Scargsy Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 Hi all, So I'm building this kit: Seems there's a few IDF Patton variants being built, so it won't be alone! Here's a quick shot of the bits... Progress so far - haven't built/attached the return rollers yet... Though I've hit a small snag already - there's supposed to be a part for the rounded square hole (L39) but there's no L sprue, though the small square fill piece was actually attached to the lower hull and needed cutting off, kind of looked like scrap, good job I didn't throw that out - I'm wondering if I've thrown another bit out or it just didn't come with the kit (there's a parts sprue-tree diagram on the back of the paint guide, it doesn't show any L parts), maybe it's a mis-print? I guess I could always just use filler. Not sure on the colour yet, I saw there was some discussion on the IDF colour on another build thread - I might go for the IDF Sinai grey, but will order a bottle and see whether it appeals. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scargsy Posted April 3, 2019 Author Share Posted April 3, 2019 Oh, I've seen on a couple of build videos, reviews, etc. on the internet that the tracks can be quite tight (I'm just going for a straight out of the box, rubber band tracks n all build) and the pegs to hold the drive sprockets seem a bit flimsy, they didn't fit well either. I might need to reinforce it somehow, maybe make some epoxy and squeeze it into the backs of them to add some strength. The two upper 'lips' of the lower hull deck also don't seem very sturdy so I might run some down the inner seams there though I need to be careful - it appears the upper hull actually slides inside that bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 Excellent great to see a second Magach and more Israeli armor. Will be looking forward to seeing this one get built. Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scargsy Posted April 4, 2019 Author Share Posted April 4, 2019 (edited) OK here's a few more shots, I managed to get all the wheels built up last night, there's something odd with the upper and lower hull fitament though - there's a polycap to help hold them together: But the front has some odd raised parts, I'm not sure if they need grinding off or act as locators for the 'up armour' plates later? Here's the shot from inside, they look purposefully moulded rather than just extra sprue cheese from the casting (even though the little lower panel was attached there and needed cutting off)... Here's a shot of the shocking gaps at the rear, with my added epoxy resin reinforcement - I test fitted the tracks and they're going to be tight! Edited April 4, 2019 by Scargsy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mig Eater Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 The kit was original motorized, hence the poly cap so you open up the hull & change the batteries & the gaps in the rear are so you can remove the motor/sprockets if needed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 Hello scargsy,im going to alleviate the tight tracks on mine by lowering the arms for the wheels a few mm i plan on using a spacer between the arm and the bump stop molding on the hull while the glue sets ,this should allow a bit of give in the tracks and make the tank sit a little lower. Also the shock absorber looking parts should then attach to the arms instead of stopping just short, it looks to me to be sitting quite high where the arms are fixed at oob. I will test fit before gluing though 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 Good luck with your build. There seems to be a few of us building basically the same kit with a few differences, and that suspension is causing problems in all of them. John. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 Hi Scargsy. Welcome to the GB. I'm looking forward to seeing your build and it looks, from the photos above, that you may have a few 'interesting' times ahead. Good luck with your project! Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scargsy Posted April 8, 2019 Author Share Posted April 8, 2019 (edited) I've managed to get a bit of building time this weekend, so here's some progress... First I started out by doing a very crude filling job on the holes at the rear on the drive housings, I cut a few sprue off cuts, sanded them a bit to flatten one side, glued that across the main part of the hole and glued some other sprue off cuts into the major openings before throwing some filler on it - the filler I have at the moment is very runny when wet, so the added sprue will help strengthen and give it something to stick to. Having seen the other IDF tank builds had decided to stick the hull together, I had a think about my build order - whether to leave the top off till later or leave the skirts off till later (one or the other would be needed to get the tracks on post paint), I checked the fitting for the front 'up armour' and it was pretty sloppy, no locators, etc. so figured I'd go that way, but to check I built up one of the side skirts, here's the internal detail on these... I was actually pretty happy to have built this up first as the 'connectors' for the skirts (that attach into those little indents) like the front hull armour have very little to help you correct position them. The rearmost one wasn't too bad as it has to sit on-top of the existing detail, though it wasn't apparent how far in/out it should be placed, measuring against the skirt allowed me to check. The front ones however needed a bit more checking for placement... With the upper and lower hull the connected together, I fitted the two front up armour plates to the lower and upper portions, sliding them as best I could to get a nice fit, the only 'locators' as such are the two 'bars' that have to be added later. I've also started adding some of the 'detail' bits, though starting with the larger pieces first so I don't knock the fragile bits off with my sausage fingers I made a start on the turret, this was actually a lot better / tighter fitting than the hull and went together beautifully, I was initially a bit concerned about the extra armour which is multiple pieces, that there would be gaps and bad fits but it was really good (just the odd bit of pinch it completely together whilst the glue dries)... The only things to watch out for is the tight fit and build order for some of those