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Hawk

Adrians progress will be recorded here.
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farmroad38 · Posted: Tue 08 Apr 2008 13:17 pm Post subject:

I'll be building the 88mm gun & tractor, straight from the box. I'm going to be away from 13th-23rd, so I won't be starting until then.
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Cheers,

Adrian

farmroad38 · Posted: Sun 11 May 2008 17:00 pm Post subject:

Started slightly later than I expected, but I'm hoping to be able to rattle this one out fairly quickly.

Here's a quick sprue shot.

And I've started assembling the chassis. What a lot of wheels!

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Cheers,

Adrian

Hawk · Posted: Tue 13 May 2008 09:58 am Post subject:

I see you haven't had any problems assembling the chassis, was there any flash on yours

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farmroad38 · Posted: Tue 13 May 2008 21:06 pm Post subject:

Just a little bit on the wheels - I've definitely seen worse!

The biggest problem I had was that some of the wheels had fallen off the sprue, so I put them in the wrong place. Luckily most of them are just pressed into place rather than glued, so I could take them back off and start again.
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Cheers,

Adrian

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Fri 16 May 2008 20:15 pm Post subject:

Your last picture shows how the moulds have deteriorated over the years very well. IIRC the inner rims of the outermost roadwheel pairs (2nd, 4th & 6th axle) should meet between the innermost roadwheel pairs.....Just like on mine, they are not even close!

Nice clean build though.....How's it coming?

All the best

farmroad38 · Posted: Fri 16 May 2008 20:37 pm Post subject:

I'll take some pics tomorrow, but I've now assembled the body (sides, back & seats into the floor), the engine bay and made a start on the gun chassis.

Need to start some painting now. The comprehensive colour scheme in the instructions (ahem!) just says to slap H63 on everything except the wheels! I think I might introduce one or two other colours

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Cheers,

Adrian

farmroad38 · Posted: Sat 17 May 2008 12:24 pm Post subject:

Here's where I am. Although the wheels are just a little askew, it's all gone together really nicely so far - the fit of the parts in the upper sections has been excellent. Certainly no filler required.

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Cheers,

Adrian

farmroad38 · Posted: Sat 31 May 2008 21:02 pm Post subject:

Okay, here's progress so far. My usual breathtaking pace (

), but I'm getting there.

I painted everything in buff as it says in the instructions, but it looked so boring. It may not be historically accurate, but I've painted the floors in sand, and the bench seats in brown, plus picked out some bits of the chassis in grey - looks better now I reckon.

I've also glazed the windows using clear acetate, and again to make it a bit more interesting, I've made a "wiper pattern" on the windscreens. Can't see it too well here, but you get the idea. I'll add some little windscreen wipers later.

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Cheers,

Adrian

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Sun 01 Jun 2008 01:51 am Post subject:

Nice work on the windshield!

I notice your photographic lighting is almost as 'true-colour' as mine!

All the best

farmroad38 · Posted: Sun 01 Jun 2008 19:12 pm Post subject:

I'm having trouble with my white balance! The setting for tungsten lamp makes it too cold, and the one for flourescent tube makes it too warm! Stupid camera!

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Cheers,

Adrian

Hawk · Posted: Mon 02 Jun 2008 10:32 am Post subject:

Good progress there

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farmroad38 · Posted: Sat 07 Jun 2008 11:24 am Post subject:

Here's where I'm at now. Not far to go.

One of the tracks broke as I was putting it on, and started to split in another spot. I've used liberal amounts of superglue gel to try to get it to stay put!

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Cheers,

Adrian

farmroad38 · Posted: Sun 08 Jun 2008 22:04 pm Post subject:

All construction now complete, along with the basic painting.

Unlike my aircraft, which I always do in 'factory condition', I quite enjoy weathering AFVs. So far I've applied a thin wash of Hu29, and then for a bit of a laugh I've used some of Phil Flory's Promodeller Weathering Wash. Never used it before, so it'll be interesting to see how it comes out.

