I know I shouldn´t have done this!
Yes, there are a few boxes in my stack waiting to be build.
Yes, there are quite some projects waiting to be finished.

But I just couldn´t resist it after all this mania about the D9 going on. Looking at the space available to me to display my models I decided to put my focus on Braille scale again and hence decided not to buy Mengs D9. But then - in Mol, Belgium - this little gem of a kit found its way into my hands :



Having read about the good quality of the kit I opened the box and wasn´t disappointed. Crisp detail, almost bubble-free castings and reasonable attachments.

Once in my hands it is not my style not to open everything up and look, touch, feel, smell and - of cause - start...

So here are some shots from the kit. A few pieces are already cleaned up and some are assembled. Just to give you an idea.



















Balaton offers quite a nice range of other models. It is worth to check out their homepage. The D9 is offered in two variants: with and without slat armour.
This is the one wiithout slat armour.

Thanks for stopping by. I´ll keep you updated.

Michael

Some time has passed and some progress can be seen:

Almost all parts have been freed from their casting blocks and cleaned up. The push rods of the actuators were replaced by needles from syringes thus saving me the trouble of wrecking my brain of how to achieve a bright chrome shine on them. ;-)






Only should have drilled the holes for the hydraulic hoses before mounting them. Now it will be a bit fumbly.

The grid at the top of the dozer blade was bent and twisted with the help of tweezers, pliers and hot water.




A bit of detail was added to the rear of the blade. I have not figured out the function of those parts but built them nevertheless. If anybody knows I would be happy to learn about it. The other side will follow.





The drivers/operators cabin is more or less fiction but as almost nothing will be seen with the cabin attached I do not really mind.




more to follow,
thanks for sneeking in

Michael

Telltale for the quality of the kit is the fit of the track parts. They just snap together and beautifully resemble the real thing with sag and everything…



In the rear of the pic you see segments of the track clipped together from individual elements




The cockpit received some color:





As mentioned above: accuracy is not an issue at the cockpit – as there is none. So I just painted the interiour walls and the floor white, gave them some washes and pigments, coloured instrument panels and seat base Vallejo green-grey and seats and some details in semigloss black. I consider the result as not completely off and am content with it. Through the tinted windows only little of the interiour will later be seen anyway.

Talking about Windows!
Balaton models provides clear and tinted plastic sheet for the windows. But these are meant to be glued from inside into the frames which leads to a recessed appearance. I did not like it that way and wanted the windows in line with the front of the frames. The solution I came up with consists of clear plastic rectangles cut from a CD cover which were sanded individually to fit into each of the 15 frames. Not yet perfect but IMHO a step forward.








Where the instructions indicated it and I thought it necessary some more details were added to the outside of cockpit and body; mainly by plundering leftover PE frets. Grab handels of various sizes were attached using 0,15, 0,4 and 0,5 mm copper and soldering wire.










Ok, that´s it for today. Do not hesitate to let me know what you think.
Michael

A bit more progress on the ripper:
some guides for the hydraulic-hoses and the towing cables were added using PE strips.




The hydraulic connectors were simulated with 0,4 mm brass wire.




The hoses will be attached with the help of small segments taken from thin walled plastic tubes (from i.v. cannules). One side the tube goes in, the other the connector. The tube itself is supposed to resemble the fittings a bit. For the hydraulic hoses I used Richs 0,4 mm soft pipes. They are a bit tricky to handle as they attract all kinds of dirt and are not so easy to clean but they come very close to real hydraulic lines.



Now there seem to be only two – kind of hand pumps, or whatever they are – at the lower beam of the ripper, that I have to scratch. Than the ripper should be ready.

So, then I will turn some attention to the other side of the little fella.

Thanks for looking around.

Hi Michael - very nice work and build! I like your choices for add ons - enough to be convincing, but not so much to be too much! Looking forward to the next update
Cheers
Nick

@Nick: thanks for your feedback and – here comes the next update ;-)
even though it is a rather small one.


Up front again:

The hydraulic line to the blade actuator and the horizontal beam are coverd with a spring like casing. Medical guide wires (i.e. for placing central venous lines) consist of a metal wire that is surrounded by a coil. With the right size, you only have to remove the central wire and you receive a very flexible coil (unfortunatly the pics don’t show it decently). Anyway – these coils were used to construct the hydraulic lines that operate the blade.






