Not a full build revue, but some pics of detailing this beautiful APC. First I added some loops to the rear basket:


And weldseams to the sides Meng forgot:


Followed by some holes to add the missing wire:




like here glued to the rear light, horn and box:



Michael

like here glued to the rear light, horn and box:



Michael[/quote]

Hi Michael, great start on a great kit, I've two under way, and a third waiting... before you go much further, in Step 9.
Part D6, top, left hand corner of this, there are a couple of impressions that represent a handle and cover. Shave these off completely and re-do from scratch. I used a ‘T’ handle from the spares box, and fabricated my own cover for it. The location is correct, but the parts are grossly misrepresented. The cover should be approximately 2.0x1.0mm, and have a diagonal brace about 0.5mm down the right hand side. This really should have been its own PE part.

I did a list of all the parts I'd detailed or scratch build along the way, see it here if you're interested:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/47209/thread/1408916250/Meng+SS-003+Achzarit+tweak+list

Kylie

Hey Michael, nice start. I'll use as reference when I build mine Achzarith.

Cheers!!

Marco

Excellent start and those improvements will make a big difference. Boookmarked to see this develop.

Thank you.
Gary

Thx! Nice to see, that my little improvements can help a little! I've also changed two wheels and added spider-wheels, I've drilled holes in the other ones hubs. A great help are the two books by Sabingamartin and Desert Eagle.
Next step will be the applying of the anti-slip-coating...


Michael

Coming along nicely - I'll be following your build

Excellent start, gonna watch too as I have this one in the stash myself.

The road wheels; the 5th on the left and the 4th on the right side were changed: PanzerArt spider wheels:





Today I added a scratched T-handle as mentioned by Kylie:



...and the little chevron shaped cover was added (cut from Evergreen profile):




Michael

Again some wiring; Plusmodel lead wire 0.4mm:



...and a very short part:




Michael

Coming among nicely. That Plus Model lead wire is excellent stuff isn't it? - just the job for this build.

Hi gents,
today I nearly finished the anti slip coating usinf water thinned Tamiya XF-53, peppered each area with Badger aluminum oxide abrasive. At last all coated areas were fixed with a very very thin cement (with a smack of acetone).










Michael

Hay, great job on the non-slip surface, I may try that method myself on one of my builds.


Keep going, & I look forward to seeing the end result.

Kylie

Today the brackets were added to the headlights and small resin bolts (calibre35) too:





The anti slip coating was finished:



but I forgot to mask the place for the rear licence plate...


Michael

8 holes drilled out on each side to insert 4 loops of 0.5mm wire. That's necessary to tie down the canvas with the tactical markings:



enlarged:




Michael

The most pitures of Achzarits show an additional flexible fabric basket attached to the metal one. And I've tried to build that basket with Tamiya tape, cut to small stripes. And here's the result of my attempt:





...and glued to the beast:





Because I'm going to build an APC during an exercive on the Golan and not a clean one on an exhibition it's just in the worn condition i like




Michael

Yesterday I started reworking the IS-6 smoke dischargers with the help of the pics in Sabingamartins book. Because the right and the left bracket are different: only on the right side is an additional metal stripe. so I had to cut off this stripe on the left side. Drilling holes on the top to glue resin bolts into was the next step:



And the back plates got 2 holes for the wire. Caution, the boxes are the same on each side, but stand upside down on one side!



Today I recognized my mistake! Don't look at the pics only - read the text too!
"...the box is 180 degree rotated on the right side and attached by 2 bolts to the bottom metal stripe in addition to the 4 bolts on the side of the bracket, thus the empty holes on the top of the bracket. While the box on the left side attached by 2 bolts on top of the bracket thus no need for the extra metal stripe." So I had to cut off my resin bolts on the top, adding 2 new ones to the bottom!



2 additional holes were drilled to the hull to glue some bolts of another type to hold the tube for the electric wire:



...next step: dust covers for the discharger boxes!


Michael

Great work .....congratulations ..... I like !!!!

The dust covers! I tried Revell putty, 2-component-putty, liquid putty, but nothing works! Again Tamiya tape was the tool of the trade and some super glue for the tape and the lead wire (0.4mm):



And I hope - after painting - Mr. Surfacer was good to create some wrinkles...
In the moment I'm pleased


Michael

...maybe the edge on the front of the covers is too sharp, but my scissors are much sharper...

I'm going to build an Achzarit Mk. 1 variant B as shown in SabIngaMartiNs "Israeli Wild And Cruel Cats Vol. 3" page 41 and the color profile on page 79.
So I was happy to receive the ordered Echelon decals from Lucky Model yesterday. This set (#D356177) not only contains the decals for the tactical markings of 4 APCs, there are also the licence plates as PE parts:



As mentioned above, this one's "my" Cruel Lady:



Btw, Echenlon made a mistake: This special APC - showing its canvas with tac marks on the wrong side and upside down - carries the licence plate "812390" and not "812350" as in the decals and PE parts.



I hope I can solve this problem with a little dot of white paint!
There are extra decals for stenceling the APC, but not all positions were explained in the instructions. I tried to make a useful pic, but's not easy to show white decals. Maybe #7+9 are for the fire extinguisher. #2+3 to pimp up the smoke dischargers and the right ones for the ammo boxes. But #8?



Will be continued...


Michael

Time for super glue today - some large and some small PE parts added:





Next step: trying to fill the square holes in the large PE part, because there are no holes in reality!




Michael

Hi Michael
Thank you for sharing, looking forward to more progress.


blackwater

Finally some black paint for today and for the licence plates and the road wheels:



...and some preshading to consume the rest of Tamiya XF-1:




Michael

Again some paint, but this time a mixture: Tamiya XF-20 Medium Grey (2x) and XF-49 Khaki (1x):







Brightenend with some drops of XF-2 White:





The Cruel Lady is not as grey as on the pics, the mixture is a nice khaki-grey as intended. Maybe daylight pics would have been better, but today it's a rainy, grey day, 12°C here.


Michael

Some more color for Cruel Ladys dress: XF-7 Red, shaded with a drop XF-57 Grey:






Michael

Nice Michael!

Cheers!

Marco