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1/35 Takom T29E3 "What If"


M_Sinclair

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Morning everyone!

 

Over the last few days I have managed to get all the fiddly bits on. 

32689301623_d68a098dce_b.jpg20170317-MJS_9854 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

I forgot to take a close up shot of it. But I added a simple handle to the inside of the commanders hatch. Besides the vision block there's zero detail on the inside of the hatch and it looks pretty baron. And unfortunately I have no reference pics of the inside of the hatch to give me any clues. So (inspired by the Abrams) I added a simple strap/handle made of lead foil and finished it off with a couple of tiny resin bolts. It's completely inaccurate but is far more pleasing to my eye now. 

33120113770_bf09b1dbc6_b.jpg20170317-MJS_9855 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

33503707985_49903ee72b_b.jpg20170317-MJS_9856 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

The mufflers/exhaust pipes are just sitting loose at the moment. 

33347252882_d52d1b1f56_b.jpg20170318-MJS_9861 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

Unless I can think of something else to add (possibly wiring the headlights) I think she is ready for primer. 

33347245702_da80139475_b.jpg20170318-MJS_9867 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

Till next time!

33347238192_246c8f356e_b.jpg20170318-MJS_9870 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

-matt

 

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8 hours ago, FrancisGL said:

Stunning beast!!!, Already looked very nice with the gray tone ...:popcorn:, cheers mate :D

Thanks Francis. I feel I agree with you. Was tempted for a moment to leave her sans paint. So I hope you don't mind as I start adding some colour ;)

 

I don't have any Tamiya olive drab at the moment and the hobby shops are closed Mondays. But I do have Tamiya olive green and khaki drab. So according to my calculations those two combined should yield olive drab! ... Maybe.

 

Close enough!

32713797764_c2f93f4d79_b.jpg20170320-MJS_9884 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

The custom "OD" was sprayed on very lightly. I started at the top. Worked the sides and moved down. The top, flat areas were applied in a random, swirly pattern as I do so very often. A perfectly even coat looks  dull to me. The sides were applied in light vertical streaks.

32742757583_5218294ec7_b.jpg20170320-MJS_9887 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

The very dark black/green primer is allowed to show through as deep shadows. I don't want to cover all of that. I didn't even directly paint the underside of the barrel.

33428421321_f15b6e8ff1_b.jpg20170320-MJS_9891 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

With a layer of "OD" she's looking more like a proper American tank now.

33428416471_cc0fa70238_b.jpg20170320-MJS_9895 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

Till next time.

 

-matt

 

 

 

 

Edited by M_Sinclair
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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks chaps. The work on the tank itself has been paused for the last little while. I'll get into why hopefully with the next update (praying a certain package for me arrives soon!). The deadline I'm aiming for is April 21st at the absolute latest. That's when IPMS Winnipeg (Canada) hosts their annual ValourCon.

 

Anyhoo, with the tank sitting idle at the moment I've been trying to get other aspects of the project done. Would be nice to have some sort of simple, classy way of displaying my T29 so I decided to go with this.

33722272676_0864991cd8_b.jpg20170331-MJS_9896 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

The display base/box is two pre fabricated wooden boxes I purchased at Michaels. These were stacked and glued together for the desired height. The sides and top were finished off with sheet styrene to smooth things out. Then came several days of filler, sanding, priming, repeat.

33378640600_3119682f4d_b.jpg20170331-MJS_9897 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

I've been toying with the idea of painting the sides in the same camo pattern that will eventually go on the T29. Or I may just leave it satin black. Was also thinking it might be cool to paint just the top surface gloss black. Still debating. Worst case scenario if I don't have time, I'll just leave the base as is and call it done.

 

A fairly prominent weld seam was added to the sides of the muffler and the exhaust pipes were thinned. Then several shades of black/brown/orange went on as a base for the upcoming rust treatment.

32920049094_b45d2e6e8a_b.jpg20170331-MJS_9903 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

Commander has been primed. You may note he now has a blanket wrapped around him. This was sculpted using Tamiya epoxy putty. This was my way of hiding the fact that I was dumb enough to put only a half figure with no legs into a large open cupola.

33378634380_d08bf7b186_b.jpg20170331-MJS_9900 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

Not sure if I should paint the blanket a faded, dirty khaki. Perhaps with the name "PARKS" (my Cmdr's name) written crudely on it. Or make it look like an acquired civilian blanket with light blue checkered pattern on white. Decisions, decisions. 

