Thanks Sean it's been fun, and frustrating sometimes.

I was able to finish up the lifting frames and step platforms today



And I redid the railings along the sides of the breach block trunion
Notice the uprights are inside the catwalk, they need to be on the outside and there should be some kind of railing system.

this is what I came up with, again thanks to some helpful pictures sent to me..



Finish up the other side tomorrow and hopefull .... start dissasemble for priming.

Four ladders to modify and a few top of ladder handrails to build and it's off to paint. But for the most part I think she's done!

I'm ready to build something that fits nicely on my workbench...

Got it primed yesterday in the garage..




Base coat painted today in the garage... and moved back to the basement.




It had to be painted in the garage since I used automotive base coat (custom mixed to match light german gray) and also I needed enough room to actually paint a car. Dang the thing is big...

Now to let it sit for a day and start with the decals and some very light weathering. Then flatcoat and put it together. Also I suppose I need to get the base track system made up.

Dave
I have built this kit when it first came out and I must say you really have done a fine job with the extras, but in my case I had no where to display mine when done. I shot a couple of pictures and now she resides in the garage rafters. I hope when you are done she has a good place to Display. Do you have the decal sheet for it? I have an extra set some where if you are interested PM me if so. Well done so far I look forward to the finish
JIm

Congrats for your nice progress
I agree with you when you write " a very kick wheathering" am too not so happy to dirt models when they are done so wonderfully !!!
Can wait to watch rebuilding and finishing stage

Bravo mon ami !!

Fantastic work. Good luck with all that weathering!! lol


paul

Dave,
great job on the primering.Have you noticed, though, that you may have shadowed areas, where the railings are in front of the main sides/ I planned ahead on that, and painted with the railings left off. Weathering should be very light. Imagine dust from railroad ballast being thrown back, from preceeding cars and settling on the front of the bogies.

Hello Dave wonderful work so far your work is really an inspiration! I was wondering if it was just me but the photo links are not working for me. Hope to see more, keep up the great work!

Cheers Alex

Jim, thanks for the comments. I have a set of decals from peddinghaus and I think they are all I need (I think).

Michel and Paul, I'm glad your enjoying the build, I know I have enjoyed doing it -- for the most part. I think the way to go really is light weathering because if I'm not mistaken it didn't really last long enough to get beat to heck...

Carl, the shadowing you see is from the lights in the garage and basement. I painted it the same as any car I've done, light coats from every angle possible to eliminate coat fading or shadowing. Once I get it decaled and weathered I'll take some closeups and post. When you weathered yours did you use the airbrush or use chalks and a small bush and seal everything after with flat coat?

Alex, sorry about that but photobucket said enough freebe stuff so I paid the $$$ and you should see the downloads now.

Dave

Hi Dave,
I just used an airbrush, on both the 1/35th, and 1/72nd Doras. I also drybrushed much of the grime on the ends of the bogies, where the crew would be walking.

wow, that's one monster of a kit. All the added details look great. Did you use a gallon of paint to prime this beast...LOL

Not quite a gallon Rob, but close!! Thanks for the info Carl, I'll give the airbrush a try. As far as dry brushing - I SUCK at it so I picked up some chalks from the hobby shop and I'll try those.

I was able to start on the track system yesterday. Hopefully I'll get a bit more time tomorrow.


The ballast that is formed in the kit would be a bit big so I'm using beach sand to fill and I'll use scenic woodlands ballast to cover it.

Dave

I was able to finish up on the track, less the weathering.




As that awaits detailing, on to the decals.




These are aftermarket since the kit comes with no decals. I got these from Peddinghaus-Decals in Germany and I'm not to impressed. They are super thin, silver a bunch and don't fit the places they should be, but that's just me and I'm not a pro at decale placement. Others seam to like them. We'll see.

Yes indeed they are silvering quite a little !!
Have you tested very carefully with asmall brush and very little alcool and then pres them with air dryer and a soft cleaning cloth to polish them in order to make that decal varnish enter more deeply in grey paint ?

I know it's very dangerous to use alcool with acrilyque paint but if you protected decal area before with some "Klir" the risk is less ?

Good luck and keep us posted on that !!

Did the decals silver, wvwn AFTER a gloss cote beneath? I use gloss coat in the area, then, microset on the location. In the decal water, I add 1 drop of micro set, and 2 drops of white glue.

To how much water Carl?









~ Jeff

Michel, the alcohol worked great -- I used enamel automotive paint.

Carl, I did gloss coat before but for some reason it didn't do any good with these decals but .. the alcohol set them a bit better than the solv-a-set did and the matte finish I sprayed on the thing took out all the silvering (for now??)

here are some pics before spraying the matte finish




http://i759.photobucket.com/albums/xx238/oldtimer2/dora/4-29-12-5.jpg" BORDER="0">

I know it looks a bit heavy but after I got it outside to the workshop and blew it off with the air hose it looked about right so I shot it with the matte









and the track





Now to finish putting it together, get the shell and powder charge painted and I'm DONE!!! for now.

That is some insanity in a box right there.

I put, about 4 drops of Elmer's Glue, into one of those Model master smaller mixing jars (3/4 oz ?) then add water.
Also, I do gloss then decal, then I regloss.That seems to level and seal the edges.Then I weather, and dull cote.

Hey Marc, arn't all us modelers slightly insane??

Well here she is...








This one is just to give and idea of the size of this thing. Thats a 1/35th 2.5 ton German truck I'm doing for the Leopold dio (which I can resume doing now)



Now off to Utah with the HD for a few weeks. Time to get WARM and get away from the plastic for a bit. If any of ya'll are up in the UP of Michigan on the 20th I hope to have the Dora at the UP Scale Modelers contest in Marquette that Saturday..

Excellent work Dave !!!
You will probably win some contest in the future !!!
If you use alcohool don't worry about future now they are totally stick to the paint !!!
I read you are starting another dio ! Am working since december in afolish hudge one that will be 3 m by 1.5 m !!
Involving 2 karl morser (one on rail and one in field , plus 3 server amo , 4 trucks like your in the Dora , 2 cranes , 3 dozers etc etc and 120 figures all differents( Work for 2 next years !!)

Thanks Michael, That dio your working on sounds like a beast -- I'd love it.

Well all I entered it in the UPSM contest today. It took a first in 1/35 armor and an overall best in show. That kinda surprised me since I know the caliber of the builders up here but I'm very grateful all the same.



I'll be slowing down for the summer since the season is to short to spend in the basement but in order to keep in the game I'm starting on a new project - 1/144 F-18! Keep it small this time... Till later Dave

Congrats on the great showing there Dave!

Your hard work paid off handsomely!









~ Jeff

Congrats on the Win job well done, One question though it might be the flash on the camera, with the weight of the beast the top of the rails would be shiney, almost silver with rust on the sides. and the railroad ties would be a oily flat color from the creasoate with black, dark brown . Please excuse my spelling. This is an outstanding build of a kit that did not have much detail. Its a shame that one was not kept for a musemue. If I remember right when I built mine ther was one shell and the rest of the steel was melted down. Jim

...and you didn't think you would win after all that work.




Nice job. I am speechless at how clean this build was. And for Dave's next build: