Mike Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 It's Dan's fault... and it's Dan's kit. I blame him... he made me do it! I was round at Dan's last Thursday for our semi-regular efforts to reduce the European Coffee Mountain, and he had a bit of a rush of blood, handing over this kit of the US Amphibious troop transport... or summit like that In my previous life I built a few AFVs, or tanks as we used to call them back in the day, but it was strictly a build in one afternoon affair, with the painting done with a brush, and weathering limited to a few flicks with a wide dry brush covered in brown enamel paint. This was to be something completely different, and Dan assured me that although it was a copy of the Tamiya kit by a pre-pubescent Trumpeter, before they coined the name, that the quality was "ok". Yeah... right! On Saturday I set to work on the hull, which was originally meant to be motorised, so a few toy-like aspects had to be dealt with first. I cut off the clips that held the front of the top section on, filled the recesses with sheet styrene & CA, and polished them back flush. There was also a lowered "basket" under the rear of the hull, which houses the motors & gearbox, so that had to be Dremeled off and taken back to flat. Fortunately, I was careful with the Dremel, and the floor of the basket could be reused to fill the resulting hole. Support strips & plenty of CA secured it in place, and it was filled, sanded & polish back to reasonable flatness. The important part at the rear was where I spent the majority of effort to get it flat & level. There was a choice of early or late turrets, so I plumped for the cooler angular late version & put it together. Fit was appalling, and a few strips of styrene were called in to fill the gaps. The 40mm grenade launcher had a moulded ammo track provided, but I wasn't too happy with the quality of the moulding (the whole kit suffers from flash & moulding flares), so I rolled out some Magic Sculp and made it a little canvas cover, which is sometimes evident in dusty environments. I was very impressed with my 3rd use of this stuff, and made a small blankie from the excess to tart up the stowage later on. The top of the hull simply drops onto the underside, leaving a rather ragged joint which is supposed to represent the weld seam, but just looks messy. I filled this with CA (while I was attaching the two halves), and sanded it back smooth, which took a couple of rounds of fill/sand/repeat. Once I was happy with it, I used liquid glue to attach some 0.5mm styrene rod to the sides, using plenty of glue so that it settled in nicely. Once this was completed, I sanded it back a little, and then set about it with a triangular file, cutting grooves every 1mm or so. I wasn't too anal about it, as weld seams are seldom THAT regular. Once that was done, I used a fine sanding sponge to take the sharp edges off it. It's not perfect, but it matches the kit seams well, and looks better than it would have done. The rest of the model went together pretty much standard, apart from every part requiring extensive sanding & reprofiling, due to the horrible flanges that appear at the edge of every flat part, and the mould slip on most of the finer parts. Such is life. The only part that wouldn't fit together according to the instructions was the flap on top of the exhaust, which pokes out of the top behind the turret (in the middle of the hull). I gave up after 5 minutes of trying to make it fit, and cut a disc of card to fit the top of the exhaust, and detailed it up as per the original... just the right size! Whether it's right or not is anyone's guess, but it looks a lot better to my AFV ignorant eyes Once it was all built up, I sprayed some Alclad white ally on the vision blocks, oversprayed with Tamiya clear green, and masked over them with oblongs of tape. Another coat of Alclad was then applied over the top, so that I can chip the bodywork later to show the aluminium body underneath. Clever, eh? I've just remember that I forgot to spray the bow protector (I think it deflects the bow wave when the vehicle is water-borne), so I'll have to get the Alclad out again later. That seems to get quite battered in use, with plenty of shiny chips on the edges. The wheels have been removed from the sprues & the rubber roadwheels damaged as per Dan's directions... apparently, they take quite a battering. He did give me some Tamiya Bradley wheels, but the shafts are a different width, and I was struggling to find a way to get round that. I decided instead to just plaster the wheels with mud, so no-one will notice! One final thing... couldn't be arsed sourcing some figures for this (the kit items are crap!), and certainly didn't fancy doing anything with the interior, so I've glued all the hatches shut... So there! More later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob challis Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Great work Mike-it looks excellent and well worth your efforts. Kind regards, Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Nice one Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 Cheers chaps... long way to go yet I'm sure I can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory somewhere along the line Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest snipersmudge Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 looking good mike, nice idea to spray alclad first, will be interesting to see the results Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 looking good mike, nice idea to spray alclad first, will be interesting to see the results feeling the pressure! Don't suppose anyone knows whether these things have any anti-slip coating applied anywhere? I've got some, but can't seem to find the answer so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 I sprayed & attached the front bow thingy this avo, and then gave the whole hull & wheels a coat of Tamiya acrylic Nato Green, to which I'd added a little Nato Brown to tone it down on Dan's instructions before he went off on his jollies. I had a few issues of my own making spraying the Tamiya acrylic paint, partly because I've never actually sprayed these paints before, but my pipette was sucking up the dregs at the bottom of the pot, so the brush was spitting & clogging