Crayons

I'll fourth it.

Italeri have always sucked at "jerry cans" and German jacks oddly enough. I had considered just putting a styrene shim into the kit fenders, but as I want a worn, scrub basher look, styrene isn't going to cut the mustard so to speak. Voyager have produced two sets of fenders for the 234/2 Dragon kit, one early and one late, and I had thought of using those, right up until I couldn't find any. Then I found one store online through ScaleMates but the postage cost near cause me to have a heart attack, so I dismissed that lot. 80 Kangaroo dollars just to put something in a standard letter envelope, um.........not a hope in hell. tigerausfb has provided me with some actual measurements from wheel centres (thank you very much) and also the radius of the fender curve, so I'll work with those. Current thoughts are aluminium sheet. If anyone has the Voyager early set that they would like to part with for fiscal compensation with a postage cost that is actually reasonable, please let me know.

Certainly would have been bumpy ride on ovoid wheels.

I actually hate the painting part. So, thank you for your comment.

Minor update. I've taken a little break from the build whilst I contemplate how to best remake the 234/2 fenders as the kit supplied items are to narrow. So, with the replacement wheels from RM in my possession, I thought I would get them all painted up and a little tired and worn looking. Thank you for looking.

And don't forget the 15 future Tiger I releases, because we need more of them.

Great job on this Simon. The canvasesque covers on the smoke launchers turned out really well.

RM have come through with the goodies and my replacement set of wheels arrived in the post this morning. Very crisp detail on them too. And as per my luck, I finished designing my wheels in LW last night. STL's for future use if I ever decide on the lunacy of making another ANCIENT member 234 family. What scares me the most is that I know I have about four or five other Italeri offerings of different kits circa the same vintage. Thank you to all those at Royal Models.

Maddoxx, question for you: Where did you acquire the dark sorcery to shrink real furniture down to fit into models?

I fully expect to be chased out by a mob, wielding pitchforks and brands of fire as I'm not a wingy thing person, I can fly/have flown several Huey's if that saves me from the unruly masses. Pretty much all of my service was spent on vehicles using the m242 Bushmaster, so I'll take a cannon over an MG any day for engagements. When as in aerial combat the LOOF is very narrow due to speed and angles, a heavier, harder hitting projectile, be it ball, tracer, ap or HE and all the derivatives in between is much more advantageous as it is in ground fire. A blend of smaller calibre and heavy cailbre is kind of the best of both worlds (for the purpose of actually getting hits). Now, it comes with a trade off, ROF (cannon specific). With modern aircraft, combat or otherwise, one round anywhere be it MG, cannon or AA it is going to do damage (crippling or otherwise, the aircraft in 99.9% of scenarios is out of the fight), the old wingy things with the their cables and handful of hydraulic lines, didn't suffer from the same issues. The Soviet era BUK is a classic example, the missile itself doesn't hit the aircraft, but explodes near it, sending a metric Fton of shaped shrapnel into the target aircraft. Damaging vital systems and ending the flight abilities of the aircraft. HE cannon rounds did/do a similar thing, utilising shrapnel to do the damage. Now, would they penetrate the rear armour of a pilots seat, no, not their design, but I bet sure as, that pilot is out of the fight for X amount of time healing broken bones from the explosion concussion. Never look at WWII era gun cam as being the first part of the engagement, the bit they show of the enemy going down in a hail of mg bullets is to win the hearts of the people, it is rarely truthful. Also, look at the reasoning and performance of the weapons selected and the thoughts/doctrine of the time, it isn't a random theory someone conjures up after a hard night on the single malt. My two cents, no change or refunds given.

I'm not a fan of the Pz. IV, but I do look like the look of this. Going to be keeping an eye on this.

Thank you. I have had to give up on some of the old school scratch work. Tipping point came with the need for new engine hatch hinges. I just could not figure how to scratch build eight of them efficiently given their profile. And this build is already way over my allotted time frame. But, silk purse, sows ear. Hoping for pleather, best outcome. I do have a diorama already drawn out for this vehicle, but I might just put that on hold and move onto the next project (after this build is completed) which is a WIF.

Minor update: Still no word further word from RM with regards to the wheels (been about a month now). Nearly finished designing my own replacements in LW which is taking an age due to work commitments. Very basic semi scratched interior as some of it will be visible through the now opened drivers hatch. I'll run some leads from my 3d printed batteries to a random point up the back. There is actually a junction box they feed into just behind the batteries, so I might make it even though it wont to be seen. Drivers hatch just needs a fillet on each hinge and some bolts and it is done. Replacement visor covers are RM from the set as are the PE lifting hooks. The RM set does provide PE additions for the visors to be in the open position, but I opted to have them closed. Thank you for looking.

Coming along very nicely Maddoxx. Looking forward to seeing it all DAK'd up.

Just as an FYI, the ancient Tamiya offering, whlist being less detailed is actually more accurate in terms of dimensions