hook attachment points/loops on the turret and mantle. I also built up the rear basket, whilst a bit fiddly it went together quite well, the instructions suggest sticking the U shaped plates at each end to the turret first then attaching the basket to that, which seemed a bit nuts to me, I fitted those pieces to the basket ends first, allowing a better fit and built up the whole thing, then gently bent the whole basket very slightly when fitting to get it all on nicely. Though they're not detailed in the kit instructions, there are actually 2 figures in the kit - I think one might be from an old moulding, the other one is on a sprue labelled "M60 A1 Blazer", I'm not sure if I'll use any of the figures - hence the commanders hatch isn't yet fitted, I might use the Blazer guy as he's better moulded, though seems to be posed as though he's talking on a radio, but I haven't seen one on the sprues yet (though there's lots of bits/spares) I built up his body and arms to check the post/fitting, he's a bit 'headless tanker' at the moment... I also tried to 'melt' the tracks together and fit them, though that ended in disaster, whilst trying to stretch them on they popped apart - so I doubt I'll get them together again - I think what I'll do since the kit has side skirts, is just glue them on slightly looser and hide the 'gap' under the skirts. Edited April 8, 2019 by Scargsy 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Rapid progress scargsy, its looking great, I love the turret, the tracks do look a tight fit, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 On 4/4/2019 at 5:18 AM, Bullbasket said: There seems to be a few of us building basically the same kit with a few differences, and that suspension is causing problems in all of them. Agreed ... Thank you for the gimmickry Tamiya ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 4 hours ago, Scargsy said: I think what I'll do since the kit has side skirts, is just glue them on slightly looser and hide the 'gap' under the skirts. Thats probably your best bet. Not accurate but the skirts will hide that. Its looking very good so far. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Well done for dealing with the many problems that this kit throws up. Some of the supports for the side skirts are just ridiculous. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silenoz Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Nice build so far... Nice that the cupolla fits better then the rest of the vehicle... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scargsy Posted April 8, 2019 Author Share Posted April 8, 2019 So I found an online video of some IDF guys training to repair a Magach 7 track, quite interesting if you ever wondered how to get a massive heavy track to attach over the return rollers, etc. and handy for colour reference. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmodai Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 On 4/7/2019 at 9:29 PM, Scargsy said: I also tried to 'melt' the tracks together and fit them, though that ended in disaster, whilst trying to stretch them on they popped apart - so I doubt I'll get them together again - I think what I'll do since the kit has side skirts, is just glue them on slightly looser and hide the 'gap' under the skirts. It may be too late, but I have a suggestion that actually works pretty well in situations like you find yourself in with your tracks - my suggestion, as they will be hidden behind skirts, is to use a heavy duty office style stapler to join the two pieces at the spot where they would link up. If you're careful, you can put a couple staples across each join. The tracks will hold great with the staples joining the halves, and you can put this at the top of the run behind the skirts, where no one will ever see it.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scargsy Posted April 14, 2019 Author Share Posted April 14, 2019 Thanks - I was considering trying something like that, see if I can get some staples in either end and then hook them together to give it a bit more length. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmodai Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 I've found it quite possible to successfully staple through the 'rubber' of the track material. I'll put a couple photos here. I have surplus tracks here, so I stapled an extra Italeri M47 one for you. You don'have to try to fiddle with it by hand; you can literally staple them together like two pieces of paper. Just recommend a sturdy stapler. The Swingline in the photos is small, but all metal, and is probably from the 70s. It can do the job, so with a decent stapler, I think you can do this. Let me know if you need any help. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted April 15, 2019 Share Posted April 15, 2019 Wow you have managed to get a lot done on your project and looking good too! Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted May 10, 2019 Share Posted May 10, 2019 How are things going ? We’re halfway through the builds time allotment and I'm curious. Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scargsy Posted June 23, 2019 Author Share Posted June 23, 2019 (edited) With time rapidly running out on the GB I figured I should try and get this thing finished. I noticed in other threads people had been having issues with these Academy tracks, in the end I opted for the staples and hide it under the skirts method - threw a couple of staples into one end of the track, then carefully unfolded the other ends a bit and bent them through the holes you're meant to poke the rubber blobs through to attach them... So here's everything built up pre-paint... The tow cable was a bit of a pain, I had to use super-glue to stick the thread together to stop it fraying before poking it into the connector, once I'd built one up it was a bit tight and I didn't have enough thread left to make another one as long due to all my trimming! Onto paint, and this way madness lies - I'm sure sitting and looking at grey paint is the artistic equivalent to mathematicians considering infinity. Here's a few 'test palettes' I did... Anyhow I opted to do a mix of the Vallejo IDF primer with their black primer, but the result just turned grey (OK that doesn't scan well but the IDF primer colour has a brownish component to it). So here it is looking rather grey, there are bit's in slightly