Lummox

Methinks I'm overdue an update. I can't believe it's two weeks since the last post - where on earth does the time go? First some belated responses to comments... Thanks Kristjan, it's very kind of you to say 👍 Cheers Nik. Brass and stuff is great, but I must admit I'm looking forward to toning down the bling with some nice unifying paint. Thanks Mr P. Hmmm, a voltage regulator you say <quickly opens search engine to find out what one of those is>. Cheers Keith, thanks for the info, and another vote for a voltage regulator. I agree with what you say about the challenges of replicating wiring to scale. I think our hobby is always a compromise between using materials that are over-scale (but workable), against true-scale (but unworkable). As long as it looks not too out of place it's close enough for me. Thanks Ned. A voltage regulator it is then! It's always nice to know what the bit'n'bobs you're working on actually are (although I'll not pretend to understand what they do). Cheers Jochen. As ever, thank you for all the additional info. I might have known you'd come up with the goods, though if you'd provided those links earlier I might have made a better job of the voltage regulator. Thanks Andrew, I'll try my best. 👍 Cheers Los. If I do get it running, I could do with trundling it over to your paint shop. Right, so what's been going on since the last update? Well, I've been working on something I think I can actually identify (gasp, no, surely not!) If I'm not very much mistaken we can see a klaxon: We also see examples of a double klaxon, which is what Trumpeter provide in their flak truck: We won't be greedy though, we'll just go for a single klaxon, so let's see what we can find. The spares box drew a blank, so I had to resort to the stash. Now generally I don't like raiding bits from unbuilt kits, but as luck would have it, I found a pair of klaxon faces in an update set for a Panzer II. Why there are two virtually identical faces is unknown (different klaxon manufacturers perhaps?), but the instructions suggest it's optional which one to use: Anyhoo, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth let's nab one for use in our truck. A bit of sprue for the klaxon body, some etch off-cuts for a bracket, some wire for a cable, and we end up with a klaxon. I thought I'd stuff the end of the cable into the firewall 'hole', because, hey, why not? Next, we circled back to where we started some time ago. Remember that lubrication pump that we talked about several posts back? No? Well here's a picture to jog your memory, along with a picture of the plunger thing in the cab that operates the pump: These awful pictures attempt to show the pump being spruced up with a nut on it's 'spout', and a massively over-scale 'T' junction made from soldered brass tube. The second picture is a representation of the cab plunger: The pump was then added, along with lead wire to represent the lubrication lines that traverse the firewall to termination points roughly in line with the leaf springs, or wheel hubs, or whatever else it may be that is actually being lubricated (the lines will stop there I'm afraid). Not forgetting the 'plunger' in the cab (which is not quite in the right place but I won't tell anyone if you don't!) And finally, to get away from all the unforgiving macro photography, let's have a couple of shots to give the firewall some context. Inevitably some of the detail ends up hidden (at least we know it's there), but generally the additional work brings to an area to life that would have been pretty featureless: And that brings things up to date. Cheers, and thanks for looking, Paul.

Beautiful work Kristjan, I love what you have done with the mufflers. Very clever, and very effective. 👍 Just a quick observation if I may... You've beaten-up the mufflers very realistically. Would the expectation be that the fenders also have some damage/dings to mirror the hard life of the mufflers? But there again, it would be such a crying shame to mangle those gorgeous fenders. Hmmm, it's a tough call. Paul.

Top work with the bonkers masking Rob. I reckon you deserve one of these...

