News Feed

Kate Ward
If I do them in batches of 8 I need 11 batches for each side. That helps me keep count.

Ben M
Ah, armor modeling. Endless tracks. Watching!

Kate Ward
Oh good, peer pressure, that'll keep me from slacking off. ^_^ I'm up to six 8-link sections of track so far, 16 to go. I had a panic moment where I was afraid I'd bought the wrong tracks, so the first thing I assembled from the Trumpeter kit proper was the sprocket wheels. And whew they do fit! Got a start on the lower hull too before bedtime.

Ben M
I've been curious about metal tracks. I find the plastic individual links hard to work with but maybe I just need more practice.

Robert Podkoński
Taking a seat here 🙂

Cuajete
Very nice painting scheme and original job.
Congrats!

Robert Podkoński
Nice!

gorby
I think you win this weeks prize for most heavy duty modelling tool. 😄
Looks a very interesting conversion.

Lenny Li
I think that kind of set up can tool a real bogie!!

Neuling
Watching .....................

Jakko ‌
> I think you win this weeks prize for most heavy duty modelling tool. 😄

Probably, yeah 🙂 It's a metalworking lathe, so a bit overkill for just turning down the seam on those wheels, but I didn't feel like aching fingers from scraping them down with a knife — I get those even when I hold them in a modelling vice, never mind just between my fingers.

> that kind of set up can tool a real bogie!!

Having seen a disassembled Sherman bogie up close, I must say I think this one is a size too small for that 😉

Ben M
👀 fascinating vehicle.

Mr D
Looking good, weld's coming on nice 👍

Ben M
How did you hold the wheels in the lathe?

Jakko ‌
@Mr D: that's not the welds yet, it's just the filler needed to plug the gaps 🙁 I'm still debating how to add all the weld seams.

@Ben M: An M2 screw, about 2 cm long, through the hole in the wheel, with a nut to tighten it. It needs to be fairly tight else chances are the wheel will stop as soon as the chisel hits it. On Asuka two-piece wheels, you need to do this before assembling the parts, because the hole on the piece to be glued in is smaller than on the part that has the tyre moulded on it.

Ben M
Thank you, I can envision the setup. I have a small lathe and arthritis in my hands, this technique could help me a lot. Thanks!

Mr D
Regarding weld's l have seen super glue used through a fine tip, you need steady hand n move in pattern to create weld.
Sorry l was looking at the resin 🤔🤣.
Good stuff be keeping eye
On progress 👍👍

Jakko ‌
@Ben M: What also works is a modeller's vice. Clamp the wheel in that, scrape down the seam with a straight knife over a third or so of the wheel, then unclamp and turn it, and repeat. If I scrape more than about two or three wheels by hand, my fingers ache enough that I have to stop, so the vice helps a lot. But you also get a lot of plastic scrapings all over your modelling area, so this time, I figured I'd put those in someone else's hobby room instead for a change 😉

@Mr D: Hahaha! The ones on the resin were put there by Resicast 🙂 But I'll now have to make ones that look similar, or at least not out of place next to them. I'm thinking a thin string of two-part epoxy, textured with a sharp tool.

gorby
I've just seen an Uncle Nightshift vid on adding weld seams:
Youtube Video

Jakko ‌
Thanks for that.

Mr D
Good video 👍, the finish on the flat plate work looks authentic, l think it's had better rough cast look from the brush stippling before he added the putty coat.
Good idea on the weld , epoxy putty best as regular epoxy levels out again.

Jakko ‌
I've begun to add the weld seams now — see photo 23 🙂 Basically, Magic Sculp two-part epoxy putty that I mixed up a very small amount of, then took even smaller amounts from that and rolled it as thin as I could in my hand before pressing it into the join between the parts. Getting it to stick there is tricky, especially once I began texturing it with the tip of a knife — it wants to adhere to skin and steel much better than to plastic, unfortunately 🙁 But with a bit of perseverance it does eventually stick.

Pietro De Angelis
Fantastic work, congrats!

David Taylor
really coming along.

Jakko ‌
Thanks 🙂

Robert Podkoński
I see some heavy duty equipment here and a lot of elbow grease... Good job so far, Jakko! Keep it up!

Jakko ‌
Thanks, though this is fairly straightforward. The most difficult part was finding a good way to curve the splash plates, really.

Pepe
Looking

gorby
You're doing some excellent work on this.

Jakko ‌
Thanks 🙂

Guy Rump
Looking great, following. 👍

Jakko ‌
Cool, nice to have you along 🙂

Mr D
Taking shape now, the green welding joints are looking a better medium.
Interesting to see an adaptation taking place of the original.
Thanks for your posts, good to see steps
👍👍👍

Jakko ‌
Thanks. TBH, I don't really care to look at photos of finished models — I much prefer seeing how they got to be that way, after which the finished pics make sense 🙂 So I post in-progress photos instead of only what it looks like at the end.

Ben M
Looks great, what an interesting subject. I enjoy your in progress photos.

My favorite bit is the martini glass holder up there on the bridge.

Mr D
Hi Jakko👋
Very nice... great job, thanks for the uploads....be interesting to watch progress.
Like it 😁👍👍

Robert Podkoński
Great job, Jakko! You're a master!

gorby
Wow that really is a beauty!

Sven Schönyan
I second that! A very nice Mosquito!

Rando
wow! that's spectacular. unique appearance too with those metallic spinner and nose caps

Alexander Grivonev
Wow, a real eye catcher with those silver hubs. Clean work and paintjob, but also great subtle weathering 👍