Jeff E Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 Hello All, This is my first WIP on this site and I hope you like it. I started building this kit last month so the first few updates will seem like I am building at a very rapid rate however this will slow down when I catch up with where I am at presently. I brought this kit as I consider it very good value for money for a 1/16 scale kit with a full interior that is very detailed and also has the scope to add more detail to it. Being an old mould kit, mine is 2003, it does have a few drawbacks the main one being the amount of ejector pin marks in the parts, some in some very awkward places that require filling, and the mould lines that need be removed from just about every part which is fine just a bit time consuming also there are no decals provided for the instrument panels or the shells like in the more expensive Trumpeter kits but you can't expect everything for the price. On the plus side the detail on the moulded parts is extremely well defined and the upper and lower hull parts fit together nearly perfectly as do the two halves of the turret, which will allow me to display it without gluing the hull halves together so that the top can be removed to reveal the interior. There are also two PE sheets supplied with the kit which depict the engine grills, machine gun ammo racks and straps for the spare fuel tanks. There is also a metal tow cable and it has workable suspension and tracks. It will be an OOTB build as there are no after market parts available for it however I will be doing a fair bit of scratch building, for which I have brought some Evergreen Styrene products and two sheets of Meng bolts and nuts, to add some more detail to the interior. I intend to paint it as per the box art and without going overboard on minor details I hope to depict it as historically accurate as my abilities allow. The first pictures are of my work space which is set up in the spare room and the box art. I won't post pictures of all of the sprue as there are so many but there are some of the hull and turret. The bench was just tidied up for the photos, it is not usually this neat, although it would be nice😀. More pics to follow. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 3, 2019 Author Share Posted August 3, 2019 OK here are the pictures of the upper and lower hull and the turret. Sorry I didn't take a photo of the lower hull before I started filling the sink holes. And lastly the turret. That's all for now I will post some actual build photos tomorrow. Cheers for now Jeff. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carius Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 I also have one of these, and I found in the market 3 photo etched detail sets for 1/16 Trumpeter kit (Producer: PART Poland). I will follow with interest. Cheers from Brazil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 4, 2019 Author Share Posted August 4, 2019 Hi Carius, Thanks for dropping in and welcome to my build. Are you planning to build yours soon? I did not realize that these photo etch parts were available, I had a quick look at the site and they are mainly for the exterior with some small interior details provided. I may look at purchasing them when I get a bit further into the build. Cheers Jeff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 4, 2019 Author Share Posted August 4, 2019 Hello all, The first section of the build is to construct the shock absorbers and springs for the Christie Suspension. After cleaning the mould lines off the parts they were test fitted together and their operation checked then they were primed and painted. I am using mainly Vallejo paints for this build as I find them easy to mix out of their dropper style bottles and they tend to spray on nicely leaving a good finish, so any colours mentioned are Vallejo unless otherwise stated. The 8 long ones, which are the rear ones, were painted Russian Green and the two shorter front ones were painted Ivory as they are located in the drivers compartment. Once they were painted the shafts were treated with AK True Metal Steel. And the completed parts. That's all for now I will post another update soon. Cheers Jeff. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 Good start. I suppose that if there was one word to describe this kit it would be.........detailed. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carius Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 Hi Jeff, I don't intend to build now my tank, but I have everything I need for it. In my case I will build a version after WWII. I'm sure that your work will be inspiring for me. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 5, 2019 Author Share Posted August 5, 2019 Hi John and Carius, Thank you for your comments. On 8/4/2019 at 9:26 PM, Bullbasket said: Good start. I suppose that if there was one word to describe this kit it would be.........detailed. John. Yes John it is very detailed. 22 hours ago, Carius said: Hi Jeff, I don't intend to build now my tank, but I have everything I need for it. In my case I will build a version after WWII. I'm sure that your work will be inspiring for me. Cheers I look forward to seeing it when you start building. Cheers Jeff. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 5, 2019 Author Share Posted August 5, 2019 Hello all, The next part of the build is what Trumpeter call the side plate assembly, which are the 4 parts that house the 8 rear shock absorber assemblies, 2 on each side. They also represent the front and rear fuel tanks and the engine oil tanks. The segment for the control of the rear louvers and what I think is a water bottle are fitted to the LH front plate. I did not fit the control lever and arm for the louvers as I was afraid it might get broken off. Part F18, which has the interior light on it, was modified before it was fitted to the RH front plate. It had two 'wires' coming out of a connection box that were going nowhere so these were removed and two holes were drilled into the box so that wires could be added later. The first aid box was fitted and a button made from a piece of sprue fitted to the battery master switch. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 5, 2019 Author Share Posted August 5, 2019 On the rear plates the only parts that needed to be fitted at this stage are the tops of the engine oil tanks. Before they were fitted the oil lines, which at first I thought were levers or control valves of some sort, were removed and holes drilled into the outlets so that oil pipes could be added later. I intend to use 0.8mm solder, as it is easy to form, for most of the fuel, oil and air pipes I add to the build but will use other sizes and materials where required The other modification I made to the front plates was to extend the small fuel pipes on the the side of the plate to go into the top of the front fuel tanks. This was done with 0.8mm solder to represent the pipe and a piece of 1.5mm styrene rod for the union, a strip of masking tape is used for the P clamp. These parts are only dry fitted at this stage. I have a question. I wonder if anyone can tell me what the switch/ valve is on the RH side of the image above? In some photos I've seen it has a pipe coming out of it but it is not for the air start system or the fuel system as far as I can tell. Any help appreciated. That's all for now Cheers Jeff 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 7, 2019 Author Share Posted August 7, 2019 Hello All, I have added an earth lead which goes from the back of the master switch to the hull, a second lead will be added later and run back to the batteries, the terminal was made from 1.5mm plastic rod. The ejection pin holes in the lower hull have also been filled and while I was studying the instructions it occured to me that there are a lot of holes drilled into the hull that will not be used. I can only imagine that these are for a different version of the tank and some of them will be seen after all the parts are installed. I have indicated which ones need to be filled in the photos below. The three holes in the 'I' shaped section don't need filling as they will be covered by a PE machine gun magazine rack. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 7, 2019 Author Share Posted August 7, 2019 The inside of the side plates where the shock absorber assemblies fit have been painted and the shocks fitted. I painted the full length of the front plates as I am going to leave these open so they can be seen when the top is removed but only the bottom part of the rear ones as the top part will be covered when I build up the rear fuel and oil tanks. That's all for now. Cheers Jeff. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 9, 2019 Author Share Posted August 9, 2019 Hello All, Time for another update. With the side plates and suspension parts ready for installation it was time to add a few parts to the lower hull before adding these parts. After all the holes had been filled and sanded the guide plates for the suspension arms were added, parts H14 and H20. Then the track adjuster gearboxes were fitted along with the fuel tank air pressure pump, this is used to pump air into the selected fuel tank to a pressure of 0.2-0.3 atmospheres ( 3 to 4 psi) if my calculations are correct, so that the fuel lines and filter are primed with fuel for starting. I have also added bolt heads to the track adjusters and made up an end cap for the air pump with a union made out of a drilled out bolt head so that a pipe can be fitted later to connect to the tank selector valve mounted on the LH front wall by the driver. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 9, 2019 Author Share Posted August 9, 2019 The next part I wanted to modify was the Bow Gunner/ Radio Operators escape hatch. As you can see it is a very well moulded part but has the four locks in the open position, these were carefully cut off and any nicks or scratches filled and they will be glued back in the closed position once the hatch is glued to the hull. A bolt head and nut were also glued to the hinge. The last parts added for this update are the brake and clutch pedals and the LH steering lever assembly. That's all for now Cheers Jeff 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carius Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 Good progress Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.P. Posted August 11, 2019 Share Posted August 11, 2019 WOW!!! This is looking great. Can't wait for more updates....no pressure though 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 12, 2019 Author Share Posted August 12, 2019 Thanks Carius and J.P. for your kind words and encouragement. Time for the next installment. I primed and painted the side walls under where the side plates will fit as these will be hard to get to after they are installed, I also painted the front part of the lower hull because some parts of it will be hard to access after the two front suspension stations are fitted. The interior colour is Vallejo Ivory. The four side plate/ suspension towers were then glued into place. The RH steering lever assembly and accelerator pedal were also glued into position. The outside of the lower hull was then primed and painted with Russian Green and Medium Olive Green. More contrast will be added to the paint after the wheel cranks are fitted later on. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 12, 2019 Author Share Posted August 12, 2019 The next job was to make a representation of the hand throttle/ engine stop lever as none is supplied in the kit. It is a lever which is mounted next to drivers seat on the RH side and works on a geared sector so that it can be locked into the desired position, from what I can work out from photos and reading how it worked the lower end of the lever has a fork attached to it which pulls on a collar attached to the accelerator rod thus setting the revs to the desired level and allowing free movement of the accelerator pedal past this setting to give the engine its full rev range. I hope that explanation is not to complicated. I made the sector rack and the support it sits on from 1 x 3mm plastic strip the rest of the parts were made from 0.5 x 2mm plastic strip with some bolt detail added. I also made a footrest for accelerator pedal, which is depicted in many interior photos of the tank, all of the parts were then glued into position. A piece of 0.8mm rod is used for the accelerator rod and a piece of brass tube for the collar. That's all for now. Cheers Jeff. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 14, 2019 Author Share Posted August 14, 2019 Hello All, Time for another update. The gearshift was the next part to be added to the driver's compartment. It was modified slightly by completing the molded on cable from the hand lever to the gear selector locking device mounted at the rear of the gear stick, it was supported by a piece of scrap PE. I also added a piece of PE on the RH side of the gear stick to complete the bracket for the lever as this was missing, three holes were drilled into the rear base of the tower for the selector rods. The assembly was then glued in and the three selector rods added. They are made from 0.8mm plastic rod. The ammo box is only dry fitted at the moment to show what will be visible after it is installed. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 14, 2019 Author Share Posted August 14, 2019 Next up I installed the wheel cranks. They were primed and painted the same as the lower hull. The eight rear ones were straightforward to install with a poly caps to hold them in place and allow free movement at each station. The front two were a little tricky trying to hold the parts in position while the glue dried and ensuring none got on the moving parts. That's all for now I will post another update soon. Cheers Jeff 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carius Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 Looks excellent so far Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 15, 2019 Author Share Posted August 15, 2019 Thank you Carius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 17, 2019 Author Share Posted August 17, 2019 Hello All, Thanks to all those who liked the posts. This next update is about a couple more modifications to the kit, the first being the compensation rod that runs beneath the drivers seat. On the real tank all of the control rods from the steering levers and brake pedals connected to cranks on this rod and then via more levers to rods that connected to the steering clutches and brakes at the rear. I am not going to replicate all of these as it would be to complicated and most of it would be hidden by the drivers seat and ammo boxes when they are installed, so I made a simplified version connecting the outer cranks on the steering levers to it. The first photo shows the parts I made for compensation rod, the supports were made from 4mm plastic angle and the clevises cut out of 1 x 3mm plastic strip. The next three show the rod assembled and installed. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 17, 2019 Author Share Posted August 17, 2019 The next modification involves the right hand wall panel next to the driver, part E 18, there are a number of lines molded onto this panel for the fuel tank air pressure selector valve and the air starter valve. The air start valve mounts on the pin just below the electric junction box as can be seen in the next photo. As you can see the valve has a rather bulky line molded to it which will be removed and part of the line molded onto the plate will be scraped off and a new line made from solder fitted. The pressure gauge will also be removed and a new stem fitted to it. A hand lever was also fashioned out of plastic strip. That's all for now. Thanks for watching Jeff 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted August 20, 2019 Author Share Posted August 20, 2019 Hello All Time for another small update. I have done some more modifications to the LH panel where the fuel tank selector valve mounts, some of the hose detail was removed to allow the pipes to the valve to be mounted neatly. The valve in and outlet ports have also had drilled out 1.4mm bolt heads glued to them to accept the pipes. The first three photos show the parts dry fitted to make sure they all fit properly. And the next two show it glued into position. The putty on the top pipe has since been cleaned up. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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