a lot. I disassembled the brush & cleaned out the gunk, then mixed the next batch in a pot before decanting it into the airbrush cup... lo! My troubles were at an end. I took time out to deal with some admin crap and then had tea... pasta carbonara! When I came back I touched up a few patches where the ally could still be seen ever so slightly, and with the remaining paint I added a little white to the mix & started putting on some weather streaking. These things go to sea, so I figured a bit of weathering wouldn't go amiss. I did this 3 times in total, increasing the white content on each occasion to give some variety. I'm quite pleased with the end result, which with the remaining two colors added, some filters to adjust the tone, and a heap of mud and dust should be a little less prominent. The pics have been enhanced a little to show it up better, as the lighting wasn't quite ideal for this kind of effect. Imagine it slightly toned down & muted And a close-up, showing my DIY weld seams & ammo cover More tomorrow, probably Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousER99 Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 When did they attach USB drives to these guys?? Looks nice and streaky Mike. Well done now get back to master making!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desmojen Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Looks pretty cool so far Mike Must be the season for Tank Building Noobs, as I have one in the nearly time to do pile myself. I will watch with interest to see how you go with it. Jen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 Looks pretty cool so far Mike Must be the season for Tank Building Noobs, as I have one in the nearly time to do pile myself. I will watch with interest to see how you go with it. Jen. if it all goes wrong, you might want to stop watching When did they attach USB drives to these guys?? Mid-life upgrade... the newer ones were even smaller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 Ok, I lied... couldn't resist putting the roadwheels & drive sprockets on, so a test of the tracks was of course mandated! Mike wanted a pic, so I share below the pic that he's just said: slick! Get Spence to paint you some figures!! LOL To... charming! The rubber roadwheels haven't been painted yet, as there's no point until the colors are all present, so you can still see plenty of grey primer. Tracks are gonna be fun though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest snipersmudge Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 impressive, most impressive young skywalker! like the fading so far mike, don't worry about the tracks they should no problem! he he, as for anti slip on the vehicle I think later versions have some on the rear crew compartment hatches but thats about it. Are you going to add bergens etc to the hull? cheers Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 Thanks Smudgy Yeah, some stowage is on the menu in due course... I think Dan's gonna donate a few bergans, and I've got a camo net & a bail of "summit" to plonk on it once I'm further on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 I've added the camo according to the color diagram, but it conveniently didn't include one side Fortunately, I had a pic of the missing side, and the markings matched the diagram fairly well, so I semi-winged it. The instructions would also have you leave the turret green, but reference to pics showed that it's got a few black bits, so I cobbled the scheme for that together from a few of them. Again, after each neat coat of camo color, I lightened it & reapplied some streaks & highlights on things like the crew hatches. I think the brown has been lightened a little too much in places, but I'll see how it looks after I've done the touch ups of the overspray & decide what to do about it then. Pictures! Might brush paint the road wheels next Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousER99 Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 I will be watching this one closely!! Love the paint so far Meekle. Can't wait to see it all dirty and scuffed up!! When SPence does your figures, why not have him do a diorama base for you as well!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest snipersmudge Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 looking very nice Mike, I would leave the brown, it looks fine to me plus any washes, filters and weathering will probably darken the colours anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanrgb Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Not too bad Mikey boy .... Welcome too the dark side ..I'll have to get you a chieftain to do and of course I'll let you paint it in Berlin Colours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 Not too bad Mikey boy .... Welcome too the dark side ..I'll have to get you a chieftain to do and of course I'll let you paint it in Berlin Colours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 I'm impressed. Cheers Den Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 Cheers Den... gotta learn somewhere. Might as well be on a free kit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Impressive Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 Impressive Mike Cheers Mish I'm a bit surprised how quickly it's gone together... I suppose there's no cockpit or wheel bays to fuss over for a change. Maybe deserted AFVs could become my speciality when I fancy a rest from planes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stebos Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 I'm hoping this inspires me to finish up mine, some nifty AB work showing up there Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 I welded the tracks before painting, and went over the hull with some fine grit sandpaper adding some scratches & chips to the paintwork... some more pics resulted: Close-up of some of the areas where the most chipping seems to occur: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Nice work Mike, I think you could get away with a little more 'chipping'. I find building armour can be fast and very satisfying especially when it comes to covering them with dirt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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