Well Easter is over, far too much lamb and chocolate has been consumed, the spare bedroom has been freed from visiting relatives and has reverted to a 'modelling studio', so I think it's now time for an update. But first some responses to welcome comments... Thanks Keith, you really are far too kind 👍 Cheers Mr P. You know, I think I agree with leaving the holes. Ah yes, the video of the Stammheim museum example. Thanks for nudging my memory Jochen - I knew I'd seen the 'hole effect' somewhere. Cheers Ned. I'm going to run with the holes I think. It's gives a bit of interest, and I'm sure the driver won't mind the odd rattle. Right, now for the update. This is going to be a bit of a waffle I'm afraid, the subject being the electrical 'connector box' type thing that is visible at the top right of the firewall: I'm starting to become a bit paranoid as to whether features in the engine bay of the handful of extant truck examples are period or not. Wartime pictures of the area are like hen's teeth so it's tricky to confirm whether the 'box' is post-war or otherwise. We do have a couple of pointers though. Firstly we have the new(ish) flak truck produced by Trumpeter. Downloading the instructions from Scalemates we see something that looks very much like our 'box' (we also see the lubrication pump thingy too discussed in earlier posts): The only other evidence I could find was this picture of fire-trucks (maybe?) based on the L4500 chassis. I don't profess to be an expert on uniforms, but the chaps look to be in wartime garb to me, and is that a hint of the 'box' we can see (if we use our imagination)? Persuading myself that the 'box' is wartime, lets have a look at it in more detail. There's four wires leading into the box from a rat's nest of wiring focused around what look to be 'choc block' type connectors. Wires into the 'choc blocks' appear to come from a hole in the firewall: The 'strengthening rib' pressing on the firewall appears to flip from concave to convex just prior to the hole where the wires pass through: So what's inside the cab where the wires pass through the firewall? The hole looks to coincide with a bank of connectors inside the cab below the dashboard. In the second image I reckon we can see the wiring passing through the hole in the firewall: OK, there seems to be some kind of sense to the wiring, so let's see what we can do to replicate it. The flipping of the strengthening rib from concave to convex was a bit beyond my skill set, so instead I used a blocked off piece of brass tubing to replicate the 'hole'. A mix of lead wire of 0.3 and 0.2 mm diameter was threaded through pre-drilled squares to replicate the 'choc blocks'. It's all rather simplified, and in retrospect I should probably have used finer 'wires', but we are where we are: Macro photography is a harsh mistress, but panning out a bit it doesn't look too bad. It gives an impression of 'business' which hopefully will look OK under a coat of paint: That's it for now. Apologies for the ramble, cheers, and thanks for looking, Paul.

I've been blown away by all the comments, thank you. I thought it best to respond now rather than wait for the next update... Cheers Mr P. Some kind of riveted 'padding' strip seems evident now that it's been pointed out. Strange the things you miss that are blindingly obvious. 🤪 Thanks Tiger. I guess the bonnet panels would make an infernal din without the deadening strip. The strip took a couple of attempts. The first try had the holes pre-drilled, but this caused uneven bending of the strip (there being a 'notched' effect, presumably due to the plastic being weakened at the drilled holes). Fixing the strip on the firewall first and then drilling the holes in situ ended up being the way to go. Not too hard a job really, just needed some careful measuring and a high quality drill bit. Talking of which, these bits from Tamiya take some beating. Expensive, but worth it IMHO. The wider shank makes such a difference in accuracy, and reduces breakages no end: Cheers Roger - much appreciated 👍 Now that's a thought Echen, I'd love to have one of these in the back garden to tinker with. 👍 Thanks, but stop it now Mr P Oy, you can stop it too Cheers, Kristjan. I wasn't planning on adding the bolt heads to the flanges, but you've shamed me into doing it now I used the second smallest bolts from this etch set by Aber (they are slightly too large but the smallest bolts were too small). I'm afraid I'm not adding bolts to the flange in the cab as access is far too limited 🤪 Oh bother Jochen, I thought things were going far too well. Although not strictly accurate, the holes are meant to 'suggest' the pop rivet heads. How was I to know that the Germans were late to the party and didn't start using them 'till after the war? Sheesh! I suppose that means I'll have to do something about the radiator housing too as I pulled the same trick there: OK, what to do? I don't think that filling the holes is an option. I could replace the strips (but don't have an appetite to do that truth be told). That leaves hiding the holes with something, so it was out with the masking tape and scalpel: Hmmmm, not sure what to make of that to be honest. Do you know, I may be a bad man, but I think I prefer the little holes. I'll ponder things for a while... Thanks Rob. It's a bit of a labour of love. I think it will be a while yet before the engine coughs into life Thanks again for all the comments, Paul.

