Made a little progress on the Bishop today. I'm in the middle of weathering and installing the transmission and final drive...
Cheers,
Paul H

@Dave: That is indeed a large kit. Good to have you here!

@Christian: An excellent choice! I haven't seen much talk and even less images about that kit since it came out. It'll be certainly interesting to see it being built.

@Paul: Wow! Looks really great! And what a pace!

Cristian,
You made me laugh! The comments I usually seem to get, are more in the vein of "are you ever gonna finish that...( Fill in the blank with almost every kit I've ever built)". I've always been known as a slow builder for the most part, so your comment about pace took me completely by surprise. I hope the build continues to go well, and I'm shooting for under 4 months. We'll see how that works out won't we😎

Thanks for the kind words!

Paul

That's anything but slow, Paul! Look at the rate the other models in this campaign are advancing. I started mine beginning of September and merely got over the stage of the chassis. Four month are more than OK in my books.

Changed to img, hoping to see the pics instead of the link

Next to each of your images on the photobucket page, on the right there is a text box labeled IMG. Just click on that to copy the content to the clipboard then paste it in your post.

It will then look like this, for instance:



Hope this helps!

Joining to do the Hobby Boss Dora in 1/72

partially started some of the larger sub-assemblies many moons ago. By pure parts count it is way less than 50% done, probably more like 20%. There are tons of small bits to be added here and there. One picture shows the entire kit with assembled pieces in the foreground, another the remaining sprues which are often multiples , like there are six more rail card to be completed, the entire upper structure, etc.

The beer is, of course, for comparison purposes only:) remember this is a 1/72 scale kit, it is BIG even so.

I believe the technical term to describe the number of parts in the 1/72 Dora is a "crapload". I'm sure we will all be watching your build with great interest!

Cheers,
Paul H

Indeed

The only way to stay sane while building this is to jump from one sub-assembly to another, ad back. It is mind numbingly repetitive, like the eight railroad "trucks", etc. Basically a right and left of almost everything except maybe the barrel.

the detail level of some things like the railroad wheels is quite disappointing, have done several of the 1/35 trumpeter kits. I'm not used to 1/72 I guess. I am going to do a couple of 1/72 kits just to show the scale of this thing.

I also have the 1/35 Dora. That's got a crapload cubed bunch of parts.

I'd sell the 1/35th Dora for a reasonable offer. I bought it when I had more money than sense:) Now I'm retiring and may need the cents.

Finished up install and weathering for the transmission bay and completed the seams on the running gear. Ended up using super glue instead of milliput. Takes longer overall as you have to complete what you start immediately, but I broke it out over two evenings so it wasn't too bad. Here is the end result...

Looks great, Paul! I like the fuel stains on the right. Is that the AK/Mig product?

Dave, that is a beast. I would probably have problems even finding the right sprue in that bunch. I've seen some of the 1/35 Dora's built at shows and I can tell that would be an eye-catcher for your hobby room... if you have the place for it.

Cristian,
Those stains happen to be done with Testors FX enamels but it is very similar to the AK product. I thinned it heavily as I wanted the effect to be very translucent. Believe it or not the weathering is pretty restrained in this portion of the model. The pics I have of these areas, while in service, show much more dirt, debris, grease and oil with a large part of it congealed...

Cheers,
Paul H

Made very little progress. Managed to lose the center section to right front track tensioner.😖. Looked for two hours to no a a avail so I had to dig out my unbuilt Valentine Archer, mold and cast a portion of the assembly and then integrate it with some .020 sheet styrene. Something that should have taken 15 minutes wasted 4 hours.😕. Never the less, it's done and I can move on to the next step.

That kind of things make the modeler life worth living What materials are you using for casting?

Yikes Paul!
Sometimes I wonder if it's not worth buying an extra model? I've bought an extra kit to save time if I lose parts. It can get expensive for newly released kits but sometimes you can pick up a spare reasonably if it's been around for awhile. My problem becomes "space", where to store those spare parts kits.
Good to see your work.
Take care,
Don "Lakota"

@ Cristian, I used Alumilite quick mold putty and Allumilite casting resin. Mine is fairly old so it doesn't set to the light tan color it usually does but it hardened and it's done so we move on.

@ Don, the kit is not new, but a spare would be about $60.00-70.00. Additionally, I would have to wait for the kit to arrive in the New Mexico middle of nowhere. I had the casting stuff on hand, so did that. I too have minimal space so dupli-kits are not usually a good answer for me. Although it would have been nice not to waste 3 hours of modeling time.

Cheers,
Paul

Thanks, Paul. I'm actually waiting for a "reason" to try that casting stuff myself.

Speaking of lost modelling time, I was looking for the door handles on my Scud transporter doors (they all of a sudden appeared without being obviously assembled in the steps before) just to find out the instructions pointed to the wrong place for assembly. Lucky enough, they came off easily as I was envisioning different methods of replicating them from stretched sprue. Kudos to the guys and girls at Trumpeter for getting back to me within 12 hours on this with the corrected instructions.

Got a few hours of modeling time in today. I got the basic running gear on and started cleaning up the upper hull. Now I'm on hold waiting on filler to dry on the upper hull underside.

Cheers
Paul H

How do you et the "On the bench:" deal at the bottom?

Forgot to post "proof of date photo" Peyton sliding, and horrible Paris news.


I assembled the track, which I found put away in a closet:) It's 43" lond.

I finished another pair of rail "trucks" (almost) and stacked some partially finished stuff to show the scale of this thing - there's that beer again, I may have to drink it some day.

To add the "on the bench" comment go into the settings area for your account , go to modify the account area and add the info into the signature block. Hope this helps...

Paul H

@Paul: Coming along nicely! Have you thought about the paint scheme already?

@Dave: Is the base included in the kit? Heck of a part count, indeed!

I made some progress myself over the weekend, I'll just have to find the time to take and post some images.

Keep up the good work, everybody!

Cristian,
I have not decided exactly what paint scheme I'll do yet, but I know I will be doing it as a vehicle used in North Africa. The Sicily/ Italy campaign paint schemes tend to be somewhat less interesting on the Bishop to my eye.

I'm pushing forward hard on this project as much as I can as I have another project that I will be doing as a review or blog when the kit arrives. Needless to say, once that item arrives I will be pushing to meet the timeframe specified.

Hope to see your pictures soon!
Paul H

I have the impression that the Tristar Models - German 7.5cm Pak40 Fgst.Pz.Kpfw. Marder III Ausf.H has enough parts to join as well. Sounds like a perfect challenge to try to finish that one in about a year.
I'm in.

Welcome on board, Andre! That kit indeed meets the campaign requirements with about 860 parts.

Got a few minutes today to sit down at the bench. I filled all visible ejector pin marks and left those that won't. I still have to weather the interior but that will come right before I close the lower hull.