more brownish hints, as I generally just mixed freestyle when shooting the paint through the airbrush. (Probably a lesson to premix and test first in there!) Anyhow onto the painting - I used a mix of the Vallejo IDF colours but I added far too much flow improver and thinners - I was wanting a kind of wet on wet effect to help them blend but I clearly had it too wet and shot too much paint, it was still wet the next morning (the flow improver I think acts as a retarder too), plus it had split the colours a bit in places... Urgh - anyhow I generally wasn't too happy about the colour either but I had a cunning plan Mr Blackadder... So I'd attempted the Tamiya mix (XF-66 XF-49 50;50 mix) and it looked good to my eyes on paper test at least. So I took my little test jar and added some semi-gloss clear to it (to try and add some transparency to it). Unfortunately this wasn't as clear as I'd have liked (I think I'd need much more clear) and once on the model it just looked a kind of primer grey - plus I'd lost all the light and dark variation... OK in some lights there's a greenish shade that's more apparent, and I get the feeling that as the paint fully cured over a few days this became more apparent, note here that this is just after painting with the turret just placed ontop and the sideskirts weren't attached just held in roughly the correct position with some bluetac such that any colour modulation during painting also matched the skirts... I was now a bit stuck, as I wanted to add some light and dark shading but with any hint of pre-shading gone and not confident enough either with the colours or the airbrush to post shade (plus I'd used up all my pre-mix of paint!) I opted for a bit of dry brushing with the 73 shade and had a plan to try and do a wash later, but colourwise I had no idea. I made up the 'flags' out of a paper napkin, painted with some of the Vallejo IDF 73 colour, which looked quite good - the acrylic made the paper harden up and left in some of the crinkles, it might have been in hindsight better to paint this in place on the model, so that the crinkles were more like cloth folds and conformed to the shape of the tank/gravity - I was worried about doing this in place and leaving paint splatters etc. but in hindsight maybe I could have put a layer of clingfilm underneath such that the paint wouldn't go through/mess up everything. Once dry I cut them to size and clear-coated everything with Mr Hobby TopCoat, though the rattle can is a bit low on control and it did go on thick in places, once dried I attached the decals. The decals weren't the greatest - the white is transparent in places so I did have to do some touching up, I tried to use one for the barrel stripes but it wouldn't conform (just peeled up the other way) and they really didn't like sticking to the paper flags (even though they were pre-painted and gloss coated). I should have probably just hand painted them, most of the tanks appear to have these markings hand painted anyhow. The decals on the flags really didn't want to conform at all, no amount of decal fixed or softener seemed to help. In the end I overcoated again with clearcoat, this still wouldn't seal them on so I globbed a load of Tamiya clear paint behind/on top to try and get them sealed, and painted over as much of the clear areas as possible with the background colour incase any silvering will later occur. You might notice the wheels are a lot of different shades, this was due to me testing various washes on them before hitting the tank with it. In the end I went for a mix of AK Neutral Grey filter (which pretty much matches the base colour) and some MIG "wash for desert sand" (which is actually very dark green with a hint of brown), that was so I didn't end up with something very dark/obvious - I'd rather do it in a few coats. I used this as an all over filter / wash coat. I didn't add the wash to the barrel yet and did mask up and paint the ID stripes as best I could, I'm not sure if I trust myself enough to do the top sighting stripe without a major mistake. There were a few other wash/panel liner bits - I'd added bits of Tamiya panel liner on the engine intakes/exits and bits of Army Painter quick shade on the smoke grenade launcher, etc. I'm not happy with the commander, I think that his uniform should be much more green than khaki and I need to add some weathering yet - the tracks I weathered up a fair bit before attaching then attaching the side skirts. Edited June 23, 2019 by Scargsy removing duplicate stuff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted June 23, 2019 Share Posted June 23, 2019 Sorry to hear of your paint woes. However the end result seems to be worth the aggravation. Im thinking that academy's tracks must shrink over time. Its not the 1st time Ive come across this issue. I am looking forward to seeing this in the Gallery along with the rest of the builds. Dennis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Turned out very well scargsy, I do like those insignia banners, I tried and failed on mine🙄, colour looks right too, good job 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 Very nicely finished. I hate to rain on your parade though, but you have the two chevrons pointing in opposite directions, indicating that it belongs to two companies. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scargsy Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 On 26/06/2019 at 10:12, Bullbasket said: Very nicely finished. I hate to rain on your parade though, but you have the two chevrons pointing in opposite directions, indicating that it belongs to two companies. Thanks for that, I wasn't sure if they were meant to be pointing the same way as symbols (i.e. to the left if viewed from either side like a letter) or both point to the front or back of the vehicle, the kit destructions didn't show me both sides! Oh well - live and learn I guess. So I managed to finish just on time for the GB, but I don't like how my weathering turned out, couldn't really seem to get it to build up where I wanted (e.g. the bottom end of the skirts) or get the colour tones I wanted but once again it's a learning process, as I'm new to the whole weathering pigments thing. Looks better out in the rare bit of sunshine we're having in the UK at the moment. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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