So, what ya think? Camouflage it?



Or stain it like I did my fence?







~ Jeff

Jeff,

I would be tempted to go with the wood effect. Not sure that in that period of warfare camouflage was something that was done by the warrior classes.... that would be the impressed farmers. Have to admit I would have been with the farmers on this one...

You could go with a crest or two to show which city/state/noble family owned it. Your family have a crest?

However, I think it is your call. You may as well have fun with it...

Bob

Hi all,

A bit more progress to show....



As you can see the top box is finished with the detailing. Well, at least as far as I can tell... As you can tell it hasn't been glued down yet. Mostly waiting for the painting stage to be over as I am thinking that doing the visor colors might be easier if I had it free from the rest of the vehicle.

So I spent the day with handles and tie downs. The hull is glued together and I have put on the final drive, road wheel mounts and the return roller mounts.

Hope everyone has some time this weekend to work on something fun.... as well as chase Easter Bunnies.

Speaking of Easter.... if you can snag some of the plastic eggs that will be laying around you might consider the Egg Plane Campaign later this year on Aeroscale... Just a thought.... (No, it is not my campaign.. I just like building Egg Planes, etc from the eggs...)

Later....
Bob

Bob,
That's some really nice work, and plenty of explanation, Thanks! Step-by-steps are always great to see.
And nice to mention the egg-campaign coming later on Aeroscale-- looking forward to that one myself!
-Sean H.

Sean,

Thanks for the comment.... I got used to having to explain stuff in detail as I also send emails about my models to a group of young ladies that I used to work with. As none of them build models, although one or two could be models, I have to explain things.

Considering how many different subjects I have seen you modeling I am not surprised at you being in the Egg Plane Campaign... Still not sure what I will build for it... am tossing the idea of doing either the USS Macon/Akron or the Discovery spaceship....

Bob

Hi guys
@ Jeff, I would go for the wood stain look on that thing
@ Bob, Nice progress on all those scratch build handles, I would have pulled out my hair with all that
Ok on to my Landwasserschlapper, These have to be the most horrible direction sheet that I have ever scene
Once you get to step 5 ignore the part # and just look through the spruces that look like the correct part the instructions are useless
But most of the build is complete with a lot of dry fit for the photo op

Progress will continue

Sal,

Your build is looking very industrial.... reminds me of a foundry roof with all those vents, etc.

However, it would seem that in spite of the instructions you are moving right along on this build. I like that you picked the prototype rather than the more common version... it has a very weird/strange look to it.

As for the handles.... the hardest part of doing them was punching out the white disks. For some reason that size doesn't separate from the plastic sheet very well, so I was only getting one in 5. I used the same technique to punch the ones on the top of the hull and with that size I was getting 5 out of 5.

Keep up the progress..... I think you are well on the way to being the first to complete their build.... although Jeff is right there also.

Bob

Okay Sal, will do. I was just kiddin' about the camo. I thought maybe it would go into a long debate of either hard or soft edge.

What was I thinkin'.

Second of all, your Landwasserschlapper is so kool looking and weird enough that I want one too. Keep up the good work ... mine will be next once I get some new cement.








~ Jeff

Hi All,
Here we are on the launching pad, starting the Howie Machine Gun Carrier build and scratching like mad.

Chassis deck plate is cut to shape. The hole in the middle is to accommodate the differential, part of which extends through the floor. The wheels were removed from the toy front-end loader after a considerable struggle, since the lower half was cast pot-metal with the steel axles embedded in it and I needed a hacksaw to cut them loose. I threw in the 30'06 round as an extra scale as it has a Frankford Arsenal 1936 National Match headstamp, making it contemporaneous with the vehicle.

Top view of the chassis with the axles & differential in place. The steering gear pedestal and gear shifter gate box are installed along with the ammo rack on the front. Wheels have been dismounted and painted OD. Unfortunately, the axles are way over scale, but they have to be to fit the holes in the wheels.


Side view of the chassis showing the (toothless) drive sprockets and steering gear pedestal. The grab irons on the back end are cut-down wire staples.
Underside of the chassis standing on its nose, showing the copper wire tie-rod and steering arrangements and my sloppy soldering.

Next comes the fun part, building a 1/35 scale Bantam engine. To be continued.
Cheers
Dick

Dick,

Excellent work on the Howe... Nice to see it come together so neatly. Might just have to try making one of them myself one of these days.... depends on if I can find the right toy wheels I suppose.

Now comes the real fun.... the engine...

Bob

Hello children ,,hope every body has been behaving and yep as you all might have guessed i have returned and just had one hell of a great weekend ..3 days of pure pleasure and the firing of a lot of ammo and lots of very powerful guns ..my right shoulder is a hurtin real good now
Now to the campaign ,,loving it guys .. Bob, that little beast is rockin matey ,,Jeff, ohh dude camo it man ,,actually I agree with Bob ,,polished timber with a family crest would look pretty damn cool ,.,if you dont have a crest or a coat of arms use some other dudes

Sal ,, thats coming along nicely ,,very nicely done and thanks for info on the cock up with the plans ,,i'll remember that

Dick ... dude .. what can i say .. bloody brilliant work so far and i am seriously looking forward to this one being finished .

I'll be starting on my project soon and of course you guys will be the first to see the start .