Also, the split in the track that I mentioned in the last post has now turned into a full break

Out with the superglue gel again

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Cheers,

Adrian

farmroad38 · Posted: Thu 12 Jun 2008 16:51 pm Post subject:

I'm done. Not certain about the weathering - overdone in places, too subtle in others, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

I'm reasonably pleased with the result. It was a pretty straightforward build, except maybe for the problems with the tracks breaking up at the end (which is why I've only taken pics from one side

).

Not sure about the 'working features' - the gun goes up and down but not around as it was far too loose, the brace for the gun is glued in and I think I'll do the same with the towbar, and the removeable wheels fall off at the drop of a hat.
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Cheers,

Adrian

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Thu 12 Jun 2008 16:55 pm Post subject:

Nice finish Ade!

These old kits can be quite a trial in the track department!

Hopefully my own 88 will not be too far behind yours now.

All the best

farmroad38 · Posted: Thu 12 Jun 2008 16:59 pm Post subject:

Cheers Andy. I don't build much armour, but those I have built have all seemed to have trouble with the tracks. I must try something a bit newer at some point to see how it compares.
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Cheers,

Adrian

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Thu 12 Jun 2008 17:08 pm Post subject:

What small scale armour do you have in your stash? Think

All the best

farmroad38 · Posted: Thu 12 Jun 2008 17:16 pm Post subject:

Quick check of the stash spreadsheet shows this lot:

Academy 1/72 Ground Vehicle Set
Airfix 1/72 25 pdr gun & Quad (Road to Berlin)
Airfix 1/72 88mm Gun & Tractoer
Airfix 1/72 88mm Gun & Tractor (D-Day)
Airfix 1/72 Bren Gun Carrier
Airfix 1/72 GMC CCKW 353 (D-Day)
Airfix 1/72 Jeep & Trailer (D-Day)
Airfix 1/72 LCM MkIII (D-Day)
Airfix 1/72 LCVP Higgins Boat (D-Day)
Airfix 1/72 LTV 4 Buffalo & Jeep (D-Day)
Airfix 1/72 M3 Lee/Grant
Airfix OO RAF Emergency set
Airfix HO/OO RAF Emergency Set
Airfix HO/OO RAF Emergency Set (VE Day)
Airfix 1/72 Sherman (D-Day)
Airfix 1/72 Sherman (Road to Berlin)
Airfix 1/72 Stug III (Road to Berlin)
Airfix 1/72 T34 Tank (Road to Berlin)
Armourfast 1/72 Sherman M4 (x2)
Eidai 1/76 AA Tank Wirbel Wind
Fujimi 1/76 Matilda tank
Fujimi 1/76 Panzer Kampfwagen IV
Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill MkI
Hasegawa 1/72 GMC Gasoline Truck
Italeri 1/72 Dodge WC-51 Truck
Italeri 1/72 DUKW
Italeri 1/35 German Tank Accessories
Italeri 1/35 Truck crew
JB Models 1/76 LWB Landrover
Revell ? 105mm Howitzer (50th Anniv)
Revell 1/72 Cromwell MkIV
Revell 1/72 M1A2 Abrams
Revell 1/76 M40 GMC
Revell 1/72 Merkava MkIII
Revell 1/76 Sd Kfz 123 Wespe
Revell 1/76 Sherman Firefly
Revell 1/72 Tiger II Ausf B
Tamiya 1/35 Panzer Kampfwagen II
Tamiya 1/35 Sherman M4

I've also got a couple of lucky dip boxes that I got from eBay, which have got some or all of an Airfix 1/35 Grant, and various Tamiya 1/35 bits.

Any of those going to be better?
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Cheers,

Adrian

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Thu 12 Jun 2008 17:42 pm Post subject:

Without hesitation I'd recommend you try the Revell Kingtiger.

It is a great kit OOTB and a fine example of L&L at its absolute best.....I would humbly suggest that you might find some useful pointers towards the correct assembly sequence in my Demo-Build (WIP

) of the similar 'Porsche' turret version:
http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/about7115.html

All the best