The other track housing is partially assembled. The two together are 8 inches across ( ):



And I received word from Oz Armour that the other half to my wheel sets have arrived. Hope to hear soon that they're on the way to me.

Mike

Hey Mike,

Dang, getting to be a hand full. Hope those wheel get here soon.

Looking good.

See ya in the funnies...........

Quick update.

Closing off the ends of the track housings. Then to drill the holes for the axles.

After that? Time to figure out the front, back, belly, and roof. (basically its width)

Mike

Mike,

Sweet. PM sent. I'll check for reply in the morning.

See ya in the funnies...................

Sanded and scraped the front and rear of each track housing to level things out. I then started the layout for the belly, top, and front and back:



Figured I'd rough it on top of the bench. It's amazing how much larger it seems now (the bench is 5 feet across with the end tray on it):







The turret still gets raised up about 1 inch.



Oh boy.....

Mike

Great gobules of sheet styrene plastic and glue Batman! That thing is huge! Good luck my man..

Damn

See ya in the funnies................

Proper job

are you texturing that plastic?

Up until your comment, I hadn't given that much thought Andy. I do need to though. That's a lot of Mr. Surfacer! So, short answer - yes, I will.

The way it's sitting on the bench it's 16 inches wide. From the dimensions I was able to pull from various sources, it's 1/4 inch wider than called for. I may or may not need that 1/4 inch. The turret will be sitting on an angled platform that will meld with the glacis and go over a portion of the track housings. I need room on the left and right for a walkway from front to the rear beside the turret. If I don't need that 1/4 inch, it'll be narrower.

I think what's really up next is to rough out the glacis and then put some Bondo on the tops, fronts, and backs of the housings to true up the edges. With the glacis figured, I can finalize the placement of the MAUS' and Kugels in relation to the turret.

Mike

Well, the layout (support strips) for the belly, top, front and back are on both halves and drying. Harder to get the angles aligned than I thought, but once sitting on each other face to face, they look pretty good.

Emailed my supplier for the wheels this evening. Hope to hear good news soon.

And...may need some more 1/8th sheet stock. This beastie is gobbling it up pretty good.

More to follow.

Mike

Plastimonster. Hope you get them wheels soon.

See ya in the funnies.............

Mike, this is great. Go ahead !



Giovanni

Wheels arrived!!! Whew!

I picked up an attachment for my Dremel/Craftsman rotary tool; the Ratte will get some lines scribed showing the multi-plate armor on the sides.

If the fence I need to work on doesn't get in the way of bench time, I plan to use some scrap to get the two track housings set to the proper width and start laying out the front, back, top and bottom...starting with the bottom. The hard part of this is that it will be it's full length and width which means...big...which means I need to rig up something I can put it on and have access to all sides. Like a Lazy-Susan on a tall base; my bench won't cut it.

Anyhow, the bottom will consist of (initially) just a flat plate of 1/8th sheet. Then I'll build the angled runs that'll hided the nuts/washers/threaded rod for the axles. It'll probably be one of the last things installed before paint. I plan to put various engine access panels and a few "escape" hatches there too.

Mike

See if you can find a tall bar stool at a garage sale and make a lazy susan out of it.

We're thinking alike!

I have a Craftsman bar stool I can "borrow" for this purpose. I'll remove the seat and put a piece of ply on temporarily.

Mike

I've started the basic assembly. The two track housings are together with "inserts" to get the proper spacing. I've also started "closing off" the bottom of the rear panel. Once I cut it out I can start the exhausts/spare road wheels/spare track layout.



The tan plastic is the template for the engine deck. I'm thinking of a combination of Panther and Tiger "venting" (of which I have both on the shelf). I'll get real serious about casting a few when I have some funds.





Mike

This is a project of epic proportions lol Great stuff !!!

Brent

Hey Mike,

It's coming along nicely. I take it tracks and wheels are next on the list for install?

I wonder how many gallons of glue its taken so far?

See ya in the funnies..............

gallons of glue

not sure if Anyone could keep track at this point...
wow, the fumes....(hope he doesn't set his neighbors water heater on fire)....LOL

Oddly enough, I've only used one squeeze bottle of Revell glue, 1/4 of a Tamiya thin, and maybe an eighth of a tube of glue. The Tamiya usually gets me dopey.

I know this is early in the project, but I'm considering two paint jobs for the main body (and may mix up the 6 turrets at the rear with same or different camo).

The first consideration (borrowed from Mig J):



The second consideration (which I like better):



Thoughts? Very much open to suggestions. Four Kugelblitz turrets, two MAUS turrets, one Battleship turret, and of course the main body.

Mike

IMHO, I'd say paint the body one of those camouflages', the battleship turret as if it just came off of the ship (so what ever color the Kriegsmarine painted their battle ship turrets), the Maus turrets painted that primer red color, and the Kugelblitz's maybe another camouflage scheme. I wouldn't doubt if the painters mustve used up the entire stock of Germany's paints by the time they finished painting the body of this beast.

Hey Mike,

How about combining both camo's into one, after all it is a "what if" build and paint job.
Just a thought.

See ya in the funnies....................

Another thing to consider would be to divide to standard cammo at the bottom and the upper half more of a sky type thing! It may help to disguise the height a bit!

Paul

Personally I would give considerable thought to the size of the camouflage pattern, esp for an ambush style. Do you keep it exactly the same size as it would be on a KT for example, or do you upscale it to a pattern 10x bigger? I'm not sure anyone has ever actually considered that as the variation in size between different vehicles is usually relatively small.

You could always argue a Von Richtoffen and paint it red so as to be seen and feared? ;-)

Something this model has made me think about; If they had built this vehicle, how would it have defended itself with the limited gun depression. Any armoured vehicle even at a reasonable range could not be engaged due to the height of the main gun and secondary armament. You would end up with the equivalent of an aircraft carrier needing a battle group to defend it. Impressive build none the less.