CMP FAT 12 & 17/25 Pdr,'Pheasant'

[Teabone]

Here is an overall progress shot showing the chassis, seats & engine.

The Chassis is at the 95% level needing me to glue in the engine and exhaust system.  The engine is ready except for a little finish paint on the exhaust piping.  The winch has the cable on with the cable end hardware in place, needs some steel dry brushing and maybe a touch of rust on the fair-leads and oil leaks from the drive train.

[Teabone]

This picture is the backs of the seats which by some miracle came out pretty decent if you saw what the looked like after the gluing of the tissue on the fronts.

[Teabone]

This picture is of the seat fronts which is where the rubber meats the road on this portion of building this kit.  I normally sand the seats to simulate some texture before painting, here on MSC I saw how some builders use putty rolled thin and some use tissue to simulate cloth.  I have to admit that it looked pretty good, I have tried the putty thing on some other work with mixed results so I chose the tissue paper way.  What you see is the result of my efforts, I must say the method is quite a bit more involved than just sanding but the result shows some promise particularly if I can fins white glue that adheres to styrene.  I think that in the next couple of days I will experiment on that quest and report back on the results.

My standards are somewhat lower than some of the more dedicated rivet counting builders who do fantastic work but the standard is good enough for my sweetheart who loves the builds when they are finished, never critical and ready to buy me more kits when I want them.  Therefore the seats are good enough for this build but I will try to do better next time.  This does not mean that if there are any helpful hints out there or good ideas I wont welcome them.

The florescent lighting has thrown the color of the seats off, they are the greenish drab color as in the references.

[Deleted]

Way more better than the OOB seats

[Teabone]

Jun 4, 2013 6:45:18 GMT -5 @dogfish7 said:

Way more better than the OOB seats

Thank you for your vote, they are beginning to take on me as not being a total loss and maybe better than if sanded.

Bones

[wbill76]

I think you're being too hard on yourself there Bones, the seats look good front and back and the paint brings out the texture just right IMHO. You pushed the envelope with a new technique and stretched your modelling 'legs' in the process, always a good thing! Keep at it sir!

[Teabone]

Jun 4, 2013 19:58:01 GMT -5 wbill76 said:

I think you're being too hard on yourself there Bones, the seats look good front and back and the paint brings out the texture just right IMHO. You pushed the envelope with a new technique and stretched your modelling 'legs' in the process, always a good thing! Keep at it sir!

Wild Bill76

Thanks for the input, I gave them another coat of the greenish drab paint and fixed them in place today but didn't get the pictures processed yet.  They look much better in place than just setting on the bench.  I also got the engine manifolds and crossover pipe done and in-place along with some "Steel" on the fairleads and Future on the windscreens.

Bones

[tonylee]

Bones I wouldn't expect a tuffed and rolled interior on a battle wagon,looks just fine.

Of coarse a pair of fuzzy dice would be the cats meow.

Tony lee

[bullardino]

I really dig the seats, Bones. They're far better than OOB and really look the part

[Teabone]

Jun 4, 2013 23:44:46 GMT -5 tonylee said:

Bones I wouldn't expect a tuffed and rolled interior on a battle wagon,looks just fine.

Of coarse a pair of fuzzy dice would be the cats meow.

Tony lee

Tony Lee

Thanks for looking, I'm becoming more accustomed to the seats appearance and hopefully tomorrow Ill have time to get some pictures up.  There a little ragged around the edges but I have to agree they generally look better than sanded seats.

Bones

[Teabone]

Jun 5, 2013 14:23:03 GMT -5 bullardino said:

I really dig the seats, Bones. They're far better than OOB and really look the part

Luigi

Thanks for your looking and I value your opinion, tomorrow I will experiment with some Elmer's carpenter glue and see if it will adhere to styrene.  If it does it will improve the making of this effect in the future 500 times over working with my dreaded enemy CA glue.

Bones

[Teabone]

Here we are with some more progress shots of the passenger compartment these or taken with natural light.

This first one has been corrected and the color is true to what you would see on the model.

Natural light uncorrected.

[Teabone]

A little different angle.

Both taken in natural light uncorrected.

[Teabone]

An overhead picture in florescent light no correction.

