My Leningrad car is finished:



I'm really looking forward to the next one......much more time and "accessorizing" will be done (as this one is strictly OOB).

Mike

p.s. BTW Kimmo, nice job on the handles! I'll certainly do that on my follow-on RR car.

With the track done:



Mike

Greetings fellow miniature modellers. I've been still plugging away at the Light Guns and the firing position one is nearing completion. Here are a couple of pictures:

Firing position gun.





Towed gun with camo/weathering started.



Further and different pictures can be found M119 build log.

Cheers,
Jan

This has taken me a while to put together so here are the pics that I mentioned that I would post prior to painting. DML's 72nd scale Inital Production Tiger I kit # 7370. Figures are from Preiser's Tank Crew Mechanics set # 72507, 3 of which I modified for use as tank crew members.













Mr Anderson and Jan Etal, been following your build logs. Keep up the good work! Wow Andras, that little beauty is really nice! Kimmo Rajala and Mike High, I will have to add one of those railroad cars to the already to large of a stash that I have but what the heck, I like what you both have done here! Looking forward to seeing more on that jeep Francisco . . .

-Eddy

Eddy, extremely nice build. Your figures look superb and I admire all the details that you've added. Looking forward to seeing some paint on the little cat. Did you have any problems with the rear idler and the track positioning around it? I'm building the F13 Tiger I for the '88 campaign and that area is causing me a ton of grief.

Cheers,
Jan

Thanks for your compliments, Eddy! My railroad car is now finished and I´m finishing the tracks. I´ll add pics later, when trcks are ready too.
And Eddy, no need to call me with my lastname, just firstname is enough. Your Tiger is excellent, just curious, do you add first, outer roadwheels later or are they left out with purpose? As battledamage?
Cheers!

Jan,



I failed to photo document the road wheel assembly modifications that I did to get the proper wheel spacing between each of the road wheel assemblies to get the track to fit correctly over the road wheels, drive sprockets and rear idlers. I do have another kit and will work out the mods that I did on this kit but will step by step photo document the process and can email or PM them over to you which ever is more convenient for you.

However, even after the mods on the wheel assemblies I found that I had to cut short pieces of styrene tubes to temperarely fit over the idlers so that I could hold them both against the chassis with an Exacto plastic clamp. I cut the tubes long enough to clear the tracks and used thin enough tubing to clear the track guide horns but large enough to go over the idler hub.

Here is how the assembly went so site tight! I first placed the road wheel assemblies in place along with the drive sprockets and joined the tracks sections together allowing the adhesive to dry and cure overnight. I left out the very outer road wheels.

The next day I placed the tracks over the drive sprokets and road wheels. I then placed the idler wheels with the axels as one assembly inside between the track guide horns and carefully managed to get the axels to go into there proper locations on the chassis. I then cemented the tracks to the drive sprockets and after about 45 minuets or so I was able to make adjustments on the backside of the idler / axel assemblies with a pair of tweezers to get the proper track tension before cementing these in place after which I placed the clamp onto the idlers with the tubes over them as outlined above.

Still with me? Pieces of styrene blocks were then cut and fitted between the tracks and chassis before cementing the DS tracks to the road wheels to get the correct amount of track sag as seen on photographs of the real thing. I then placed the final outer road wheels in place and let everything dry overnight. I removed the styrene blocks the following day.

The DS tracks will glue to plactic easier than it will to itself, just be patient. I used Testors plastic cement throughout most of the assembly of this tank and found that it worked best for me on the DS tracks. I personally prefer the link and length type of tracks but I really liked the set provided with this kit!

I just realized that you are using the all steel road wheels on your build! But you could still follow for the idler wheels assembly method as the tracks do provide a somewhat tight fit pulling the idlers off center and away from the chassis. This is a problem during the curing after cementing the idel / axel assemblies causing the tracks not to sit correctly when viewing the model from the rear.

Let me catch my breath . . . I'm so old now!!!

Kimmo,




The first set of outer road wheels on both sides of the tank nearest the drive sprockets were often removed by the tank crews to help alleviate the heavy mud build up that would cause the tracks to become seperated from the drive sprocket teeth. This condition was often seen on the Eastern Front during the rainy and snowy winter season.

And thanks for your comments fallows its very much appricated.
-Eddy

WOW , Eddie! Ask a simple question expecting a simpler answer and end up with a Braille scale engineering dissertation. My thanks can hardly express my gratitude for the tome that you wrote. I believe that I understand your methodology but am wondering if these two different versions of the Dragon cat bear much similarity in their suspensions. Your "early" has what I might term a reversed road wheel layout to my hybrid. While rather to this forum a picture might clarify my problem.



Note how the thickness of the idler is presenting the problem in that the track guide horns should be positioned on either side of the paired inner road wheels. To get the outside edge of the outer idler part to to sit properly in relation to the paired road wheels required some major surgery, cutting the kit axle down by 3/32 of an inch, sanding down a prominent lip on the inside idler and carving out a gouge in the inner part to accept a protrusion of the axle part. At present I am thinking that the simplest route might be to remove the inner guide horns around the idler. If you wish you might send your thought's to me in a PM so we don't get accused of hijacking this Think Small thread.

