lentorpe

Why is it that I am having the impression that you were not totally sincere when you said that your last build was "just a gluey mess with pieces of plastic attached to it." ?

Hi Dads203, 1.- GREAT work - congratulations. 2.- This question sounds stupid but I can't distinguish if the idler wheel has rubber or not. I bet it hasn´t but I am not sure.I have tried at preserved Stuart walkarounds but either it is all under paint, or there is no rubber anywhere including the road wheels (fire?) so the doubt persists. On the other hand the US had no rubber shortage and it would help with vibrations... ????? Thanks in advance

Sweet!

TO THE FIRST: No clue, man... I suppose that in the factories it would be more time-saving to paint ALL the insides white and ALL the outsides in enigmatic who-knows-really colour. Also, at that time it is possible that the convenience of 2-side camouflaged hatches hadn´t still been detected. People learn through trial and error. Even more, if the open hatches were to stay horizontal, then nobody would see them from trench level, I guess. Final consideration; WW2 tanks fought each other at 1-1.5 km, and bright marks can help enemy gunners, but I don´t think that was a problem in WW1. What would be the real hopes of effectively hiding a noisy squary monster like this in close range trench combat, or even to aerial recognition? AFAIK, artillery wasn´t deployed in the very first line either... Until photo evidence appears, I would paint the inside of hatches white - - - but knowing that five minutes later, that photo evidence WILL undoubtly pop out. Murphy´s law clearly states it. TO THE SECOND: But it was supposed to blend in browny earth, didn´t it? Why not simply change a bit the ground colour, if you are concerned with a boring monochromatism? BTW, I have seen photos of "original" green, brown, earth, khaki, drab british WW1 uniforms...

Nice and muddy! But I think Paulo is right; it would look even nicer if photographed against a uniform (white, gray, blue) background, as simple as a big paper sheet curved from horizontal to vertical.

Very nice build. I am afraid, though, that you have the undercarriage legs reversed - the oleo scissors should be at the back. I had heard terrible things about Gunze metallized paints, and about any acrylic metallic finish in general. It is good to see that you got a very good-looking result. After seeing your work I think I will probably buy one and use my ICM (Tamiya clone) P-51B exceeding parts to spice it up. After all, that kit offers both weighted and non-weighted wheels, and two types of exhausts. I´d like to ask you a question: Judging from the plastic thickness and brittleness, would it be too difficult to cut the flaps and open the radiator belly exhaust? Greetings

Hi, Great work! I love your model ! I have had this very kit in my stash since the time before you started your modelling break. I have always wanted to do "white 421" but the foreseen difficulty in making the decal conform to the hatch pulls me off. Was it that terrible? Did you use any special trick? Setting liquids, cutting the decal...??? Natter advised you to drill the machine gun muzzles - my sight is too poor to see that, but I would have used chrome, silver, silvery gray, or even black (always with a blob of Micro Kristal Klear or a few layers of Future or any gloss coat on top) for the lenses, instead of white. And the white seems to have invaded areas that should be panzergray, doesn´t it? But these are very minor issues. Congratulations.

I also seem to be too dumb to check the last post date before start typing . AW SH**!!!

Hi Mike, Very promising start. Nice indeed. I have recently finished one of these things. Had not discovered your thread, but came independently to the same mouth solution - your palatal vault looks much better than mine, though. Had I seen this before, I would have copied it and also the idea of making the eyes more round in shape - I only exaggerated the ''eyebrows'' with putty to make the beast look more aggressive, but left the almond-shaped eyes themselves untouched - ERROR - they look too modern. Ok, I gave this kit to a friend so I will use your idea in the next one.. What I can recommend to you is to mark the roots of the nails with little putty rolls, blending them gently witlh the toetips but having a step towards the nail. I would like to show you my kit but I am apparently too dumb a person to make the ''insert link'' or ''insert image'' buttons work properly. If you would like to see it, you can access the working phase blog by googling " yoryi desafio triqui ", and the finished kit page by googling " yoryi desafio superado ". Text is in Spanish but pics are pics. Congrats on the good joint work, and keep proud!

Confronted feelings... 1.- Yeeee-haw! 2.- Why the f*** didn´t I wait until 2014 WW1 centennial before purchasing and starting my Emhar kit? At least I hope that If I ever decide to build another, Tamiya´s kit will make Emhar´s cheaper.

Horrible, scary exam in less than one month - so you are not at all late Thanks for the blbliography. When it is all over (sigh) I will try to locate those books. Greetings

I would have supposed you were a teacher - because of the clarity in your explanations. Good to see they STILL allow children to go to Museums and see all sorts of "disgusting violent military killing things". Any teacher doing so here in Spain would find himself in trouble unless the chosen War Museum was about our civil war and specifically the atrocities commited by one (and only one) of the two sides... Don´t get too upset with those little beasts. The link you provided is broken, but googling "Brussels Lodestar tank" rendered a lot of images and webs. And you are right - it is time for a modern, accurate, state-of-the-Art Mk.I-IV-V. Hey, they have just released a Char 2C !!! Risking to become boring, let me thank you once again. Greetings.

Will... Will you marry me? Now, seriously, THAT´S A RESPONSE, man!!! Many, many thanks. I suffer from the asking syndrome, so... 7.- What Museum is that? 8.- Any photo detailing the way the chains of the unditching beam get under the tracks? 9.- The chain seems to be attached to the top and bottom plates on the beam, but on the right side it runs at the back of the beam while in the left side it runs at the front. Any logical reason for this, it simply doesn´t matter, a restoration error? 10.- If you have been right in front of the thing, seeing it with your very eyes safe from photo colour distortion... Was it khaki / ochre as in the front and top views? Or ex-Green as it appears in the rear views? Reliability in any case? True WWI paint, or post-war use? Oh, I am not at all a serious detailer - just an OOB guy with itchy moments. For instance, after reading your 1. response and seeing the photo, I know the left roof hatch will be gone. But MAYBE the one on the right side will remain as an artistic license or a field modification... it simply looks cool. Or maybe I will put a rope there. Maybe I will cut the exhaust pipe short as in your photos, or maybe i will keep it proud and long as seen in other examples (possibly Mk.V not IV)... you guessed it, it is cooler that way I still wonder how did they manage to bend those rails (your photos clearly confirm they are bent) without wrinkling the compressed part of the rail... of course this is not the type of part one would cast... but this is futile lucubration. Thanks again, and many greetings

Impressive.

I am afraid I am not catching what you mean about the styrene block trick... are there any "in action" photos? Greetings P.S. I also have that kit - love it - I think Italeri uses to be great value for the money.