Cheers Nik. There's no plans on this becoming a shelf queen, so I'll keep plugging away. When it will eventually be finished is another question though. Thanks Mr P. It's always a bit of a milestone when the primer unifies everything and the bling is banished! Cheers Keith. Lubrication pump MkII for the win I think 👍 Thanks Roger, and another vote for lubrication pump MkII (which is encouraging) 👍 Cheers Kristjan. I agree the pump isn't as exact a match as I'd have hoped for, but it's close enough if you squint a bit In an effort to keep things moving, I'll post a short update on work that's been taking place in the firewall area. Firstly, a job I hadn't been looking forward to, which was an attempt to replicate the strip that is evident around the firewall boundary. I assume the strip is there to secure the bonnet panels when they are in place, and/or perhaps to seal against water ingress into the engine area? Whatever, it is quite noticeable, so needed to be added. It's unclear whether the hanging off bit in the last picture is the strip itself or some kind of additional rubber seal: I pondered how best to replicate the strip, fleetingly considering brass strip, but opting for thin styrene strip for ease of bending/drilling/attaching. The task ending up being as awkward as I feared, especially the tight bends around the firewall corners. We got there in the end though. It's not perfect but I think it will look OK under a coat of paint: Next, was something that had been gnawing away at me more then it should, namely the circular flange thing around the steering column aperture. The kit doesn't represent this feature at all well, there instead being just a raggedy slot for the steering column to pass through: Hunting around the spares box I happened upon a piece of etch that fortunately fitted the bill nicely. I honestly cannot remember where the etch came from, but it was just about perfect for the job. The top of the slot was plugged and filled, and the etch flange fitted: So far, so good, the front of the firewall started to look the part. Unfortunately, the view from the inside of the cab told a different story, the raggedy slot with plug was on show for all the world to see. Hmmm, we'll have to do something about that, but what did the real cab look like in that area? Well, images of the area are few and far between. I found one tantalising glimpse of 'something' for the version of the truck we're modelling, and something clearer for a truck version where the cab dashboard was altered around somewhat. We seem to have something that mirrors with the flange on the front, but more substantial: OK, let's see what the spares box throws up for this. Panzer IV fans may well recognise the road-wheel (these I think being spares from a Tristar kit). The separate hub cover, once drilled, will be a close enough match for our purposes. A slosh of paint, some weathering, and hey presto, the slot is suitably camouflaged: Finally, a couple of shots with the steering column is place. You wouldn't believe how much of a faff it was to get the inside and outside flanges to play nice with the column. Definitely a situation where having an extra hand or two would have been jolly useful That's it for now. Cheers, and thanks for looking, Paul.

There's no hiding the reality that this build has stalled somewhat. No excuses really, the cold, hard fact is that I've been slacking. A tell tale sign is when you eventually rouse from your slumber to post an update, you start to think that the thread has disappeared into the ether, but then eventually you find in on page 5. 🤪 I do have some shocking news to report though. You may want to sit down for this. There has been paint OK, it's only a coat of primer, but paint is progress! Quite tricky to get into all the nooks and crannies truth be told, but we got there in the end (just about): While the AB was out some other stuff got a squirt too. The wheels have turned out OK after their butchering to replace the hubs: Meanwhile, I thought it would be remiss of me not to do something about that lubrication pump thingy seen you kind people took the trouble to identify for me. It's been a while, so here it is again to refresh your memory: Sketches were made, measurements were taken, dimensions were guessed, and eventually something that looked vaguely like the pump was scratched up: So far, so good, let's just check what it looks like in situ. That's not good - it's too big, fouling on the steering column and firewall support. 😞 Well, I say it's too big, but really the problem is that the space between the steering column and the support is too small. What's gone on there then? Part of the problem is that the firewall support I knocked up is probably positioned too far inboard (my bad). Not sure about the steering column location though either. Oh, bother: Hmmm, what to do? Well, the steering column is pretty much fixed in that location, and I didn't fancy moving the firewall support at this late stage, so the simplest compromise was to knock up a mini-me version of the lubrication pump. Hooray, the new pump now fits OK: Finally, a wider shot to see the pump in context: That's thing up to date. I really need to pull my socks up and get moving with this, so I'll be mentally cracking the whip (honest). Cheers, and thanks for looking, Paul.

Hi Jules. The build is on hold while I've been focusing on the truck that will be transporting the Maiale. There has been little progress I'm afraid, and certainly there has been no paint. I really need to stop faffing around and get on with things. Earlier posts in the blog use VillagePhotos for picture hosting, but they didn't renew their SSL certificate when it expired, which no doubt is the cause of the missing pictures. I suspect you'll be at the painting stage way before me, so perhaps I can gain some inspiration and motivation from your build Cheers, Paul.