Phill

Hi all....

Well, I ended up having to do some.....

VOODOO Modeling!!!



The brass tubing is the stuff that I got to make turn buckles on 1/32nd scale WNW biplanes.... Although you do have to cut it a bit shorter than shown. For some reason this batch wasn't 0.03mm ID so it had to be drilled out.



Starting at the front and doing the detailing as I work my way back. Am also starting to clean up the tracks and associated stuff so that I can eventually put this little guy up on its tracks....

Bob

@ Bob, have fun and be careful with those little track links and you are correct this thing does look very industrial
I decided to go with a 2 tone paint scheme light on top darker on the bottom

I have been slowly throwing some paint at this and have 1 side of the road wheels painted

The hoist was looking very ah shale we say pedestrian so I wound gray thread around it

suggestion and comments are more then welcome

Hey guys ,, Bob that last post was brilliant man ,,its like reading a cartoon book and yes i used to read many and i really like how your little beast is coming along too,,can't wait to see it finished .

Sal ,, Nice build so far man ,, simple and easy but super effective ,, two tone will look pretty cool too, how you going to weather it dude ?

As for me ,, well expect something from me soon , farting around now with how to build it and where to get a few bits i need for it .

Phill

Bob & Sal,good works there guys...

Does a German Maus qualify for the campaign?

@ Phill..... Funny you should say that about it reading like a comic, the program I used to make it is called Comic Life, and will do comic book style layouts. I use it for the emails I send out to some young ladies in which I bore them to death with my models.

Hey, boss man..... dive on in the waters fine. And with Sal's build we even have a rescue vehicle if you sink...

@ Sal..... I like the choice of the two grays... it really sets it off nicely. As Phill says, I am waiting to see how you weather it.

@ Hakan...... Thanks. Hopefully mine will look as good when I finally get to the point of color.

Not a lot to update you with, so no photos. Am sitting here cleaning up a lot of single track links in preparation for that phase of the build....

Bob

Hi Sal,
Looking good. Make a nice portable smokehouse and beer carrier. Beer and smoked sausage anyone?
Cheers,
Dick

Kinda hit that one on the head pretty well i think huh Bob and as for Sal's ride getting my butt out of the water ..its too late ,,there's more than enough outside right now too make trouble

Gene .. Ya dude that monster is more than welcome ..hell anything which weights 188 tons is welcome for damn sure

Beer and smoked sausage anyone?,,, Dick mate i am in like sin and out with a grin on that offer

Phill

Hi all,
Making a little progress on the engine for the Howie MG carrier. Everything is so small it's easy to break parts and I've dropped it on the deck a dozen times because there's nothing to hold onto. The dimensions are high precision (lol) guesswork, based on photos of the sole example in the museum at Fort Benning and what little I know about Bantam engines. Although the engine itself is tiny, only 749 cc, the accessories such as starter motor, generator, coil, and distributor aren't that much different from those on larger engines, so everything is crammed together in a very small space. It's sitting on a US 1 cent piece for scale, and it's dwarfed by the 30'06 cartridge in the background.

Left side view, radiator on the left, gas tank on the right. Materials used were Evergreen styrene bar stock and sheet, odd bits of sprue, & 1.5 mm brass tube. The ignition wiring is strands of telephone wire. The radiator hose on top of the cylinder head is solder, and a slightly thicker piece of solder was used for the exhaust pipe on the right side of the engine. The oil filler tube on the left side is a cut down wire brad.

Right side view. The gear shift (temporary) is a straight pin which will be replaced once I have the linkages worked out.

View from the gearbox end

Front view of the engine. The fan is the 5th one I made, after breaking three while making them. I tried cutting them out of aluminum beer can stock, but ruined every one, so I went back to sheet styrene. The 4th broke after it was installed while I was working on another part of the engine.
Anyway, after a little tidying up, it's about ready for some paint, and then I can mount it on the chassis along with the radiator, gas tank, and battery.

Cheers,

Dick

Dick ,, mate thats a supreme start on that weee little beastie,,and i know that 30-06 round all to well considering how many i fired last weekend ..i know i'm old and blind but does that have a green tip ,,ie AP round by chance ?
Still have a few black tip .50 cal rounds knocking around somewhere
Clean up time i think

Phill

Hell Yeah I'm all in for that, 2 staples to my diet that my dr. says I should eliminate

But thanks for the complements, but I have no idea on how I am going to weather this thing
Was just putting some more paint on it, progress has slowed a bit cause i need peace and some time to do the treads and side rail cables

Hi Phill,
Yes, the '06 round is AP, black tip. Checked it with a magnet to be certain. Head stamp is TW 42 (Twin Cities Ordinance Plant.)
Cheers
Dick

Dick .. oh i could have made use of that round last weekend . well to be honest ..way more than one ,,not sure how many rounds we used but i would say a thousand in total would be closeish .
Hell i fired nearly 300 30-06 alone, no idea about the other guys .
One hell of a weekend of a Saturday


Phill

I don't have any pics for updates. Nothing done but sanding. 12 bogies, 10 parts each = 120 parts, all of them covered with seams and ejector pin marks. I hope I get to smell some glue this month.

It really makes you appreaciate the slide-molding technology.

Why did I pick the Maus!?