 

And finally for today. As with my tank in the game I want to add the two marks of excellence I've earned so far. You can see them on the barrel here.

32871582012_368aae2097_b.jpgIMG_8103 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

I needed to find four plain white stars (two for each side) that would be approximately the right size in my spare decal collection. But no such luck. I wound up finding a star of the correct size on a decal sheet but it was red. So I used an x-acto knife guided by a steel ruler and cut out the star to produce a stencil. The edges of the stencil were sealed with some superglue. I think it worked out pretty well. Looks even better than if I had found decals.

 

The larger stencil on the left is the one I'll be using. The kit gives you two barrels so I checked the stencil on the spare.

33634095351_4c42beb434_b.jpg20170331-MJS_9908 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

Till next time.

 

-matt

 

 

 

 

Edited by M_Sinclair
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The barrel stars look excellent Matt. I know from experience how hard it is to cut accurate star masks, and that was for big Russian stars, not tiny ones like these.

 

The base looks great too. I think your idea for glossing the top would look very classy. It'd make the base look special without taking too much attention away from the model.

 

Andy

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Francis, you can hop on a WestJet flight and fly direct to Winnipeg from London! It's only Europe, then an ocean... and finally half of the world's second largest country to cross! But seriously, thank you and I shall do my best.

 

Thanks Andy. It took several tries but eventually I landed at the final stencil. It was a big help having the decal there to trace. I'll be sure to save these stencils in case I need them again! And I think I will try painting the top gloss black and probably leave the rest as is.

 

Spent last night and today working on the tank commander. In the game, Master Sergeant Parks is now First Sergeant so when it comes to add his chevrons I'll give him his latest promotion. Boy, I've always respected figure painters and working on my first 1/35 figure in ... wow ten years?! Anyway, figure painters, I salute you! This ain't easy!

33394404510_3255139979_b.jpg20170401-MJS_9914 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

Still a fair bit of work to do. I can get away with not painting his eyes as that will all be in deep shadow (thank god). You can see that he has a German style medal on his chest. That's another nod to the game World of Tanks. After battles you can receive medals based on your level of game play and the medals in the game are based on German designs from WWII. And I just so happen to have some photo etched medals from a old Dragon Gen2 infantry set.

 

The box art for the Alpine figure shows a plaid scarf which I attempted to mimic. It's as good as I can make it right now.

33394406370_8ae93a40a0_b.jpg20170401-MJS_9911 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

Thanks for looking and see ya next time.

 

-matt

 

 

Edited by M_Sinclair
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Thanks guys. Glad the scarf appears to have been a success!

 

Squeezed in some more bench time before heading off to work. I focused on fine tuning the gloves, coveralls, jacket and face. 

33676066951_70826771eb_b.jpg

20170402-MJS_9930 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

Still trying to decide if he should keep his khaki-ish coloured military issue blanket or if I should give him a civvie blanket that's white with baby blue checkers. 

32962374324_02c7716e7a_b.jpg

20170402-MJS_9926 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

I think pictures from slightly farther away give a better representation of how he'll be seen in person. 

33805358735_5291067ef1_b.jpg

20170402-MJS_9919 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

I painted the World of Tanks inspired medal on his chest. Then I glossed up his should in preparation for the terrific decals from Alliance Modelworks. 

33676067921_683df5efe1_b.jpg

20170402-MJS_9921 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

I couldn't be happier with the decals. They really add a nice touch of fine detail that I could never get close to with a brush. Next up will be to finish off his helmet and possibly re painting the blanket into a much more colourful item.

 

-matt

Edited by M_Sinclair
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Great build and blog here! Quite a massive tank they had designed late in the war. 

Though I prefer WarThunder and dislike WoT.^^

/Stefan

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Thanks gents.

 

Last time we saw the T29 the paint had started and she looked like this.

33722272676_0864991cd8_b.jpg20170331-MJS_9896 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

And here she is now!

33808641092_0a225a7d4b_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9955 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

I feel an explanation may be in order. If you recall the hatch had been mounted at an angle about half open. This was to help conceal that my figure had no legs and because the kit hatch has zero interior detail. Only problem is a heavy armoured hatch like that simply isn't going to magically remain in said position without some kind of support. It was really bugging me. My friend Markus over in Germany said pretty much the same thing. That hatch just looked weird and had to be fixed. Markus suggested I talk to Joe at Tiger Model Designs about getting a new (and detailed) hatch. Well shortly after contacting Joe at TMD I had not only a new hatch on the way, but plenty of other goodies designed for the new Takom series of T29 kits. Despite the serious time crunch and the fact that the old pieces would have to somehow be removed first certainly complicated things. But this was an opportunity I wasn't going to let pass up!

