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PACHYDERM PACKS A PUNCH. FINISHED?PHOTO HEAVY p22


Badder

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Pictured below are the first parts to be added to the interior of the fighting compartment. The 'tube' on the right is, I assume, a pipe which pumps hot air from the engine into the fighting compartment. Hopefully, this air was heated via a heat exchange, and didn't just pump exhaust fumes directly onto the crew? 

 

Note the tiny butterfly-handle for the valve on the left side of the pipe. This is EASILY the smallest detailed protrusion I've ever seen on a kit.

The important-looking lever on the left is for dropping the gun travel lock.

dcYXdCk.jpgI didn't bother cleaning up at this stage as I still had to fit those tiny hooks - one above the hot air vent, and one beside the travel lock lever.

 

 

And speaking  writing of the tiny hooks, here they are:


XC4YN3r.jpg

 

There are 8 in total and I managed to fit them all - this despite pinging one across the table (and miraculously managing to find it) At that point I switched from tweezers to the 'Blu-Tac method.' That's in quotation marks because I actually used modelling clay. It's less tacky than Blu-Tac and therefore better when using slow-drying liquid poly.

 

Here are 6 of the 8:

GRidcSu.jpg

 

 

FeTxwwG.jpg

 

Above: A coincidental view of part E8, repaired 'in-situ'. Not perfect, but not awful either.

 

Things should have set enough by now to allow for a gentle clean-up. So that's what I'll be doing.

 

That's your lot for tonight.  I hope all you STGB'ers have had a successful day.

 

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

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Great job so far Badder.....I have this one, but the Dragon version. Might get it on the bench one day in the future. Like your build note's. Really great to read along with.

 

I agree with you early on when you said about the minimal issue's with it being a Tamiya......seams and gate marks etc, being of minimal issue's. Only surprised on some of your "moment's and that potential issue with some struts on then gun carriage.........

 

Anyway.....all good o far........

 

Cheers:yes:

Simon.

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6 hours ago, Prop Duster said:

clap.gifWell Done on the 8 little tinys and for "unpinging" the errant one. The E8 has a certain rough and tough look, after all this is a tank-ish machine.

Thanks Steve

I see you've caught the word-inventing bug!

I like 'unpinging'. Obviously it means 'Returning an obiect to the point in space that it occupied immediately prior to having been pinged.'

Your unvented word gives rise to a whole 'quiggle' (collective noun) of new words such as 'unpushed', 'unthrown' 'unhammered' and 'unsang.

I'm not sure how someone would 'unsing' something, but I bet Paul McCartney is good at it.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

'

 

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8 minutes ago, Redcoat2966 said:

Only surprised on some of your "moment's and that potential issue with some struts on then gun carriage.........

  

Anyway.....all good o far........

 

Cheers:yes:

Simon.

Hi Simon, and thanks

The instructions say to fix the struts AFTER the mantlet has been fitted. But to me that looked a bit awkward, so I fixed the struts to the gun carriage and then attached the mantlet - or rather, I tried to attach the mantlet. As I said, the struts wouldn't locate on the marks on the mantlet inner, and bowed, snapping one. I had to repair the broken strut, then trim a bit off of both in order to get them to sit straight. Even then they didn't locate on their marks on the mantlet's inner. I fully expect the same issue to arise this time as well, but I still think it's better to fit the struts first.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

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2 hours ago, Ozzy said:

Nice save on the rain deflector Badder, page 3 already “good drills”

Thanks Clive,

I knew there was a better term for it than 'rain run-off barrier' but could I think of it at the time? No. I may go back and edit it to make me look more intelligent! 😊

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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TONIGHT'S EPISODE: THE ATTACK OF THE EJECTOR PIN MARKS.

 

CASE IN POINT ONE.

The inside of the front armour plate:

QVw87kF.jpg

 

CASE IN POINT TWO.

The insides of the side panels:Gt3Y50F.jpg

 

Some of these marks stand proud of the surface, which is better than the alternative. Careful sanding should remove these. Some are imprinted into the plastic though and require filling and sanding. A few won't be visible, or will be covered up by other parts, There are many more to come!

 

But in the meantime, here are the front armour plate and side panels, dry-fitted.

The fits are perfect BTW and there will be no gap when everything is properly fixed in place.

z5cYkXO.jpg

 

Wouldn't you know it, my filler has dried up. grrrrr.

With my previous Nashorn, I filled the imprinted marks with liquid poly and then sanded them down. I doubt I will resort to that this time.

Never mind. I can do something else instead.

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

Edited by Badder
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11 minutes ago, Badder said:

CASE IN POINT TWO.

The insides of the side panels:Gt3Y50F.jpg

 

 

Hi Badder, all looking good mate.....Tamiya fit, as always on mark.

 

Any plans on replacing the moulded cable and holding clips on the inside of the fighting compartment with wire etc.

 

Simon.

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4 minutes ago, Redcoat2966 said:

Hi Badder.....quick question.....what is that cable thingy moulded onto what I think is the front plate?

 

Simon

Hi Simon,

I read that very, very, slowly, so it wasn't a quick question at all..... ;)

 

I don't know if you saw the photo with the gun travel-lock release lever in post  #51? Well, the cable from that lever runs under the gun mantlet and down the front of the glacis to the base of the travel lock, but rather than have the cable exposed to damage the designers had it run through a protective metal tube. That's what you can see.  Presumably they thought the driver or radio operator, both sitting either side of the lock, were incapabe of pulling a lever themselves? And of course, there was that directive at the time which stated 'you must use as much cable as possible, in all situations!' No short cuts!'

