bigfoot

It’s coming along now, got all the base painting down on the outside using AK real colours. Did some hairspray chipping on the dozer blade to get the worn down paint and used a mottle mask on the armour panels, something I’ve not used on armour models before, to add a bit of visual interest. Next thing to add is the markings before moving onto the weathering.

Thanks Keith, me too it’s been one I’ve been itching to get back on with. Cheers John, definitely something a bit different to what I normally build (although it still had tracks!) It does look like it’s going through it’s 70s disco phase! Thanks Pete, hopeful won’t be long before it’s over the finish line That’s the reason I didn’t build half of the engine! Although give them way the floor of the drivers station fits together, it’s not a bad thing it can’t be seen!

Really great selection of work there. You can really see your progress but even the early stuff looks great.

Got back on with this one. Finally picked up some 1.5mm brass tube to replace the resin pistons I cut too short. Pinned the piston heads to the brass tube and tried to fit it to the bulldozer, only to discover the blade mounting frame was too narrow. Had to cut that on the bends and insert two plasticard shims to wide it before glueing it all back together and filling the gaps. With that done it fitted much better and I got the frame glued in place. I had to scratch build a couple of small parts that had got knocked off and lost but it’s all now ready for proper painting.

Really great project, I really like the operations around the Netherlands although I am more interested in the Scheldt estuary area operations where you get interesting things like LVTs etc getting used. One of my favourite tanks, it does have a ridiculous turret but I think that’s part of the attraction! Nice camo work on the panthers, you’re going to have a great looking force.

That is a very tidy build Simon, nice work.

Ah good to see this resurrected John, I remember the thread from back then. I’ve got a stalled Vw on the shelf that I was using your build as a reference for. Need to get back to that one!

Thanks Pete, yeah not enough hours in the day for everything that needs done! Thanks guys. Glad you like the driver, took some short cuts with it so definitely not my best job. It is a less common vehicle which I like. The base kit is decent but lacking in a few places and some details missing.

Blimey, you’re cracking through these builds. All looking good. Will look even better with a lick of paint on them!

Thanks for the kind words Ed, I missed your comment earlier. Having not done much at all at the bench for the last quarter of 2023 due to life, I finally found some time and cracked on with this build. First job was to get the driver painted up. Not the greatest paint job in the world but you can’t see much of him when he’s in position. With him in place I could finally close up the beast and get the top armour in place. A little bit of encouragement and it got sat quite nicely in the end. With that on I fitted the dozer mount. The actual blade is not stuck on yet to allow me to fit the piston arms. I noticed that the kit doesn’t include the armoured covers for the hydraulic arms that are fitted to the bulldozers so I had to fashion those from platicard. This was a bit of a faff as there was very few areas to attach the covers too. I think next time i do this I will make them from copper sheet instead of pc. Last job is to fit the piston arms but I made an error and cut the arms too short so I need to get some rod to remake them. Then it’s ready for painting fully! Still need to decide on markings for it. Greg

I’d join this one, I’ve got several armour kits in the stash that would fit the criterria

I would get on board with this one, plenty of subjects to choose from

Great stuff Arjan. I’ve got one of the LVT2(A) kits to do as a walcheren vehicle at some point, along with a couple of LVT4s. Thanks for sharing those reference pics.

I’m in, I’ve got a meteor F3 that wants to get built.

Superb detailing as ever on your builds John. They look really crisp.

That is looking very nice, all the better with the decals on. One thing you might want to consider, the chevrons on the actual tracks (as opposed to those used as additional armour) were rubber so you could pick those out in a black rather than the metallic.

Whilst that sounds like a great proposal, I’m a slow builder and struggle to normally get one kit finished in the allotted time!

Always like to see an Asuka Sherman being built, especially in a less commonly depicted camo scheme. You’re making a good job of this one Simon. I think you could get away with not adding most of the tools, you could always add a putty tarp or two under the stowage you’ve got there to make sure they were hidden.

Nice build, this is a kit I’ve had my eye on for a number of years and never picked up so nice to see it being built. Making a good job of it.

Thanks John, it’s an accurate armour one, British truck driver I think it was called.

