates to either side of each track shoe.
Prior to fitting them I flushed off the link pins and then drilled a 1mm dia. hole in the centre of each one.



The etched plates were then carefully cut from the fret and trimmed at each end. I then used a cocktail stick dampened with good old spit to pick them up and place them on each track shoe so as they were parallel with the base of the shoe and slightly overlapping the link pin.
I did briefly think of making a placement jig for these but in the end I went by eye.
By a weird coincidence I'm booked to have an eye examination at 9am tomorrow(!)....



I guess I've broken the back of this kit now but I'm itching to get my teeth into some styrene again as this has been very labour intensive...

More soon...

The next area to tackle was the engine grille covers.
Although the few references I have show both grilles covered, the kit only provides one plate.
Also this plate is too thin and not big enough to cover the grille.
I opted to scratch some new ones using brass sheet and rod.

Here's the new brass part next to the kit part...



I drilled four holes in the sheet then pushed the rod through to form a bolt head.

Here's the new plates in position...

Looking at the little etched plates I'd say you will pass your eye exam!!! You did a great job placing them by eye and have much more patience than I do. I'm enjoying your build and look forward to it's completion.Thanks!!

Wow! Very interesting subject to build, thanks for sharing your work! Lot's of patience, that's for sure.

Looking forward to your updates and diorama! Cheers!

Tim

I've started painting the thing...I've decided to go with an overall grey scheme as every other example I've seen has been the late war 3 tone camo.
I've also started the figures so I'll try and get some pics up soon to give an impression of scale...

Just a quick update for anyone who was following this thread. After the myriad issues with the build I went off the boil for a while but after buying some bits and pieces today I'm ready to crack on with the diorama.
I'll hopefully have some more pics over the next few days

Wow...just noticed the time lag between the last two posts...that's a whole month gone by...

Just noticed somebody looking for this very kit so I'll bump it back to the top of the pile....I'm actually painting it at last so hopefully some more posts are imminent!

Great Blog Iain, More determined now to get my hands on one.