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

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As 'luck' would have it, the top row of ejector pin marks on this panel were of the projecting type, so all were removed with a ladies nail emery board.

Of the six marks along the bottom, one was projecting and similarly removed, two will be hidden behind an ammo cabinet and the remaining three will be too low down to see easily, and can just be 'smoothed' over with paint.

JIo0rEf.jpg

 

Unfortunately, all of the pin marks on the opposing panel are of the sunken type.

 

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

 

 

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14 minutes ago, Badder said:

Hi Simon,

I read that very, very, slowly, so it wasn't a quick question at all..... ;)

 

I don't know if you saw the photo with the gun travel-lock release lever in post  #51? Well, the cable from that lever runs under the gun mantlet and down the front of the glacis to the base of the travel lock, but rather than have the cable exposed to damage the designers had it run through a protective metal tube. That's what you can see.  Presumably they thought the driver or radio operator, both sitting either side of the lock, were incapabe of pulling a lever themselves? And of course, there was that directive at the time which stated 'you must use as much cable as possible, in all situations!' No short cuts!'

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

Makes sense, why would you save money and time.......over engineered - the German OCD way....:think:..........I'll have to see how the Dragon kits tackles this feature........any thoughts in replacing with actual wire, rather than moulded as is.

 

Simon.

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Aye up Badder,

 

This is coming along very nicely. Shame bout them pin marks though, but I'm sure you'll get the measure of them :whip:

 

I'm rather tempted by this kit :wicked:

 

Regards 

 

Steve 

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49 minutes ago, Redcoat2966 said:

Makes sense, why would you save money and time.......over engineered - the German OCD way....:think:..........I'll have to see how the Dragon kits tackles this feature........any thoughts in replacing with actual wire, rather than moulded as is.

  

Simon.

Just to emphasise: that tube is there on the real vehicles. The cable that runs through it comes out, threads through an eye, then up to the gun lock release. When the cable is pulled, a pin is released and the gun lock drops back towards the glacis. Tamiya provide a short length of copper wire to represent the bit of cable that comes out of the tube and goes up to the release mechanism.

k9zJ5sS.jpg

 

Tamiya provide a short length of copper wire to make the cable itself, although theirs doesn't actually pass through the tube (obviously) It just goes down through the armour and is knotted/glued inside the vehicle.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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1 hour ago, the South African said:

As always your work speaks volumes sir. 

 

Regards:

Shaun 

Ah, thanks..... so long as it's not Volumes 1-50 of 'How to over-examine things and still mess things up!'

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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25 minutes ago, fatfingers said:

Aye up Badder,

 

This is coming along very nicely. Shame bout them pin marks though, but I'm sure you'll get the measure of them :whip:

 

I'm rather tempted by this kit :wicked:

 

Regards 

 

Steve 

Hi Steve,

The pin marks on the side panels aren't as bad as they look TBH. As I said, the ones along the top of the RH side were all 'raised' but not by a huge amount. We're probably talking in the 100ths of a mil, so no real elbow grease was required. Even the imprinted marks are very shallow. I've just got rid of two on the opposing panel, by sanding. No one would ever know they were there. The rest will be hidden or very hard to see and a bit of extra paint will make those vanish. There is one slightly deeper mark on the other panel which will require a tiny bit of filling though. And then there's the marks on the door inners, rear panel inner, and some other panel inners. Those may need some filling as well.

 

Despite all that, I fully recommend the kit. It's not often you get an AFV where the crew are actually in the process of firing the gun, and you can see all the gubbings and goings on.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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39 minutes ago, the South African said:

Badder if you do not mind could you perhaps post a pic of the crew? 

 

Regards:

Shaun 

No probs Shaun.

There's a photo of 3 painted crew figures on the side of the box. The photo below is of the exact same 3, but includes the 4th figure. I wouldn't say they are painted 'expertly' but Tamiya thought them good enough to appear on their box!

ZeDEdJa.jpg

 

I never got round to building/painting them, the first time around. I must have them on a sprue somwhere. I will say that one of them has an extraordinarily small hand, and none are wearing gloves. I have been looking at Tamiya's Flak Crew set, and I am wondering if I can use some of them instead.

Edited by Badder
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Last post before beddy byes....

 

I do like to do things out of order if I can get away with it. And because I love the radiator vents on the Nashorn (simple but somehow beautiful) I really wanted to get them fixed onto the inside of the side panels. These slot under the gun platform and conveniently hide two of the ejector pin marks at the bottom of each of the side panels.

tKiFRVW.jpg

 

0MhmUPU.jpg

Note the hinge at the bottom of the side panel furthest from the camera. The side panels can be dropped down I assume, but I've never seen this done in any photo - contemporary to WWII, or otherwise.

 

I have though, seen a model of a wrecked Nashorn where the panels have been blown down. Does anyone know if the panels were actually ever lowered by the crews and to what purpose?

 

 

 

TFL

Badder

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Cant tell you if crews would have dropped them. But I do know that guns have "shot" packages. At certain intervals they get certain components refitted and/or replaced. I would imagine that a gun that big would become a chore to remove in the field and that in light of this it would then make sense to rather drop the sides for maintenance. 

 

Regards:

Shaun 

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