Thanks again,
Jan

Almost ready for paint:



http://fbminisworkbench.blogspot.com/search/label/Academy%20Willys%20Jeep%20Bombeiros%20Volunt%C3%A1rios%20de%20Torres%20Vedras%20%28Torres%20Vedras%20Fireman%29

Jan,

I have gone ahead and posted a few pics (good suggestion , keeps from writting so much) to help you resolve the idler issue with your current Tiger I build over on the "Mighty 88" campaign form.

See you there,
-Eddy

Ok ladies and gents!
My project is finished finally. Here´s my version of Unimodels armored self-propelled Leningrad railroad car. One of the 8 models in their RailWar -series. Quite easy to build, just little putty here and there and cutting of the extra plastic.
Now it´s 2 campaigns out of 4 ready, next it´s turn for my Kübelwagen in Mighty Wheels campaign to get finished. Hope you like this.







I used one set Red stars out of three provided on decal sheet and painted air recognition triangle on the roof. Colour is HU155. Sorry, if photos aren´t 100 % sharp. I took them at 2 AM last night...

Very nicely done, Kimmo. That's one ugly little beast! It might be the pictures but it looks a little on the clean side. Did the crew just paint it or give it a good wash prior to an inspection?

Cheers,
tread_geek

Thanks Jan!
Correct me, if I´m wrong but you mean it´s lacking washes and dirt? Well, this was my first 1/72 scale kit in 30 years, so I don´t have experience in weathering with little scale and I was afraid, I overdo it or screw it somehow... My experience with washes limits on two 1/35 tanks so far. When comparing photos and live model, weathering appears much better on live model. It´s on the turret roofs and on the car roof around turrets. Plus there´s little bit dry brushed brown on lower part on car body. Seems I made it too little and too invisible.
So I blame on my camera and crappy lightning equipment.

Yes, I was implying that perhaps a bit more weathering might be attractive but as you observe, lighting and digital cameras can obscure what to the naked eye is visible. Pleasing the camera may not please the naked eye. I have only done small scale since my return to the hobby and am constantly fighting with my camera to produce accurate images. As with most people, what you see and what your images show are rarely the same. It is the nature of the beast.

Cheers,
Jan

I like this campaign. Models just pop up one after another -no waiting for months to see some fenders attached...
I guess the blessing of the scale.

Francisco,

Your jeep is coming along nicly. Very detailed. Matches the example that you are working from in the museum. Looking forword to seeing some paint on this one! Checked out your link, this helps with the history behind your build. Thanks for sharing!


Kimmo,

Nice little ugly train, I really like it!!! Will you be placing this one on a dio sometime in the near future? Like how you've added the handles on the doors and lower sides of train. Where did you get the information for placment of the decals and for painting of the air recognition triagle on the roof? I have since purchase one of the 8 RailWar-Series cars (# 602) and searched the internet for photos and history but couldn't find anything.

Keep building, posting and thanks for sharing.

-Eddy

Here is my 1/72 Heller Boeing 707 in RAAF markings.







This is not my official entry but a small scale kit that I don't build many of anymore.

Thanks Eddy!
Glad you liked it. What comes to the air recognition triangle, I used some artist´s liberty with it. I mean UM had a decal sheet in the box but I believe they were originally ment for 1/72 scale tanks and vehicles and among them was white triangle decal. I know both germans and russians used armored trains on Eastern front and why wouldn´t russians mark theres with same symbol as they did with tanks?
Rest of the decals were placed according to instructions. They only showed the location, it was up to you, which one to use.
I have also searched internet for photos but mostly it looked like, there was a minority of trains, that had any kind of markings. I found one photo of winter camo train, which had Red stars and slogan below them on a side of a train. Therefore I desided to use those Red stars on mine. There was no single photo about my kit in real life among those, what I found.
A dio? Well, you never know..... UM has released a extrapackage of rails for this RailWars series kits, so.....

Psstt...., Eddy!
Here:

Rails

Hay all here's my contribution
dragon M2A3 and from what i can see it is a very impressive kit.

Scott, this truly is an outstanding and impressive kit for the scale. I made the mistake of trying to build it as my first model after years away from the hobby. For me it proved to be more daunting than anything else and it currently sits 95% complete (after months and months of anguish). Anyway, if you are comfortable with building 1/72 "modern" kits it shouldn't be that bad. It goes together quite nicely. Some parts are particularly small (PE brackets for the reactive armour) and the instructions are typically Dragon ambiguous in a few places. These necessitated a fair amount of Web searching on my part to find their proper placement and orientation. If you have any questions about part placement or the like feel free to ask. I have reasonable photo documentation of my build. Hope these help:





Happy building.

Cheers,
tread_geek

Thanks for that Jan

well made some progress on it last night and this morning can't go much further till i get some super glue for the PE parts.

That's quite an achievement for one night, Scott. You are certainly far advanced on the building schedule compared to when I started my example. Maybe it's just the picture but the back most sensor/antenna off the turret basket looks a bit askew (bending forward)?

As for my project, the firing position M119 is 99% finished and I am currently finishing up the towed L119. Here's a proof of concept shot for the former gun under cover. This is by no means meant to be what I want but just an experiment to see the potential.



Smooth building to all Lets Get Samll builders.

Jan

Hay all first coat of paint is on.