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Trumpeter 1/35 SdKfz 7/2 *FINISHED*


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Next up are the wheels and tracks.

Wheels should be straightforward, although @Kelscale warned of an issue with the track not fitting the sprocket properly in an earlier post.

Thankfully he also included a link to a fix, so that will save some time and hassle. Cheers for that!

 

The tracks look fairly straightforward as well, but involve a lot of parts and repetition.

By my reckoning there are 336 parts to turn this little lot into a pair of tracks...

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The main track links slot together without glue, and are then held together by gluing a two part block on top...

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Time to put some music on, get into a groove, and work my way through it.

 

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On 26/11/2022 at 14:51, Trevor L said:

It's been a little while since my last update, but I've been a busy boy and got the chassis painted and assembled.

 

First up, everything was primed and painted...

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I then began piecing it together, starting with the two main sub-assemblies and the gear box.

A bit of tinkering was required on the sub-assemblies as there were multiple points of contact, but I got there eventually...

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Next up was the winch, tanks and leaf springs, which all went together nicely.

I also assembled the steering, but I'll leave that off for now as it has quite delicate moving parts...

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And finally I added the engine. It has four mounting points but even though everything looked straight and square it wouldn't sit right at first.

Some jiggery-pokery was needed to get it to fit, but now it's in...

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There are a few other parts that I'll leave off for now, as they may get in the way or get damaged during further assembly.

I also need to do a bit of tidying up plus some weathering, but for now I'll put the chassis to one side and move on to the next stage.

Nice work Trevor.👍

I have just got to the chassis painting stage and wishing I had followed your route of many sub-assemblies. Getting paint into all the nooks and crannies has been a bit of a nightmare.

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Currently building Trumpeter's KM11 #01507 kit myself.  Chassis sitting in a fetching shadow coat mix of caramel🙃    I've always added the idler wheel pairs to the arms and then the whole sub assembly to the chassis well before adding any tracks on all the 8T kits I have built. The reason for this is the attachment points are very shallow and will not stand any tension unless the glue has completely cured.
 

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To get a decent track fitment the idler assemblies can first be test fitted inside the snug fitting square slots in the chassis. Dry fit the wheels, sprockets and track run and then push or pull the idler assembly in or out of the slot until you get the track tension you require. Once happy with the idler assembly position it can be marked for final placement.

 

A little tip for the track construction is to position the cleaned up side of both the pad and carrier parts all on the 'dark side' of each run you create.  The links clean up well but even after some diligent sanding the pads and carriers can look a little messy.  If you look at the pic below, I managed to do this on all but one pad (over top left of sprocket)

 

Sprocket error fixed in this pic so you can see how each link now sits snug against each track pad.


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I've been working through the track parts over the last week.

I decided I wanted to paint them on the sprues, but I also wanted to reduce the amount of cleaning up afterwards.

To do this I cut the top sections of the two part block and glued them onto the bottom sections.

Each track part is connected to the sprues in three places, so I cut two of the connections and also cut away parts of the sprues to give better access.

Repeating the above x7 and I went from this...

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to this...

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I've also been prepping the wheels. A bit more to do there, then I can get the tracks and wheels painted.

 

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Edited by Trevor L
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On 03/12/2022 at 14:13, Trevor L said:

I've been working through the track parts over the last week.

I decided I wanted to paint them on the sprues, but I also wanted to reduce the amount of cleaning up afterwards.

To do this I cut the top sections of the two part block and glued them onto the bottom sections.

Each track part is connected to the sprues in three places, so I cut two of the connections and also cut away parts of the sprues to give better access.

Repeating the above x7 and I went from this...

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to this...

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I've also been prepping the wheels. A bit more to do there, then I can get the tracks and wheels painted.

 

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That’s a good approach to a painful job!👍

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  • 2 weeks later...

The tracks have now been painted and cut off the sprues...

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...and assembled

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I still need to tidy them up, paint the wheels and fit test it all.

It's felt rather slow going for the last couple of weeks though, so I jumped ahead a bit and started on the bodywork.

This evening I've knocked together the underside of the truck bed. Not very methodical or organised, but sometimes you've just gotta be a model making rebel to feel like you're getting somewhere!

