Hi Todd
congrats for your impressive beast. Do you break it down for painting?
And your technique for achieving some track slack sound definitely easier than mine. Might be able to use it some day.
Cheers and continue the good work
Michael

Hello Michael!! Thanks for hanging out on this!! I do indeed break things down for the painting process. I had everything apart ready last nioght and the compressor acted up on me...I am in the middle of solving the issue but once the prime goes down I will have some pics!!

Paint?

Sorry BJ, did my best to get things situated but never got my act together...will re-group and move forward tomorrow through this week!

Go on ,next step.

LOL..trying Tommy!

OK...Harbor Freight to the rescue!! Not my first choice of compressors but it certainly fit the bill....I stopped by the local store and grabbed a quick and dirty compression stand in!! Working beautifully!!



Not the biggest update in the world but you get the idea what is happening. I managed to get all of the parts coated tonight and will move forward now that I have air!! I will shoot some more pics tomorrow and then I can start laying some color!!

Thanks for keeping tabs on me!!

I use one of their 3 gal pancake models. They run them on sale for $40 pretty often. Other than being noisy, it's hard to justify spending more for something else.

They are a quick fix Bob! I picked up one of their AB compressors for $64. It works excellent...for now! Figure if I get some time out of it and need to upgrade at some point in the future I am doing good!

OK...coming off a little stretch getting acclimated with the new compressor and other life duties that arose, comes another little update. I have a plan on what I am after here so if it seems a bit confusing, it may clear up buy the later stages. For waht it was worth, a little shading...





You are seeing this correctly, light grey primer on the top and yellow on the bottom. No particular reason other than it was what I grabbed off the bench!! The lower end is darker with the next application so it will not matter too much.



So this is where it stands... I have shaded numerous other parts as well as base coating the bogies and rollers in the same fashion. I will be moving forward on this during the week and will attempt to keep things updated. I have have the ArmorCon Show to attend Friday and Saturday this week and will be leaving for the show on Thursday! My thought was to bring this and work on some weathering at the show....all depends on how far along I get on the painting.



As always, thanks for tuning in!!

are the Ak Airbrush colors ready to be used?!?Or do I need to use a thinner?!great work!Go on please!!!

Ciro

Thanks Ciro!! The AK paints are rady to go right out of the package. I found two out of the 6 sets I have that really should be thinned before use and these are both dark green and dard red shades...from what I have found with some paints, could just be these are just thicker pigments...after thinning though...perfecto! But...as there is always one...I do thin these just the same. I will add a few light coats verses trying the bang out everything in one shot.

Theses are starting to pop everywhere now so I guess it's time to jump on the wagon and get me one too!


This one is sure to be a fantastic build!





Jeff

Hi Jeff, There are a few kicking around!! Great little big kit!! You will enjoy! This is the fun part for me...painting then weathering!

well. I'm closer to getting mine done.




I'm happy about the way it looks so far

Great job


Jay

Fantastic build --- and your base rocks, too!

Nice work, Vince!

With Regards and Aloha,

Johnny B.

Thanks Jay and Johnny. I enjoyed the build it was different and I tried several new things while building it. Saturday I'm taking it to a model show, we'll see how it does then.
Once again, I'm not trying to still your thunder Todd, I have a feeling yours will turn out a lot better then mine

Well, I guess I did pretty good yesterday.


I really enjoyed this build, it was different. I hope Meng does more of this odd ball stuff.

Outstanding job Vince!!! Congrats on the gong Brotha'!! Well deserved!! No worries about the posting like you mentioned earlier...as long as we are all having some fun, it's all good!!

....FINALLY I a might be getting back into the swing of things!! The past two weeks were a blur with the ArmorCon Show and then a nice head cold to throw things off. I managed to at least get back into the saddle again...

Firing up the AB I laid down some base yellow on the lower end. As you may have guessed I will go after some chipping with some CAT yellow variants mixed in.



A little bright at the moment...but it won't be left this way for long!!!

Next on the block was going after some of the upper cab section. I decided to use AK's 4BO shading for starters!



Then digging into AK's Afghanistan Set the German Beige Grey is a nice step in the right direction....



I unfortunately spent the past four days working withe the web stuff as well as trying to move two other projects along. The gap between them is closing so I should hopefully be able to step this up a bit this week!

As always...thanks for stopping by!!!

Todd great work just waiting on mine to show up. Been following yours very close. Got a question and maybe the photoetch sets that are coming out for this model will have it in it but was wondering if you have the choice of making the exhaust flap in the close or open position or did they just give us the one choice of closed? It would look neat if you could make it look like it had black smoke coming out the stack. Keep up the good work on it. Dan

Hello Dan! You should enjoy building this one! My apologies for not updating this one recently...seems some "other" modeling related items jumped up at me...I should be resuming within in a week.

To answer your question, the Exhaust stack flapper is molded closed...LOL...I thought of changing it myself at one point but moved forward on things before it happened. This is a simple parts and if you decide to chop-n-scratch something, it should not be to difficult...maybe salvage the plastic hinge and punch out a new disc flapper from maybe brass shim stock!

Enjoy the new model!

Hey Todd thanks for getting back to me. When I get ready to paint mine I am sure I will have lots of questions for you. If I would have waited a few days wouldn't had to ask my question. I went and seen a photo etch set for it online over the weekend and it does appear that it does come in the set. Can't wait to get the photo etch set. Another question for you Todd have you found any figures that will work?

Hi Dan! Glad to know the PE set has what you were looking for!! I am curious to see you work the set...it's hard not putting the bar armor on mine but between time and being already in motion... Next time!!

As for figures...there are a number of IDF figs to choose from out there. I will dig up a link to a topic on figure discussion of the IDF that might help....here is one to start: https://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/9446 Gino gives a review of Meng's IDF tank crew which most certainly could be modified!

Well, its been since at least October since I updated any progress on this one!! Seems life and "all" things model related eclipsed the process. She still resides on the bench with a couple of other projects and I will put my best foot forward in bringing this one around soon!!!

I did managed to work the lower end, track and of course the blade though.









Thanks for hanging in there for the long haul here!!

She is going to look well used !