Time to ditch the wingy things and armour up! First AFV WIP - Academy M3 Grant 1:35

[FrancisGL]

NIce progress, look well weathered..., cheers Clive

[Kris B]

I am not sure thet that is good idea, but here it is link to my work with M3 Grand on the Polish forum. Maybe it could be helpfull for someone. If someone have a questions about it I can answer and if it not good idea or Clive do not want it here I have no issue with this link to being removed. Stil learning the rules .

 

M3 Grant

[clive_t]

7 hours ago, Kris B said:

I am not sure thet that is good idea, but here it is link to my work with M3 Grand on the Polish forum. Maybe it could be helpfull for someone. If someone have a questions about it I can answer and if it not good idea or Clive do not want it here I have no issue with this link to being removed. Stil learning the rules .

 

M3 Grant

Hi Kris, not sure if links to other forums are officially allowed, but personally I don't have a problem with that one! That's a superb model you have built there, puts my efforts to shame! I am very interested in how your interior detailing differs to the standard kit. I shall be studying the pictures and diagrams closely, even if I am unable to follow the text

 

Thanks again for the link!

[Kris B]

44 minutes ago, clive_t said:

Hi Kris, not sure if links to other forums are officially allowed... 

That's exactly what I was mean. Some of the forums not allow it, but I fought you may find there something what may help. 

You doing the great job, and you make me happy that somebody building this beautiful tank, which is not really popular on the forums. And you definitely not have to be shamed. Honest.

The main problem with this model is that the interior has been based on M3 Lee instade of the M3 Grant. Academy did the shortcut. My model is not in 100% accurate, but is slightly closer to the right one them the Academy. Hope you enjoy building, it will be nice model when you finish. 

[clive_t]

14 minutes ago, Kris B said:

The main problem with this model is that the interior has been based on M3 Lee instade of the M3 Grant. Academy did the shortcut. My model is not in 100% accurate, but is slightly closer to the right one them the Academy. Hope you enjoy building, it will be nice model when you finish. 

Thanks, yes I had a feeling something wasn't right when it showed the radio equipment in the hull, by which time I had already fitted the RT operator's seat. Looks like I definitely need to remove that, but at least I have something to refer to by way of an alternative. Thanks again for sharing.

[Cromwell]

Onwards and inwards I hate it when im half way through a build and new/more accurate information come to light.  Hopefully it won't bugger things up too much for you.

[Kris B]

All I can say is sorry. I had the same fillings as Cromwell, but hope is not too late. By the end of the day there is no pressure - it is hobby 

[Kingsman]

On the riveting front, the guy from EDM has promised me a sample set of his rivets.  If his stuff is any good I'm tending towards spending some money with him in return for his initiative, rather than propping up a company in the US.  But I'm pleased to see success with the water filter balls.  I've only used them on Warhammer Orks so far, where precision is definitely not the name of their game and wonky is good.  I think once you have an eye for the divot size it's straightforward, if tedious.  But then every form of riveting is tedious. Yes, sort some balls into little groups by size before you start, as they are variable.  But then rivets come in different sizes anyway.  Big ones for armour plates, small ones for fixtures & fittings.  You don't care how many you lose in the process as you get sooo many, and you don't feel obliged to hunt down every lost injection moulded one that might have cost you 3p.

[clive_t]

On 17/05/2017 at 10:26 PM, Cromwell said:

Onwards and inwards I hate it when im half way through a build and new/more accurate information come to light.  Hopefully it won't bugger things up too much for you.

 

Well, it's happened to me often enough in the past for me to not worry too much about it. I've managed to remove the radio operator's seat without any real damage - I guess that was a 'plus' for using Tamiya Extra-Thin to secure it in place To be fair most of the 'inaccuracies' (for want of a better word) are inside the hull and would be difficult to view anyway, so I won't lose much sleep over it.