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I hope everyone had a jolly Christmas.

I managed to squeeze a few quick sessions in between the festivities and make a bit of progress.

I've assembled the sides of the truck bed, which comprise of plastic frames and pe mesh. You can pose them open or closed, and I've gone for a combination of both.

I've also made a start on the front section. It's all rather bitty at present but starting to take shape.

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I've got a few more days off work with not much going on, so hopefully I'll be able to get some decent bench time in before returning to the 9 to 5 routine.

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It's been a busy week or so with lots of progress made, but its not been without some difficulties.

I got the wheels painted, then weathered them along with the tracks. 

I used Vallejo pigments for a sandy/dusty finish. I hadn't used this for a while and I had forgotten that the finish is heavier after it dries. 

I happily dabbed away until the finish looked good, but when I checked on the dried end result the next day it looked like a sand storm had blown in overnight! To rectify this I went over the whole lot with a stiff brush to remove most of it.

Fitting the wheels also caused some trouble, but after more time than I would have liked to spend I finally got them on, followed by the tracks.

I'm not entirely happy with the end result, but the bottom half is now pretty much done.

The tracks are sitting a bit high on top, but there's a bit of flexibility so I'll try and glue them down once it's settled.

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In between that little lot I also got most of the upper part prepped and painted.

It's now ready to assemble onto the chassis. Fingers crossed that goes a bit smoother.

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Edited by Trevor L
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I've been assembling the upper parts over the last week, but it's been slow going as I've found I need to let each section dry thoroughly before moving on to the next. I've also found a few sections a bit tricky to get the fit right.

To keep things moving forward I've also worked on the gun. It's a mini kit in itself but I've got it assembled up to the painting stage.

The kit has the option of pe or plastic parts for the front shields. I opted for plastic as I think I would have found it too tricky to get all the bends correct on the pe parts.

I'll leave final assembly until after painting to allow me to get at all the areas with the airbrush. 

 

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I was starting to worry that I wouldn't get this finished in time, but things have started to come together over the last week.

Most of the truck is now assembled, apart from a few bits and pieces that need adding.

I've also got the gun painted and assembled.

Both need some tidying up, and then weathering, but most of the build is done.

 

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I also made a start on the trailer this morning.

It looked quite straightforward and proved to be so.

It's now assembled and ready for painting.

 

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So a good week, and providing I don't slack off I will get the whole thing finished in good time.

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I'm getting there!

Apart from the wheels and a few minor parts the assembly is now complete.

I painted the trailer last week, and added some of the small bits and pieces.

Onto the final stage now: weathering!

 

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I've been doing the weathering this week, which has been a bit hit and miss.

I wanted to go for a grubby and worn look, and started with some oil washes which went ok.

Next up I tried some fading and streaking, which looked ok in some places but not others. Overall I wasn't happy with it so I toned it down then sprayed a filter over parts of it to blend it in a bit.

 

I then added some Vallejo pigment mixed with binder for a sandy and dusty finish, but I really can't get on with this stuff.

As per my post about the tracks, when I applied it to those it dried too heavy so this time I went with a lighter mix, but when it dried it was almost non-existent. I re-applied  a heavier mix but I'm still not really happy with it.

The trouble with it is you don't know how it's going to look until it's dried several hours later, and it doesn't always dry with the desired thickness and texture.

I reckon in future I'll go back to my old school method of paint mixed with polyfilla. That always worked for sand, mud, rust etc in the past. 

 

Anyway, I'm nearly finished now. One last tidy up and I should be done.

 

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I have the same thing with the pigments. I usually mix in a little paint (Vallejo) as well so the colour is a bit more predictable. I like using the Tamiya weathering powder sets, at least you know what colour you'll end up getting. 

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Update: the pigment has now fully dried, and it looks awful!

Instead of sand, it looks like I've spilt blobs of paint.

I'll need to have a think about how I can try and rescue it.

😠

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2 hours ago, Trevor L said:

Update: the pigment has now fully dried, and it looks awful!

Instead of sand, it looks like I've spilt blobs of paint.

I'll need to have a think about how I can try and rescue it.

😠

A wet q-tip perhaps, at least to remove it? 

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