Fantastic work Andrew!

I'm gobsmacked at the magnificent response from the good folk on here to what was basically a quite mundane and esoteric query. Many thanks to you all 👍 It does look like @Jochen Barett has once again come up with the goods (that handbook looks very interesting by the way), but also a special hat-tip to @Keeff who originally suggested a lubrication system. So mystery solved, but I'm now wondering what is being lubricated? Thanks again to everyone. Paul.

Hmmm, that sounds interesting Keith. I've got a chassis to paint very shortly so I'm eager to see the end result. Crack on in your own time . Paul.

Blimey, there's been lots of comments and suggestions (which is great). Rather than rudely waiting a month to reply which is my usual trick, I thought I'd respond more promptly for a change... Ah, OK, so the reservoir doesn't necessarily need to be that close to the brake pedal. Gotcha Mr P, thanks. And yes, a 'Haynes' would be rather nice (didn't see one in The Works last time I was in ). Cheers Nik, and yes there looks to be two lines coming from the reservoir, possibly to the brakes, but then again... Thanks Keith. Yes, two lines, maybe for a lubrication system? Hmmmmm.... Sorry if I'm being a bit slow, but is it the mechanical linkage for the brake that is leading you to rule out the master cylinder theory Jochen? There certainly are examples of vehicles that don't exhibit the mystery reservoir 'thing', so it doesn't seem to be a 'must have'. What can I say my friend, apart from 'thank you'. I certainly owe you a stein or two. Coincidentally once of the images you show is I think the Stammheim L4500 before restoration (the following being 'before' and 'after' shots). Given that their vehicle doesn't seem to have the 'thing' I'm not sure if they would be able to help, but you never know : The museum certainly would be worth a visit as it looks to be packed with interesting stuff. No sign of our L4500 though, which is a shame. Cheers Ed. The resin head certainly makes a difference. Just hope my paint job will do it justice. Thanks Filippo. The figure is the one on the left in this set by MiniArt (it needed quite a bit of cleanup but turned out OK). The replacement resin head was one in this set by Hornet: And finally I stumbled across this which shows a running example of the truck with the mystery 'thing' evident: Cheers, thanks for looking, and thanks for all the input (which is much appreciated), Paul.

Shamefully my laxness has continued into the new year. I'm way overdue an update. I really will have to knuckle down and get on with the job, but it's been so long I'm struggling to recall what the job was! Ah yes, I remember now, I was rambling on about a mystery object on the firewall... It does look rather like a master cylinder of some kind doesn't it Jochen? It's position seems to be wrong for the brake system to me, as I'll try to explain later. Thanks Keith, and another vote for a brake master cylinder. Not sure about its location though (but I'll freely admit to not knowing a great deal about these things). Ha, Nik (there's always one isn't there) Hello stranger, good to see you're still alive and kicking Mr P. You did well to dig this thread from the depths (must have been languishing on page 7 or something) Right, on with the update. Firstly, let's revisit that picture showing the mystery object on the firewall, with added annotation to explain my thinking. We can see the protrusion for the footwell where the clutch, brake and throttle pedals are situated, The mystery master cylinder is some distance away from where the brake pedal would be (although interestingly there is something else that looks like a master cylinder where the clutch pedal would be, which makes sense I guess). Note the highlighted stiffening rib which we'll use as a reference in the next pictures: Now let's look inside the cab (I think these pictures are from the same vehicle). We see the footwell with the various pedals, but interestingly if we follow the reference stiffening rib we we see 'something' which looks to correspond with the location of mystery master cylinder. I don't have a clue what this may be to be honest. It doesn't look like a foot pedal, more something that may be pushed/pulled (though a bit of a reach for the driver I'd have thought)? Unsure whether the red has any significance (a button perhaps)? Wondering if this was an oddity to a specific vehicle, I has a poke around and found other (similar, but different) examples: So the mystery deepens. We now have an unknown master cylinder thing on the firewall and a seemingly corresponding unknown lever thing in the cab. I'm curious as to what purpose these may serve, so would welcome any thoughts/ideas/guesses from you clever people. Preempting any suggestion that @NIK122 may have, I don't think it's a bonnet release lever Right, on with the build. Not much has gone on to be perfectly honest, but I thought it's time to stop faffing about and get final things added to the chassis before sloshing some paint around. Naturally this meant that we should rip something from the chassis that has been previously added. Do you see that mid-section of the exhaust system that was added some time ago? It's going to awkward painting that isn't it with it twisting and turning around the chassis? So off it came, pins being added to the attachment points to allow it to be 'push fit' added after painting. The exhaust system is now totally separate which should simplify painting no end: Things have been added to the chassis though, starting with the width indicators created some time ago: ...and the rear light cluster things. Whether these extreme sticky out bits will survive the work to come is another question. Time will tell 🤞: Finally, Kev has seen some progress in that he's got a new head. The kit head isn't too bad, but a resin replacement (from Hornet in this case) is always going to be an improvement: When replacing heads I find the trickiest part is getting the orientation correct (so that the head fits the pose of the figure). To help with the orientation the kit head is tacked in place (the fit wasn't great as can be seen) and some major trepanning undertaken to drill through following the plane of the head. A pin in the replacement head then naturally follows the kit head orientation. The neck area is then excavated, thinning the collar as much we dare: Now Kev has a new head (removable for painting): That's things up to date. Cheers, and thanks for looking, Paul.

