Hey! Everybody is doing a nice work here!

@Robert
Nice work, man! The trailer looks really nice. I noticed that there is a discrepancy between Tristar and Dragon here. The small container´s door is placed at the rear in Dragon´s kit but Tristar chooses the front end for it. I have not a single picture to prove who´s right. We have to live with that cause will be very hard to modify at that point, but if anyone can clarify this will be great.

Looking forward to your complete interior, more detailed than Dragon´s in my opinion.

I promise the flak finished for this weekend but life gets in the middle. There´s still some work to do, the PE basket for the expend cartridges and the frontal shield are waiting for some spare time.

Any way here is a picture of the gun on the workbench as it is now.



More when it´s finished.

Raul

Raul, Nice clean work fella.

Makin progress, but has slowed a bit due to fit issues.

The first pic shows areas where i had to modify/cut off. These are 4 biggest of several places that got tweaked for fit issues.

1. I had to cut off the original part for the intake tube and shape and attach a new one. Wasnt even close to fitting.
2. The Tank had to be taken off. The cab WILL NOT fit over the tank.
3. About 3/16 of an inch if not more had to be cut off of the top of the transfer case/whatchamacallit and a new styrene top placed.
4. 1/8th of an inch had to be cut from the circled areas and filed and sanded in order for the cab to fit in place.


Got the cab partially built.


Hopefully it will go smooth from here on out.

Gary

Raul,

thanks for the comments... on the trailer, Tristar actually have small access doors on front, rear and top - so 3 in total...... again, no idea if that is correct but building OOB for simplicity - letting me concentrate on painting & finishing....

Made a little more progress this weekend. Lots of filling, filing, and sanding.
To make this pic of basic, boring work more interesting I included my HO (1/87) scale Gepard. Kind of a "little brother."



@Raul--that is some nice, clean work on that gun!

@Gary--good job on getting that cab to fit. What a bear!

Keith

Hi Zon, thanks also. But sorry, no truck and the crew will also be having problems , I shall say no more for the time being

@Raul: nice and clean dude can´t wait to see more there

@Gary: you sure had your work "cut out" for yourself there buddy , but looks like you´ve mastered it like a true
Jedi.

@ Keith: is that your usual scale 1/87? That is sure some
size difference

Rob W: looking good, here I also want to see more


Paul

@Gary
Thanks for the kind words. Sorry to hear all the troubles you have with your build. I have one of these in the stash and I will follow your build as a proper reference. Looking really good. Want to see more!

@Paul
Thank you for the comments. The most difficult part was to get everything squared and aligned. Not sure to get it 100%. Great work on that flak! Really looks nice.

@Keith
Thank you too, Keith. Looking good so far.

@Robert
So there must be three doors and Dragon misses one. I´m not counting rivets here, just curiosity plain and simple. My intention too is to have a proper canvas to do my favorite: paint. Keep the good work and when finished we can compare the two kits if you wish.

I´ll be out of the city for a couple of weeks so there will be no progress till then.

See you soon.

Raul

@Paul--HO is one of my favorite scales, for armor anyway. They have enough detail to look accurate, but without all the itty-bitty fiddly pieces of a 1/76 scale to drive you nuts. ROCO has a fine line of modern and WWII vehicles. As a matter-of-fact I dug out an unfinished HO scale Gepard which I will be painting along with the 1/35th!



Keith

Wowee guys! nice work here

i`m working my ass 6 days a week but i`ll manage an update soon
phil.

@Phil--hang in there. Hopefully you're earning some overtime and can apply the extra cash towards kits!

I've managed to get a little more construction done on the Gepard. Also included some more comparison shots with the HO scale, along with a side-by-side of the HO Gepard I did about 25+ years ago.



Keith

***advice needed*** as I am progressing on my Pz1a flakpanzer I am now approaching the wheels... this has 2 wheels either side in bogies - in terms of building should I build that assembly and paint or paint all the parts then build? i have not even started to look at the indi-link tracks, going to have to tack the wheels to the sides then build the tracks I guess (same as the Sd.KFZ 10 link & length).....

thanks all

Robert:

Hi!

Having built, oh, about 7 of these Pz. 1A / 1B things, including the flakpanzer IA kit... and all with indi-links... (MasterBox, Dragon, Tristar):

My wheels and tracks route is to 1) clean up and refine and detail as desired all the wheels, bogie-bits, rollers, and those pesky side-rails. 2) Clean and prep all those itty-bitty links and put aside. 3) PAINT all those wheels and rollers - first in a dark gray for the "rubber" part, and then the hubs in the appropriate base color of that tank. Of course the drive sprocket just gets based, as does the all-metal 1B idler - 1A had a rubber tire idler... 4) At this time, base-coat those bogie bits and rails. 5) ASSEMBLE the bogies with their wheels - these are now ready for later weathering. 6) "Tac" the assembled bogies, idlers, sprockets and rollers to the hull. 7) ASSEMBLE your track-runs - build one long strip for each side - cement the links (assuming you are using the kit Magics) and let go "off" for a bit. FORM each run around the tacked-on gear either side with desired sag, and let set-up fully. Be sure to NOT close and cement these track-loops at this time! WHEN FULLY SET (dry and hard), REMOVE all the gear and track. 9) PAINT your hull and etc. - WEATHER the sides behind those tracks as desired. 10) PAINT and weather your 2 dried track-runs. 11) Clean up the "tac" from hull-points and bogies, etc., and ASSEMBLE gear to the hull. 12) FIT the tracks onto the gear and cement those loops closed. 13) Do final weathering on gear and tracks.