 

First a big thank you to Markus for getting the ball rolling. And also a big big thank you to Joe at Tiger Model Designs for the beautiful new resin parts. The detail is superb! Far better than anything I could ever hope of scratch building myself. 

 

Joe sent a replacement for the center (rotating) portion of the commanders hatch. Love the fine casting numbers as well as other inner workings of the hatch. There is one frustrating thing about building a prototype tank that never went past trials. It's darn near impossible to find reference material. All I have is one (albeit really good) walk around of the exterior. I've yet to find a single photograph anywhere of the interior, let alone photos of the insides of the hatches. So for assembling to hatch I really just had those used on M26 Pershings for a guide. 

 

So much better than what Takom provides! And Joe gives you the option of building the hatch with or without the periscope mounted. I chose without for the sake of simplicity. Parts of the turret hatch hinge were rebuilt using styrene after the old items were removed. 

33966447835_f319814310_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9960 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

Pretty much all the fine detail parts on the turret can be replaced with parts from Tiger Model Designs now. Removing and replacing the MG mounts and other bits were easy enough. But the hatches were definitely trickier. 

33808640202_b8761bfe23_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9963 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

I'm not sure what this delicate little piece is on the center of the turret. Looks like an aiming sight of some kind? Whatever it is, Takom gives you a solid plastic blob. Joe from Tiger Model Designs gives you this gem!

33966446605_cc9957fc6f_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9965 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

New turret hatches complete with springs and clips. I was anxious about trimming away the excess resin on the springs, especially around the hooks but the resin was more flexible and forgiving than I expected. But be careful they are still teeny tiny pieces made of resin! Steel wire was used for the grab handles on the hatches. 

33966445785_f93c90d5e8_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9968 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

I imagine these small latches secure the hatches in the open position? Again, far more accurate pieces than can be found in the kit. A small detail but still quite prominent. 

33966445205_61ce2747ea_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9970 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

New footman loops replaced my sprue items. A few more have been added to other areas of the turret. 

33966444645_7a16678407_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9971 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

Moving to the back of the turret now. A few more resin goodies were added. Drastically more in scale looking items. 

33153255793_53f0956140_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9976 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

There were several other resin parts included in the package from Joe. Including new hull hatches. But there simply wasn't time to add all of them (my deadline is April 21). Plus removing several of the already glued on parts could have been disastrous. I also took the opportunity to add a little more texture to the cast turret. The real thing is mighty rough looking so I wanted to enhance that while I could. 

 33966442955_bc60a5a834_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9978 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

The bow machine gun was also replaced with a more detailed item. 

33966444015_4b161b9430_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9973 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

Again a big thank you to Joe at Tiger Model Design for supplying the new parts. I'll have to build another T29 now, only incorporating these items right from the start!

 

-matt

Edited by M_Sinclair
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The base has been masked off and the top panel sprayed gloss black. But it didn't leave a very smooth finish so I've lightly sanded the paint in preparation for another attempt at the gloss black. 

33153253193_2b612238c4_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9993 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

I ordered a replica United States Armored Division patch to decorate the base. Looks authentic!

33966441865_06cbccb92f_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9988 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

The idea was to have the patch mounted on the middle of the front panel. But... it's a wee bit bigger than I expected!

33925271366_b634f70da4_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9989 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

I could get away with attaching it there as originally planned. But it would be sticking up a little bit. So here are a few other options. 

33153253823_f8b0793ecf_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9991 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

And this one. 

33925270806_af81b08eae_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9992 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

Or I could leave the base as all black with no patch. Still deciding.

 33153253193_2b612238c4_b.jpg20170410-MJS_9993 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr

 

-matt

 

Edited by M_Sinclair
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8 minutes ago, M_Sinclair said:

33925270806_af81b08eae_b.jpg

 

Hello Matt,

 

nice job with TMD add-ons on the turret ... I got some in my stash, their inventory is very interesting !!

 

For the display, I prefer option 3 !!

 

E

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42 minutes ago, Etienne said:

 

Hello Matt,

 

nice job with TMD add-ons on the turret ... I got some in my stash, their inventory is very interesting !!

 

For the display, I prefer option 3 !!

 

E

Thanks Etienne. This is my first time using TMD products and I was quite impressed. And I'm also leaning towards option 3. Thanks for the input!

 

-matt

Edited by M_Sinclair
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