Dug these out of the archive which may or may not be of interest. The last picture is my personal favorite

Over the past year my daughter has discovered the art of crochet, so naturally decided a crocheted tank would be a suitable gift for her father. As a bit of festive fun I thought I'd post the fruits of her labour here. I reckon it's the cutest tank ever! It's based on a Valentine, which is kinda evident in the running gear and engine deck. Not sure about the turret though, There either been a muddling of scale compared to the hull, or a Valentine sent to Russia got a bit too friendly with a KV-2! Thanks for looking, and may I take this opportunity to wish everyone health, wealth and happiness for the year to come. Paul.

Lordy! Andrew right now:

Cheers Stef. The quality of the Eduard prints was a real eye opener for me. Sausage fingers must be a common affliction as I suffer from them too. My fingers are like a bunch of Cumberlands - all six of them. Clean up of the prints is a bit of a pain Los, but I don't think you'll be disappointed, Thanks M2, much appreciated. I was actually contemplating scribing some fingernails but sanity prevailed. Cheers Kristjan 👍 I think you'll like the Noteks as they are very good. Eduard should be putting me on commission for all the sales I'm generating Thanks John, much appreciated. Truth be told you're not the only one who will be glad when this build is finished. Cheers Ed. I'm not sure that I'm worthy of such praise but I greatly appreciate the encouragement. 👍 Brilliant! That may not be a bad idea Jochen depending on how his finger diet goes. Thanks Nik. 👍 Thanks to everyone for all the feedback as it really does help to bolster the mojo. But now I'd like to ask a question if I may, as I know your combined knowledge is exceeded only by your wit and attractiveness... Does anyone have any idea what the highlighted object on the engine firewall might be? There appears to be a split connector below the object with one pipe (or cable?) traversing the firewall behind the engine, and one pipe heading downwards towards the chassis: Here's some more shots of the 'thing' on the same vehicle: You also see the 'thing' on other vehicles, as in these wreak examples: But here's the rub, you also see some vehicles with no sign of the 'thing': Period pictures are hard to come by, but you do see tantalising hints of what looks to be the 'thing' (if you use your imagination and squint a bit): I suspect that the 'thing' is period so I plan to add something to represent it (the assumption being that the examples where it is absent are perhaps post-war modifications, or the object has simply been removed). It would be great to know what the 'thing' is before I try to replicate it (so educated guesses could be made on pipework, etc.) especially with respect to anything that may need to be added to the chassis which I'm trying to finalise before hitting with paint. I thought it may be an oil/water separator associated with the compressed air system, but as it's on the opposite side of the vehicle to the compressor this seems unlikely. Any ideas/suggestion will be very gratefully received. Thanks in advance, thanks for the encouragement, and thanks for looking, Paul.

Super work John - you must have jolly good eyes and a steady hand! My hands would be shaking like billy-o and I'd be forgetting to breathe.

