Hey all!

Decided to do a step by step build mainly for tips and tricks, as a returning modeller recently from a 20 year absence their is alot for me to learn! (what do you mean "wash" it's not dirty!?)

So here goes......



Man these kits have alot of stuff, Photo Etch, Aluminium Barrel,....this kit only cost me $40.00 Canadian last Saturday (maybe because I was in uniform on Remembrance Day )



For steps one and two everything went as well as 32 road wheels, 16 return roller, 2 drive sprockets and idler wheels can! The road wheels had a molding seam around them that had to be removed resulting in a minor case of roadwheelalitus of the hands. Then the hub caps had to go on. Being very thin i used cuticle scizzors and some very delicate filing with a jewelers file. On the front of the hull there are two pieces (B1 and B2) that fit under the final drives which had some minor pin marks which had to be filled along with the attachment seam.



When attaching the return rollers the anchor provided is just a thin shaft into the hull support, the weight of the rollers when glued together posed a problem so what i did was glue the inner one on first by itself, wait for it to set-up and then glue on the outer. Using the C1A1 eyeball they turned out pretty straight.



The fit of the upper hull pieces went together fairly well with only a little putty on the top seam and rear bulkhead required. When dry fitting the fenders I noticed that the gap between it and the first return roller was rather small. I might just leave off the fenders 'till after the tracks are installed to make life a little easier. I'm leaving al the road wheels and sprockets off 'till after paint before the weathering starts. I think that I will keep the weathering down to a minimum to take advantage of all the details on the hull and wheels

Please feel free to coment and give suggestions (except you Rei)!

cheers

Nice progress, I've recently acquired one of these and will be watching this build with interest!

Hey Bill,

thanx, here's today's progress pics,...



After step 6 it looked like this. I almost made the mistake of installing the exhaust pipes #L1 & L2 before # B13 & B14! I don't think there would have been room too install the pipes if the guards were on first.





Steps 7 and 8 went together nicely. Lots of bolt detail! I used the metal barrel supplied on the goody card, and the muzzle brake, although slide molded, had some nasty molding seems and sprue attachment points to clean up. I will have to research the muzzle brake though, there seems to be some sort of bolt molded on it about mid point and if accurate it will have to be positioned properly. The nice thing about the metal barrel is the when glueing the support clamp #'sM29 and M30 on the barrel the plastic glue wont stick to the barrel so final positioning of the muzzle brake wont be an issue



Steps 9, 10, and 11 deal with assembling the gun on the traverse/elevation assembly. The instuctions properly tell you not to glue the inner piston (#D53) into the outer cylinder for the elevation mechanism. Also they correctly mention not to glue the elevation cylinders (#D2) unto their upper mounts (#D48&49), BUT they show to glue evrything else together! So if your careful enough by not putting any glue on piece D8 and not glueing the gun pivot points unto the side plates (#D10&11) and the elevation piston lower mount you can have everything poseable!



It's snug enough on the pivots that it stays wherever it's placed!

Until next time.

cheers

I've been putting off building afv's with viewable interiors for a bit and must say that main gun assembly looks so dang good I may have to just pick up this one too, although when I will get around to building it is another matter.....

For today's installment;



In my opinion the only detail lacking from the main gun assembly are the seat springs. So a little wire wrapped around a toothpick sorted that out. I said to myself "self" ( I new it was me because I recognized the voice) build this strictly OOTB, but i couldn't resist, the kit parts are horrible!



Steps 12 to 15 deal with final assembly of the gun, pretty straight forward. I left the forward gun sheild off until paint is finished.





I want to be able to traverse the main gun when finished. I'll have to figure out how to lock the gun carriage to the hull later.





Till next time.

cheers

More progress,.....



Figured out how i'm gonna attach to gun to be able to traverse. Cut the panel out from the bottom hull and will use the little keeper that I made up from sprue material to secure the "turret" from underneath. I'll replace the panel and do any touch ups after paint.