 

On 17/05/2017 at 11:26 PM, Kris B said:

All I can say is sorry. I had the same fillings as Cromwell, but hope is not too late. By the end of the day there is no pressure - it is hobby 

 

No worries, Kris, it will all work out fine I am sure. As you say, it's a hobby

 

On 17/05/2017 at 11:47 PM, Das Abteilung said:

On the riveting front, the guy from EDM has promised me a sample set of his rivets.  If his stuff is any good I'm tending towards spending some money with him in return for his initiative, rather than propping up a company in the US.  But I'm pleased to see success with the water filter balls.  I've only used them on Warhammer Orks so far, where precision is definitely not the name of their game and wonky is good.  I think once you have an eye for the divot size it's straightforward, if tedious.  But then every form of riveting is tedious. Yes, sort some balls into little groups by size before you start, as they are variable.  But then rivets come in different sizes anyway.  Big ones for armour plates, small ones for fixtures & fittings.  You don't care how many you lose in the process as you get sooo many, and you don't feel obliged to hunt down every lost injection moulded one that might have cost you 3p.

 

That was good of him, I'd be interested to hear your opinion of them when you get them.

 

So, some more modest progress today, on two fronts - the tank, and (as recorded in the other thread) the first of the figures. The tank progress was a bit 'two steps forward, one back' - a bit of a recurring theme with me, it seems. I made a start on the 75mm gun:

 

 

The other thing I decided to do was to remove the moulded grille at the rear of the hull (engine air intake? Heat vent? Not sure!), thus emulating the efforts of Mr @sunray as most ably demonstrated in his Lee WIP thread here 

 

I was fortunately able to remove the PE grille without damaging it (having only 'spot-welded' it at the corners with a small dab of CA). I then commenced to drilling out the moulded grille:

 

 

A small amount of cleaning up and it's looking good, and ready to receive the PE grille back in place:

 

 

[Blaubar]

Glad you armoured up^^. I am enjoying this blog. Keep it coming at us.

[FrancisGL]

Very well cut done, coming along nicely..., cheers Clive

[Cromwell]

I like the filler cap chains

[sunray]

Nicely done Clive.  You are doing an excellent job on this kit.

[Kris B]

Good idea, but I think Grant have a diamond pattern grill instead on square as in this Lee. 

[clive_t]

Thanks all for your encouraging comments, they are much appreciated.

 

The filler cap chains are part of the Eduard Grant Exterior kit, you just have to twist the ends in opposite directions to get the chain link look. I live in constant peril of losing them, though! 

 

The replacement grille, also part of the Eduard PE set, is indeed diamond pattern. I have a feeling, however, that in doing this I will have made more work for myself, as it will look very empty when one peers into the void beneath the grille! We shall see.

 

Thanks for watching, and of course your comments 

[Bullbasket]

2 minutes ago, clive_t said:

The replacement grille, also part of the Eduard PE set, is indeed diamond pattern. I have a feeling, however, that in doing this I will have made more work for myself, as it will look very empty when one peers into the void beneath the grille! We shall see.

 

Back it up with some card, paint it black, job done.

 

John.

[clive_t]

That's a good idea, thanks John 

[Bullbasket]

56 minutes ago, clive_t said:

That's a good idea, thanks John 

In fact Clive, taking it  stage further, don't bother painting it to start with. When you paint the model it'll be done in the base colour. When it comes to weathering, flow a dark wash over the mesh. That way it'll stand out more.

 

John.