Cheers Los. 👍 I got the 3D Noteks from Hannants

As per usual, I'm well overdue an update, but sadly I'm only managing the odd 30 minutes here and there, so progress has been somewhat piecemeal. I thought I'd post what limited progress there has been, which is a bit of a Smörgåsbord of random bits and bobs. Firstly, the second rear wheel has been modified so that completes the butchering on the wheels. Yay! We'll have to see what these look like under a coat of paint: Scratching about for small jobs, I thought the fitment of the front Notek light would be a quick one to tick off the list. The Voyager update set provides a resin replacement for the kit light which is a tad basic. Offering the light up to the chassis I found it fouled the adjacent headlight. Investigating further I noticed that the light support was out of true resulting in the light leaning to the right. No matter, just heat the resin light in hot water and bend the support to straighten. Well, the inevitable happened: While contemplating a fix I noticed these 3D printed Notek lights online. For the price of a pint I thought I'd give them a go, and I must admit I'm very impressed. You get 12 lights with their supports and a fret of brass for a selection of different vehicle attachment brackets. The detail is an eye-opener, being absolutely superb. The only downside is the numerous support finger things (I assume needed during the 3D printing process?) which makes clean up a bit tedious: Here's the end result - very nice indeed. Eduard do a whole range of 3D printed upgrades which I'll definitely be investigating further: Next job was to fix some 'collateral damage' to some U-bolt hanger things on the chassis. I'm not sure what these are actually called, but I reckon they're used to secure the bed to the chassis. They've always been very vulnerable, being the sort of thing you'd like to add later in the build but you can't as other gubbins gets in the way: A search found most of the arms of the broken hangers, but one had gone AWOL, so a replacement was manufactured. Reinstated back on the chassis some of the U arms look a bit wonky, but once the bed is in place all should be well: You may have noticed from the previous picture that the chassis is now mounted on a 'handle'. With more and more being added to the chassis, there are fewer and fewer places to hold the thing without causing damage. A rummage in the garage produced some odds and ends for a rudimentary handle. Fortunately there's a handy hole in a chassis cross-member (where the transfer case will eventually be mounted) which can be used to attach the handle. Hopefully 'collateral damage' will now be a thing of the past, and it will certainly help when the paint goes on. Who'd have thought that after all these years my Woodwork O-level would come in useful: Finally, an update on Kev. His hands had the fuel hose moulded in place and would have been butt jointed to his solid sleeves which have now been hollowed out. The hands have been separated from the hose, hollowed, and wrists have been fashioned. The hose nozzle will be used as a template when manufacturing a replacement later: And here is Kev with his new hands. Hmmm, his fingers are still a bit like sausags so probably need more work: And that brings things up to date. Cheers, and thanks for looking, Paul.

It's getting on for two months since I last posted. Blimey! Not a great deal to report on to be honest, primarily due to an unexpected rush job at work. It's great living out of a hotel firefighting a failing project that you know nothing about. 😞 But hey, it pays the bills I guess. Just to show I haven't given up on this, here's a short update on what little progress there has been... Those of you with good memories may recall that I was messing about with wheels. The fronts have been done so focus shifted to the rears. Clear images of the rears are harder to come by, but looking at pictures we do find we see hubs with pronounced rims and also an internal riveted strip thing: The kit and resin wheels are similar to the fronts in that the hub rims are indistinct and unconvincing. The internal riveted strip is noticeable by it's absence: This is what we get following much reworking of the rear outer wheel. As can be seen the problematic hubs on the rear inner wheels are pretty much hidden, so thankfully the resin wheels can be used 'as is': Being away from the bench for long periods I started looking for something simple that I could fettle with in a hotel room when time permits. A figure would fit the bill nicely, so this refueling chap was packed into the travel case along with some simple tools. I reckon the fellow looks a bit like Kevin De Bruyne. Maybe, or perhaps I've spent too much time in the hotel bar? Whatever, our chap will be known as 'Kev' from now on: This is my first MiniArt kit, and to be honest, I'm a bit disappointment. The detail is soft, there are huge mould lines (looks at those down the front of the legs!), and the plastic is 'waxy' so hard to clean up. It may well just be this kit that is a bit naff, dunno? Different MiniArt kits built up by other forum members look to be hugely impressive so I'll reserve judgment. I may well use the Hornet resin head seen in the picture but we'll see how the figure goes: Here's what Kev looks like after much tidy up work and a bit of sharpening. I've done some surgery on his right arm to impart more of a bend at the elbow, the idea being that he'll be filling the truck fuel tank which is higher that the jerrycan the figure was designed for. I also hollowed out his sleeves to accept some hands later: Finally a quick shot to show Kev in situ: And with that things are pretty much up to date. Cheers, and thanks for looking, Paul.

