The Real Radios. (Note no Mg. Mounted)

The Rebuilt Radios.


That's all for now.
Donald

Today I installed the Upper Hull.
I started by sliding the front in clearing the Front Tow Shackle mounts. Be careful not to break off parts on the Radio.


Start the Glueing on the front and work your way to the back.

There was a small gap on both sides so I added a weld bead, it doesn't have to be perfect as there's a storage box that goes there.

There's a small gap on both sides by the Front Fender that needs filling.

The sides don't fit really good, you will have to do it a little at a time.

Here's the back, I finally got it to fit reasonably well.

The Left Side skirt Mounts went on really well, just line up all the parts.

Like So.

The Right Side is another story, if you line it up in the front nothing else lines up.

The Solution, Line it up here first.

And trim to fit.



All finished for now, man that was rough.
Donald

Great work so far Donald! I will be using some of your reference pics for my cutaway G.

G'day Donald

Great work. In photo 347, that box you have labelled as a first aid box is a box for the driver's microphone and headphones.

Regards

Rob

Maby though it looks kinda small for that, see headfones on the radio coming up a little later.
Donald

OK now for some more Detailing.
I carved out the Convoy Light and made a clear lense for it.

Added a electrical wire for it too.

I almost screwed this up, I had the base upside down but I corrected it.

The hole was to secure it when not in use.

The notex light is nicely detailed, they even give you an optional clear lense to use instead if you want too.

I almost forgot to add the Headfones for the Radio Operator.

Here's what the convoy Light looks like without the lense installed.
I'll add it after Painting.

Installed the Tool Racks Just left off the Tools until after painting.



That's it for Today.
Donald

A little more today.
I Scratched a Wood Jack Block, What do you think use it or the plastic one ?


I painted the Wheels on the Sprue.



I'm Assembling the Wheels, I'll install them then start on the Track.
Finished for now.
Donald

All the Wheels are installed , here is how i did it.
There may be an easier way but what's done is done.

The Tires for the Inner and outer wheels have a slight deformity
where the Sprue attach. They can be used either inside or outside.
Just place the bad spots toward the Hull.

Verry Tricky here.

I didn't glue the inner pair of wheels together.

Don't forget to add the Idler Wheels.

The retainers for the wheels have a angle on the bottom.

be shure to apply glue only to the shaft and inside areas of the retainers.


For the Sprockets apply glue only to the inside hole on the gear case, slip on the Sprocket then insert the pin.

There are no guides on how to position the caps, according to my refrences this is how they go.


I'll be working on the Track next.
I'm finished for now.
Donald

I have the Track shoes separated There are 2 different Track Shoes.

WELL GUYS, I DON'T KNOW IF I AM GOING TO FINISH THIS BUILD.

I really screwed up earlier in the build when installing the torsion bars. I had them all the way in as far as they would go, but they stick out about 2mm or so from the hull. If you are going to build this kit you will probably have to trim them so the Swing Arms ase close to the hull. I didn't realize this at the time. Maby if I cut them off and glue them in place, I don't know.
Here are the Pics. to show you what I mean.

That's all untill I figure this out.
Regards.
Donald

bummer, you did so much good work trimming to fit along the way, can you just put the drive sprocket the same amount out of alignment and carry on?

Thanks for the sujestion , after much thinking i figured out there wasn't much to loose so I fixed it.
Donald

And here is how I did it.
While Flexing the Torsion Bar shaft with wheels back and forth while prying on the Torsion Bar Arms I broke them all free, then I cut all the Inner ends off, re inserted them and glued them all in place.
There's not much that you can see inside and the suspension doesn't articulate now. Still it's better than trashing the whole kit. Hey that's over $400.00



Now back to cleaning up the Track, it looks like this is going to take a while.
Donald

That's really strange, I didn't have that problem with the swing arms on my panther. One thing I did do was, I reamed the holes out on the hull with a letter M drill in order to get the swing arms to move freely. I had to give a couple of the torsion bars a little wiggle to get them to seat, they were partially getting stuck on the inner framing parts T1 and T13.