[clive_t]

A bit more progress on the 75mm gun, although some surgery was needed on the mechanism that controls the gun's trajectory. As it stood, and if one were to follow the instructions, the wheel was almost where the driver's head would be - not a very comfortable situation to be in. So I took a look at some reference photos, and some You-Tube clips, wherein it looked as though that wheel was much closer to the gun barrel. So I cut the mechanism down to the bare minimum before glueing it:

 

 

The only other thing I managed today was to attempt to prime the PE section of the right sponson/track guard. Being as it is quite an expanse of very shiny brass, I was concerned about the possibility of paint flaking off once painted. I recently obtained some etch primer and some appropriate thinner, so I gave that a go. Hopefully paint will have something decent to cling on to when I get around to it:

 

 

I've also had a thought about the tracks. In the kit, there are 9 'I-section' track links. I am thinking in terms of making a flexible rubber mould, comprising as many impressions of one link as I can fit on the mould surface. Then hopefully I can make enough of my own to negate the need to buy whole replacement tracks. I will share the results when I finally get to trying it.

 

Thanks for watching

[clive_t]

Some more progress this weekend. I made a start on making a mould for my home-made double-I section track links. I 'borrowed' one of the links from the kit, and made a stamp out of it:

 

 

 

So, to the mould. I found some two-part mould making stuff:

 

 

There were several failed attempts. This stuff sets FAST, so no time for faffing around with getting a nice flat surface in the material. I also learned to my cost that it doesn't pay to try and go back to an impression a second time to make it deeper - it just messes it up completely.

 

Anyway, I managed to make a few impressions using my home-made stamp:

 

 

Not perfect in that to my mind at least they could have done with being deeper. But I gave them a go with some white Das air-drying clay:

 

 

Those will be looked at tomorrow by which time hopefully the clay will have hardened off.

.

Also today was another 'PE' day - specifically the front and rear fenders, which are now fully riveted. Here they are, primed with the same thinned etch primer as before:

 

 

 

With that, I sprayed the fenders with the desert yellow:

 

 

I found some reference pics on the net which showed some good examples of 'collateral damage' to the front fenders, so I set to mangling my hard work in carefully folding and gluing the PE:

 

 

I think that'll look OK once I've weathered it.

 

Another test fit of the hull, as well the 75mm gun:

 

 

Finally for now, a couple of 'moody' shots through the open side hatches:

 

 

 

Thanks for watching, comments welcome as ever

[Kris B]

Lots of good work here. I am interested how those track links will look like. 

[Blaubar]

Great research with the gun wheels. I look forward to seeing the completed model. About the grille, I like Bullbasket's second suggestion, the way to go.

👍🏻

[clive_t]

10 hours ago, Kris B said:

Lots of good work here. I am interested how those track links will look like. 

 

Thanks, Kris

 

1 hour ago, Blaubar said:

Great research with the gun wheels. I look forward to seeing the completed model. About the grille, I like Bullbasket's second suggestion, the way to go.

👍🏻

 

Thanks Blaubar, I am of the same mind myself.

 

The castings came out of the mould very easily:

 

 

After a bit of tidying up, I lined them up on the supplied rubber tracks:

 

 

At this point a problem became apparent which I should have anticipated: shrinkage. It might have been down to my choice of casting material, i.e. Das air-drying clay, or the fundamental laws of physics which say that a copy of a copy is always going to be slightly smaller than its parent. I don't know the technical term for it, but anyone who has had occasion to buy large volumes of cheap figures from certain large countries in the Far East, via certain online auction web sites, will know the phenomenon of which I speak.

 

So, I am kind of at a cross-roads with this approach. I will try again using Milliput, which I would hope is less susceptible to shrinkage given the nature of its hardening process, but ahead of that I am already pondering a 'Plan C' where replacement tracks are concerned. Still, no matter. No experiment is truly a failure if I learn something from it, especially if I get to share the results with interested parties

 

Thanks for looking, comments etc of course

[FrancisGL]

Very curious the frabricacion of the tracks, although it seems that it has not come to 100% to your liking, I have tried something similar but for Zimmerit, although I did not get a 100% success, so on another occasion that I try, I will follow with tests...

Cheers Clive

[Kris B]

To be honest this version doesn't look good. A can add that they are uneven to high will be visible later. 

Maybe you wish to spend few quid and get the Bronco one's?