The Lummox clan are jetting off on hols tomorrow (yippee! 😎) so I'll squeeze in a quick update before forgetting to pack something really important. Firstly though, replies to comments... Cheers Keith. To be honest it continues to surprise me that people find my ramblings of interest! Thanks Echen. I must admit I did hesitate a bit before taking the plunge with the hacking and slashing. I always had the back-stop of buying more replacement wheels if things didn't work out (although they do appear to be harder to come by now as the kit is a bit long in the tooth). Cheers John - what's that about 'great minds think alike'? Thanks Pete. It's quite a bit of work to be honest but I think the end result will be worth it. Ha, cheers Andrew, and yes, it a refreshing change not to have an Optivisor strapped to your head all the time. I keep leaving the thing on when answering the door to the delivery guys. I'm sure they all think I'm a bit of a weirdo. 🤪 Don't worry Vytautas, the 'slow build' prize is open to everyone. The problem is that a suitable period of time has to elapse to allow the slowness of a build to be measured. The prize will therefore not be awarded until 2040. Thanks Rob 👍 Oooo, cheers Los, that looks interesting. I've included the image below from Scalemates for discussion purposes. If this had been available a year or so ago I'd definitely have bought it for the instrument binnacle alone. I was curious as to why they have included two binnacles that look identical apart from the speedometer so I dug out their instructions. Apparently the top binnacle (1A) is for an L4500A (4WD) version, the bottom (1B) being for a L4500S (2WD). Not sure why an A would need a different speedo to an S to be honest. The S speedo brought memories flooding back as it looks suspiciously like the post-war tachograph that I originally had in the cab until I was enlightened by forum members. Whatever their veracity of the binnacles they look fantastic. The Quinta Studio products look really nice. I'll have to try them some day but it's a bit too late for the L4500. I do wonder about the duplicate Notek lights for different colour schemes. Do you try to match your Dunklegelb/grau with the 3D decals, over-paint the decals with your mix, or just slam the decals on and hope no-one notices the colour mismatch? Right, now for the update. Firstly, a quick status report on the wheels. The two fronts are now done, and a production line has started for the rears: As a break from the wheel drudge (sanding is very boring truth be told) I thought I'd work on the various iconic Mercedes-Benz three-pointed stars that adorn the front of our truck. We have three stars to deal with: one on the top of the radiator cap, one within a small badge below the filler cap on the radiator housing, and the large star on the radiator grill: Voyager provides etch for the radiator cap and star emblem. We won't use the etch for the cap as it's far too 2D, the kit cap being a better representation. We will use the star emblem though, but not folded over as one side of the star will be fine: The star emblem sits on a graceful conical plinth which is poorly represented by the etch. Brass tube was therefore shaped with a round file, cut, and fitted into the radiator cap to produce a makeshift plinth: The 'plinth' on the etch star was then slimmed to produce an elongated pin which could be sheathed in brass tube of an appropriate diameter to slip into the new plinth. Offering up the etch star with the kit equivalent we see that there is no comparison (this is why we all love etch). We end up with a radiator cap emblem which looks fine and dandy. Or does it? 🤔 The star looked odd to me, and then I realised, it's far too big! Comparing with pictures of the real thing (attempting to keep the radiator housing size roughly the same) we see that the star is comically mahoosive, probably about twice the size that it should be! The etch star is the same size as that in the kit, so I suspect that Voyager have blindly copied Zvezda. The radiator cap looks to be Lizzo size too for good measure. Oh dear. 😞 So what to do? Well, while looking at period reference images you do find that more often than not the cap star is missing (maybe too vulnerable, or maybe nicked as a souvenir, who knows?) Leaving it off is therefore a valid option, which would be a shame, but may be for the best. We don't have to make the decision right now as it can easily be slipped on/off, so we'll see how things go. As an aside, I wonder why they replaced the star with a decapitated head in that last image? 🤪 Moving on to the radiator grill, Voyager provide etch for both the star and the grill. Unfortunately the etch grill doesn't reproduce nicely in photos (Moiré interference or something when image resolution changes) so you'll have to trust me when I say the grill doesn't look so cruddy in real life. I've included the kit grill that I chain drilled out for comparison. The middle of the star on the kit grill was used to fabricate the small Mercedes-Benz badge on the radiator housing (the Quinta Studio 3D decal set seen earlier includes this badge by the way as item #2): And here we see the radiator grill in situ. Everything is just sitting in place for now so things may look a little squiffy (I'll be leaving the grill off during painting so it doesn't get clogged up, hoping that a separate light mist coat will keep the grill holes clear): The move I look at it the more I dislike that radiator cap star. I think it'll have to go. And that brings things up to date. Cheers, and thanks for looking, Paul.