The horizontal bar lacked some detail. I improved that with some PE and punched PS disks. Bending the metal pieces was not easy but the result looks ok to me.



Some more detail on the blade will follow and then I will give the vertical actuators some attention.

Nice to have you stopping by. Do not hesitate to let me know what you think. Any feedback, comments, suggestions are appreciated.

Happy modelling
Michael

everyone should have a Chopper.... awesome build. I have tried many times to get into the smaller scales without luck.

Chris

Hi Chris,
actually I have been a bit disappointed by the chopper. When profiles or sheet are a bit on the thicker side, the cut - at least with mine - is not staight. So quite a bit of sanding is required then. But now with the windows I have been pretty happy that I had it.

stay tuned Michael

Impressive work, even more so when I consider the scale.

PS: Meanwhile whenever I touch something 1:35 it seems so huge to me. I actually intended to buy Mengs Doobi but then saw how big that beast would have been... So when I came across Balaton Models D9 at the same exhibition my mind was made up . Jeeps and motorcycles I like to build in 35 but for the bigger pieces I love the fumbly work of Braille scale.
Cheers Michael

@russel: happy that you like it.

The blade received the second “whatever it is” at the back side and the bent left corner scraper was straightend with the aid of some hot water.



Some detail went into the front of the hull. A little notch was cut from the grill and holes for the hydraulic lines were drilled. The big srews were cut from hexagonal rod.





As announced I detailled the vertical actuators a bit. First they needed three hydraulic lines per item. One running at the back side, the others coming from the hull and leading to the top of the actuators. They were bent from 0,3 mm brass wire according to available reverence pics.




The attachments are a bit simplified as they will be covered with a photo etched hood.




Here you see one of the hydraulic struts dry fit to the hull.




The lines leading to – or coming from – the hull are covered with short tube segments for protection I guess.




They were made by cutting the plastic part of a venflon and pushing those segments over the wire.
The electrical wires are EZ-lines. Those are very thin, highly strechable lines Wingnut Wings i.e. recommends for rigging their WW I planes.







The segments of the second side will follow as soon I get my hands again on venflons of the appropriate diameter.

Enjoy your weekend
Michael

Back again. Some work went into the tracks. Assembly was smooth as everything fit like a glove. Some sanding to even the width of the segments required a bit of concentration. Here a first dry fit:



And another pic with the whole gear assembly of one side.



Well, here the whole thing with some paint.



Left you see the single links and right the segment.
Painting was done as follows:
- priming with Mr. Surfacer 1200
- this was covered with Field Grey XF 65 (Rinaldi used Nato black for his 1:35 D9 but due to the smaller scale of my Doobi I wanted to have the tone a bit lighter)
- Next step was adding some rust. I tried the sponge technique but did not like the result as I did not manage to place the rust in the corners and recesses where I think it should be. Switching to rust washes blended by a dark grey one lead to a more convincing result.
- The final touches were achieved with metal pigments that were spread at the contact areas. Here last pic of the final result




More to come

Michael

More Colour:
Some parts received primer and base (Mr. Surfacer 1200 and XF 65).



Hairspray followed, then rust. I opted for a patchy coating with XF9 Hull Red and XF79 Linoleum Deck Brown. To add a bit of variation some layers with dilutes rust colours followed (Lifecolor Rust and Dust). As I did not like the way it looked when put on with a brush I switched technique to splattering diluted rust paints with a tooth brush. This worked well for me But - judge yourself:












On we go with paint: Caterpillar-Yellow was next. Of cause after another layer of hair spray only. Again I heeded Rinaldis suggestions and used Tamiyas XF3 with a dash of clear orange X26. The latter gives the yellow an orange tint and makes it mor Caterpillar-like. I came up with a ratio of 9:2. Of cause it is difficult to judge from pics but I think the colour is not too far off.





Chipping will be next. Another First. Lets see…

Happy to have you looking in. Feel free and do not hesitate to comment.

Hey Michael, I just caught this build while researching for 1/72 scale D9s. What a cool build! I have wondered about Balaton's D9 and HETT kits, your pics/build have changed my mind! Even though they are rather expensive, they are very nice and the only option in braille scale so...looking forward to the rest of your build!