[Teabone]

Top view of the chassis ready for some dirt and oil streaks.

[Teabone]

Bottom of chassis, Florescent lighting, I need to take the next set of this in Natural light so the true colors show up.

[bullardino]

Very nice, Bones. The interiors look great, unfortunately not much will be seen when you'll close the cab

[Teabone]

Jun 7, 2013 6:29:35 GMT -5 bullardino said:

Very nice, Bones. The interiors look great, unfortunately not much will be seen when you'll close the cab

I am leaving the door open, I am not sure about how to do the interior floor, it must have some wear.

I also want to come up with some marking to go with the 8th Army or a unit in Italy.

Bones

[Teabone]

Jun 7, 2013 8:23:27 GMT -5 @spacepacker said:

Bones, the seats look good. If I might make a suggestion, I make some indentation on the seat and the back as you would see after some use.
I do this before I cover with tissue. I have always been successfull with PVA glue to stick the tissue, can't think of a reason why you are not having success. Never the less they look good

You are more than welcome with the suggestions, I thought about that at the time but the tissue was an experiment and I didn't get too into the best way.  I had not Tried PVA yet but from what you say it must stick, today I am trying Elmer's which I believe will work as a test which I will post.  I assume you use putty to simulate the depressions which I will have to try.

Bones

[wbill76]

Seats look right at home Bones, keep on 'trucking' with this one.

[armorguy]

Seats look great, tissue does the trick. You've attached a cable too Bones, nice !

[vlpbruce]

looking very good. The seats came out just fine.

[Teabone]

Jun 7, 2013 15:59:48 GMT -5 @spacepacker said:

Jun 7, 2013 12:36:32 GMT -5 Teabone said:

[/quote
No, I make the depressions by scrapping with a knife or a file, I have never used putty...cheers....Kenny

I was thinking that one could overdo the depressions easily so using a file would be the anweser to that problem, have you got a picture or link to one?

Bones

[Teabone]

Jun 7, 2013 16:02:13 GMT -5 @dickyf said:

Yer floor deck tread will look nicely worn with some 'bare metal' dry-brushing on the heavy traffic areas and just some dirty washes overall will work wonders Mr Bones or can I call you Tea?

IMHO the seats look spot on sir and as Bill says, it's all about pushing the envelope...if we all got it right first time, we'd have stopped building aged 7!

Thanks I was leaning that way but with your recommendation it is settled.  How about an idea on what the 8th Army decals would have been for this vehicle.  I say that thinking that the Ford FAT never saw service in the 8th Army as most of the pictures you see are Australian but I suppose they were serving in the 8th Army at Tobruk.  The Ford FAT 12's service record is a little dark when it comes to where it was other than Canada.

Yes I have to agree Bill is calling it right on the seats for a first try they did come out OK.  If I ever get a kit built right I will celebrate for a week but I don't give up.  You can call me anything you like I have lots of names to confuse those gathering data and Tea would be as good as any just don't call me late for the Bacon Butties.

Tea

[Teabone]

Jun 7, 2013 17:13:36 GMT -5 armorguy said:

Seats look great, tissue does the trick. You've attached a cable too Bones, nice !

I was surprised to find the winch under the vehicle, having some experience with winches and bad language in mud and sand I don't think I would ever locate one in that position.  Thanks for the nice words on the seats.

Bones

[Teabone]

Jun 7, 2013 18:17:37 GMT -5 vlpbruce said:

looking very good. The seats came out just fine.

Thank you for looking and the comments, I agree the seats are not as bad as they first looked, I will be reporting on some experimenting I did with Elmer's glue on a seat in the next day or two.

Bones

[Leon]

Bones,your doing a fantastic job on this.Seats and chassis look spot on.

[vlpbruce]

You are welcome my friend. By the way, I almost never like anything I build at first.

[Teabone]

Jun 7, 2013 18:17:37 GMT -5 vlpbruce said:

looking very good. The seats came out just fine.

Bruce

Thanks for the encouragement everything will be great if I don't cock it up with the weathering.

Bones

[Teabone]

Today was no great advance on this build, I did experiment with the tissue and glue for seat covers and will give the full story in a few days.

This piccy is looking at the top, I have gently weathered with oils, will follow with some pastel dusting.