That, sir, is bloody brilliant!

A stormy Saturday provides an ideal opportunity for an overdue update, but first some belated responses to welcome comments... Cheers Roger, very kind of you to say. 👍 Ha, thanks Vytautas. Still some way to go I think as the engine hasn't started dripping oil onto my workbench yet. We could both be in the running for a prize echen - 'And the winner of the slowest build of the decade competition goes to....' Cheers Los, and thanks for the suggestion on 8 and 12t trucks (nothing has come to light so fa,r but I haven't given up just yet). Tolerances certainly are tight with all the plumbing going on in the engine bay. I plan to stuff the connecting tubes/holes with scrap wire come painting time to hopefully prevent connectors getting bunged with paint. I'm sure there will be lots of cussing post painting though when things that did once fit no longer do. Thanks Keith, kind of you to say. 👍 Cheers Kristjan, but I think you can see stunningly detailed 1/35 builds much closer to home. Your work is truly inspirational. OK, what have I been up to since the last update? As a break from the fiddly work on the chassis I thought I'd do something totally different and move onto the wheels. The kit wheels are a bit strange, having a overly convex tyre sidewall, resulting in a bulged appearance and narrow tread area with an odd pattern. Some time ago I acquired some replacement wheels from ET Model which are a great improvement and are also weighted (which makes a big difference in my view): The replacement resin wheels have their own problems though, namely a poorly cast hub/tyre demarcation which is quite rough and ragged in areas. The hub detail on the resin wheels is also disappointing, being more softly represented than that on the kit hubs: Looking at the front wheels on the real thing we see that there is a distinct rim between the hub and the tyre, this rim being totally absent on the resin wheels: It's also interesting to note the hub variations with respect to the shape, size and orientation of the (lightening?) holes. Here's five examples to show the variations, the right-most example being closest to how the holes are represented on the kit wheels: So what do we do? Well the resin wheels work best but we'll need to do something about the cruddy hub/tyre demarcation and the lack of a hub rim. Following several unsuccessful experiments with wire and stretched sprue to represent the rim (challenging to achieve a true circle) I stumbled upon a tube in the spares box that was happily the perfect diameter. Firstly a band was cut from the tube which was thinned as much as I dare (masking tape being used to support the fragile band of plastic). A thin sliver was then sliced off the band which was hoped would represent the hub rim. The end result was a disappointment, the wheel appearance was improved to a certain extent but it still looked far from convincing: A more radical solution was needed, so the 'heavy artillery' was summoned from the garage toolbox. Before too long we had a tyre sans hub: Next the kit wheel was deconstructed, plastic was snipped and sanded, and eventually we ended up with a hub. I think you may be able to see where we're going with this: Remember that band of thinned plastic used earlier in the failed attempt to create a rim? Well that was added to the mix along with some bits and bobs to knock up a valve. Fill the remnants of the cruddy casting on the tyre, finesse the hub a little by thinning the hole walls and adding a 'valve', put everything together, and you end up with a Frankenwheel: Comparing with an unadulterated resin version we now have a rimmed wheel: Finally a quick shot of the new wheel in situ: Yeah, admittedly the rim is a bit over-scale but I think the Frankenwheel is an improvement (which is a good job really and I've burnt my bridges by destroying two serviceable wheels to produce it!) So it's one Frankenwheel down, only six more to go. Argh! Thinking about it though, I don't need to worry about the spare wheel as that's kinda hidden under the bed. That leaves five. Hang on, the rear inner wheels are hidden by the outer ones, so the inners don't really need doing. That leaves three. Only three wheels to go then, which doesn't sound too bad. Nevertheless, I predict a lot of sanding in my future. 🤪 Cheers, and thanks for looking, Paul.