Sounds detailed and complicated. This really is pretty easy, and I'm just trying to be complete and transparent in the process. By doing these steps, you will get great-looking hull-sides, gear, and tracks.

Here is a pic of one outcome: Tristar Pz 1A kit 008 done up as a 1937 training umpire vehicle in the "buntfarbenanstrich" scheme of the times.



Go for it! Enjoy

Bob

hi Bob - thats for that - makes perfect sense... one last clarification - the glue for the indi-tracks... what is best? I use revell (in the blue bottle with the thin needle applicator) - is there a better alternative?

Hi Bob, here a quick report on tracks and glues I put on the StuG campaign:


1.Dragons old school tracks take time, but go together well
and fit good. Painted or unpainted. Glues had no pos.
or neg. effects.
2.Dragons MT´s are just a faster version of above.
3.Hobby Boss- for me only the Tigger II tracks, T26E4
and VK4502 have worked. But a word of warning, I used
Mr Cement Limone on the Tiger2´s and had track shrinkage,
on the second set I used Revells Contacta Liquid and all
went well.
4.Trumpeter - I´ve only done the T55/62 tracks, and can say
stay away from the Mr Cement. I got the track shrinkage
again with it. Only use Revel Contacta.
5.Friuls - excellent.
6.Bronco and AFV Clubs vinyls - well what can I say, they´re
rubber bands. Look ok but don´t ever use Humbrol Enamels
or any enamels with Revel Thinner. They will melt, slowly
but surely.This happened to my Comet and Cent.
7.Tamiya vinlys - with the new glueable style Ihave also
had no problems, and if your careful you can even add
a good sagging, without shoving a metal rod through the
hull.
I think that´s all, just be aware, bad tracks can ruin
good models.

hope it´s of use for everyone of coarse.

Paul

thanks Paul - have a dragon set of tracks for my tristar kit - saves cutting & cleaning up ;-)

RobW;

I always use some thinner type - Tamiya thin or Extra Thin, Testor's, etc. NOT something really "hot" like TenaX or other very very thin and very volatile types.

I'm not brand-loyal. You want the cement to be a slightly slower type that will soften and bond links without evaporating and leaving things too hard right away. I avoid the gel stuff as I want the cement to "wick" down into the track hinges by capillary action and not form a proud blob on something and look like a "weld".

The secret to getting good fit and sag in these styrene link-sets is to be able to fit them around the gear and position and brace the tracks where you want them (I use balls of tissue...) so that they can complete drying and harden in-place.

It's really pretty easy to make up the link runs - faster then doing Fruils in my experience.

Bob

Gary & Raul

I've found this great video, around min. 35/38 they show some AA Halftracks in action, B&W & Colour footage. Also some 20mm & 37mm Flaks in action.

It might be helpful.

( The rest of the video is great too but w/ the Campaign Spirit )

Link HERE!

Hi guys.

Sorry to report, but my Sd.Kfz.7/2 has met with disaster after my Cat knocked it off the shelf it was sitting on, while I worked on the running gear. Would it be possible to just enter the gun from the h/t or will I have to withdraw from the campaign? My other entry for the build I was going to enter has already been started on another forum.

Some great progress guys. Gee Keith your Roco Gepard takes me back. I used to have tons of Roco stuff that we used for wargaming back as kids. The detail and range left kitsets for dead back then, much of their stuff still does!

Anyway back on track ..... made a little progress on the gun crew. Spent a bit of time fitting them to the gun so that their hands are gripping things and their feet sit naturally. Pretty happy with them so now it's on to painting .....

Brent

Darren, what ever you want to do... but don't leave us over that!

Go ahead and just use the gun with maybe a figure or two will be just fine.

And sorry about the loss... hope you can make some use out of it. Maybe still build it as a partially destroyed vehicle?










~ Jeff

Sorry to hear about the loss due to the cat. I've banned our cat from my Man Cave unless I'm here, keep the door locked, and if he goes where he's not allowed to, he's forcibly removed from the premises.

Joel

Brent, your figures look great.
Joel

Darren;

Wow. Super Bummer. My sincere condolences.

I know it can go with cats. Mine are determined to be involved in projects. And matters are not helped by feline competition - the orange one moved onto those assembled tracks in the other lid... I still haven't found all the links... If I lived in a colder clime, I think that I would now have a nice set of bright orange fur mittens!

If the gun survived, get that out here! It's still AA, and it will still look great!

Bob

E-gads... cats on a table is not a good behavior to allow. Up until 6 years ago my wife and I both had cats for almost 23 years.

None of them were allowed to do that.










~ Jeff

Thanx guys. Still feeling down about losing this kit. I'll get Gun out here. And I have a Tamiya crew, which I might drag out to go with it. But my figure painting ain't up to much. And I agree cats are a menace

We've had a cats for several years as my wife didn't want another dog. I did, and still do. They actually lessen to what you tell them they can and can't do.