Installed the PE louvers on the side panels. Have to make sure that you trim the upper cut on a angle because the louver assembly is not square, its angled (rumbus?)

cheers

Wonder were the inspiration for the box art came from.....



cheers

Gee, I wonder.. Nice SBS Rick.. Looking forward to further installments.


Dave

Well,...holy F%$#@@@%%$&!*&(!*(!* building the ammo boxes are a pain!



Got 8 rounds to fit into one which i think is the proper set-up. They only call for 4 per side in the instuctions.

cheers

Rick all Dragon models require a lot of working time, which is what you got after work because your little lady is deployed, but when she comes back all youll be doing is washing the dishes and cleaning the toilet just like before, so enjoy your modeling time while you still got it :-)

Man that kit looks incredible, may be moving that up on my list. Great build, keep us informed!

Nice to see our beloved national brew made it all the way to Canada

LOL Rei, ya i have a feeling that my work area will somehow transform itself from the spare bedroom to the garage when she gets back! :-)




Awsome beer Got accustomed to it overseas on a UN tour. it was either that or Heineken

cheers

Today I decided to assemble the "Magic" tracks, ya right. The only thing "Magic" about these tracks is that they are not attached to sprues. I thought that these were supposed to 'click together,....not. So I used Testors non-toxic glue which has a 4 hour cure time according to the label.



I assembled the tracks in three lengths starting with the top run.



Let that set-up overnight and then made the front and back segments.





Made final adjustments with the idler wheel and they all fit together nicely.



cheers

Nice one, Rick!
Seems a bot complicated, but I'm sure the result will be great!
Will you paint it in the livery shown on the box?

That's what I was thinking, trees and all!

cheers

Great build. After seeing this I might go back to building SPGs again. I once tried to make a Nashorn with my very limited references when Tamiya's 88 first came out. You know there was a lot of details that I was lacking. Oh, to 18 again!

Rick, I take it you arent a huge fan of the magic tracks They can be somewhat trying cant they... :-) Try some Tamyia extra thin liquid cement on those track links.. Might help out with the next build..


Dave

The "Magic" tracks are somewhat magical but not fully functional Magical, but assembling them as you would standard indys should do the trick. I'd echo the recommendation on using standard cement (I use the Testor's black bottle glue instead of Tamiya thin) vs. the non-toxic unless you actually need/want the extra work time that the non-toxic gives you.

You're making rapid progress with this one, Rick, keep it up.

Hey Bill, yes I wanted to use the Testors Black tube , but unfortunately could not find it anywhere up here in the hicks! I have used the Tamyia thin cement before and realized that the set-up time wa just too quick for my liking. I would rather wait longer for the tracks to cure and have the extra time to fiddle with them.

Well 99% of the assembly is complete! I will have it into primer today and let that set overnight.











When installing the headlight the instuctions tell you to use B40 for the mount, this was wrong as the light would point backwards! Use #B39 and it's all good.

cheers

nice clean work there my friend

Excuisite work. Clean and well executed. A pleasure to read the thread.

Thank you everyone for your positive comments!

a little general modeling tip for everyone,.... DON'T DRINK AND RATTLE CAN!

I managed to gibble up the primer coat a little. On the left fender the paint got a little thick and I lost the detail of the surface. So I got out the Easy-Off oven cleaner and spread some on with an old paintbrush.



Let it work it's magic all afternoon and scrubbed it off under warm water with a toothbrush.



New coat of primer and it's good to go!



I'll lay the colour down tomorrow after it sets up nice and hard.

cheers

Got to finally lay down some colour today! This is my first ever Armoured Camouflage paint scheme. A little detail work with my AB and I think it turned out OK.







Finished the day by chipping the paint and will do the final assembly in a few days.

cheers

Rick,

You really got me itching to get this kit. I am planning a HK trip in Jan, and may get it there if it's really cheaper than my LHS.

Great build, looking forward to the finishing line.

Cheers!