Thanks both. I’ve got some paint down on the internal areas, Tamiya black followed by a coat of AK real colours olive drab. Just going to paint the seat a leather colour then leave it as is as not a lot can be seen. Inside of the armoured structure also painted. Bob the headless driver added for posterity. Just need to find a head with tin hat for him as the one it comes with is bare headed. Getting the foot plate and seat in were a tight PITA, the foot plate is so badly engineered making it nigh on impossible to fit without cutting sections out. Both foot pedals broke in the process and it is far from a perfect fit but good enough for the enclosure. I also started work on a beach obstacle for the base using one from the recent Gecko kit and word to the wise, don’t waste your money on this kit. They have got the design all wrong so it doesn’t fit. It’s made up of three identical parts that slot together, parts one and two for fine but when you fit part three, one angle iron lines up fine but the other is miles off, not only in length but also in the angled join. It seems like they’ve not taken Into account the thickness of the parts properly and unfortunately as it’s off in two dimensions it is not a simple fix. I think I’m going to have to scratch build my own.

Good to see you finally getting to finish this one John. Looking very good with the tracks on.

We’re just about ready for painting now, the track units are all built up. Firstly the metal springs inserted, the ends need to be filed to make them flat and shorten slightly in order to fit. This is in the instructions but took a fair bit of filing to get flush. You could leave these out as they get covered by the unit covers so not visible in the final model but I wanted to do it for completeness! I will know it’s there as they say. Although lots of parts the fit is generally pretty good. The the armoured covers were put on and the units attached to the chassis. I put the covers on first as they took a little bit of adjustment and taping to get them to fit nicely however this made it a little tricky to attach the the front leaf spring however I think this is the better way to do it as it would be difficult to get the covers sitting nicely once attached. I was going to leave the track units separate for painting but actually getting them on and off I though it would ruin the paint trying to do it after. This is the one area of the fit that is poor on this kit. The bars that go to from the track unit to attach around the rear axle have a connector to attach to the end but the angles are all wrong. The track units have locator marks for the parts so I don’t think it is my error as I made sure they were all sitting correctly but didn’t check the fit to the rear. I could probably have sanded to change the angle but it was all stuck together by then so as it’s not visible I will just apply some filler and blend it in. Drivers sofa is up on legs. Last bits of PE added to the armoured cab. Again no markings/locatiors for the large PE parts, just a vague diagram and very hard to dry fit parts but managed to get them in the right place. Will find out when I bring it all together! The dozer is supplied in resin, this so all just dry fitted (other than the PE) and all fits nicely together to allow it to be test fitted easily and broken down for painting. The side braces are held on with just a resin pin and is pretty solid. Talking of the PE, this is another bit of weird engineering choices by mirror models. The bracket for the piston mount is made of three pieces for some reason when it would be much simpler to make it as one piece that could just be folded. These are the parts on the fret. Another couple of annoying bits of this kit, highlighted in case anyone else builds this. The rear winch should have a handle that goes from the top edge to beside the driver. It’s not provided in this kit or mentioned in the instructions but if you look at one or MM’s other crawler kits with the same winch on the rear it provides a resin handle shown in the instructions. I have this kit so I’ll either rob it (as that kit I plan to turn into the wading tractor) or scratch one. Also on the winch, a length of string is provided but not mentioned in the instructions, however the string is way too short (and a bit skinny) to fit the winch spindle and look right. Also no fixture is provided for the other end, I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be, hook or bracket maybe but I’ll have to have a rummage in the spares box to find something suitable. Lastly the tracks are built. These build up nicely but are a bit wiggly once made into lengths. Instructions say 35 needed but I found 36 were needed. Still about half dozen spare links left which is nice to get extras. They should look alright when wrapped around the units. Next update will have some paint!

@KingsmanNice work Peter, that definitely looks like what it’s based on, all those features you’ve pointed out match. Too bad no one makes a kit of it (that I’m aware of). ‘The Rocket’ definitely only had 5 road wheels too. I did pull this screen grab as well of the front winch.

Great to see this one straight through. I’ve got so many options for D Day builds I’m going to have a hard time narrowing it down!