"Ack-Ack Attack!" or "Four Barrels of FURY" or something...

[bbrowniii]

Hey all

I've been plugging away at the Whirbelwind, doing some of the more mudane stuff - cleaning up the road wheels and tools, for example. I've also continued working on the gun, adding more PE. So here is a small update to show you where I stand:

I feel like my PE skills have improved as I have used it more and more, so turning something like this:



into this:



Is no real problem. Next, I turned to the 2 cm magazines. They each contain 5 pieces and, for me, present a particular challenge because of the curve that needs to be added to conform the front and back of the mag to the sides:







Now, finally, I have a confession to make. As I said, I feel more and more confident with PE the more I use it, and I spent over an hour last night applying little pieces that will, A) probably never be noticed by anyone and B) I'll likely knock off during painting and weathering. But, hey, they are there.

That being said, I do have my limits. I know the pictures are poor, but there are some part that are RIDICULOUSLY small:



And some of them, like the smallest ones below the knife tip in this photo, Griffon expects you to FOLD in HALF!!!!



I can barely see them and they want me to BEND THEM!!??

Yeah... those parts didn't make the final cut...

[bbd468]

Great job on the 2.cm Mag! Dude, those pieces are damn near microscopic! Man, good luck on the fold!!!

[bbrowniii]

Jun 27, 2013 10:09:05 GMT -5 bbd468 said:

Dude, those pieces are damn near microscopic! Man, good luck on the fold!!!

Yeah, well, maybe the 9-year old labore.... uhh, I mean "associates", working 16 hour days at $0.12 an hour at the Griffon factory have the fine motor skills required to fold those bits, but I certainly don't!!!

[bbd468]

LOL

[Deleted]

Oh good grief! that's some fine etch work there my son! very impressive

[dupes]

Man, you're doing well with that PE set. This Eduard one is draining my will to live! Not because it's particularly difficult (especially compared to those tiny parts) but because I have a feeling most of this detail won't be seen once I've got a coat of paint on.

Tempted to just stick with kit parts for what's remaining and fire off some paint.

[dupes]

Meh, and I haven't even started the tracks yet. POOP

[bbrowniii]

Jun 27, 2013 14:23:52 GMT -5 dupes said:

... but because I have a feeling most of this detail won't be seen once I've got a coat of paint on.

I'll be honest. There are a bunch of peices (3 or 4 per gun) that I simply decided not to put on because they go on under the gun and will be invisible, so I decided to leave well enough alone.

[Leon]

Good job on the etch .Don't think i could handle the wee pieces.

[bbrowniii]

Jun 27, 2013 17:42:49 GMT -5 Leon said:

Good job on the etch .Don't think i could handle the wee pieces.

Hehe... he said "wee"...

[wbill76]

Nice PE work there Boyd! The trick to bending small little parts like that? Hold with tweezers then bend with a fingernail. Helps if you haven't clipped them recently or you could end up with PE shoved under...not a good thing. Good call on only using what will be seen and add value, PE sets always seem to want to do the 'kitchen sink' approach to providing stuff...I've yet to EVER 100% use a PE fret on any build/project from a set. Looking forward to more on this baby! Keep extending your lead, you know Marc's got a cunning plan to catch up to you if you're not careful.

[bullardino]

Boyd those magazines look awesome. Impressive job.

[Deleted]

Good looking bendage on the small brassage pe-age Boyd .

[406 Silverado]

Man those are some small fiddly pe parts. Love the ammo clips.

[dupes]

Finally making some headway on the rest of the etch set - hope to have some pics to post up tonight.

Got seriously bogged down on this one...need to get to the paint stage!

[dupes]

Jul 2, 2013 15:13:37 GMT -5 @dickyf said:

...with those teeny pieces cut the whole fret section free as a lump retaining all the small pieces in place - clamp the whole section in yer etch mate or pliers or whatever and bend them first as a group..then remove them from the fret.

INNNNNTERESTING! Need to try this.

[bbrowniii]

Jul 2, 2013 15:13:37 GMT -5 @dickyf said:

I know it matters not one jot Boyd but having been faced with such PE-based inredulity myself I have a couple of tips that may help in the future...with those teeny pieces cut the whole fret section free as a lump retaining all the small pieces in place - clamp the whole section in yer etch mate or pliers or whatever and bend them first as a group..then remove them from the fret. Result, bends accomplished relatively pain-free, pieces are MUCH easier to pick up and hence fit once bent

HTH

That is a great idea, Dicky. In fact, I considered doing something pretty close to that before I said the heck with it. But I may just go back and give it one more shot. I've already got them all cut off the fret (as a cluster) so popping them in the old bending tool is easy... hmmmmm....

[bbrowniii]

Hey guys

Sorry for the long delay in updates. I always forget how time slips away in the summer and I have to choose between bench or computer time!

I've made some steady progress on the build. I don't have the latest pics, but I'll show a few of the journey.

First, the gun, with all the little PE bits attached. The only thing that is missing on the gun is the sight. I decided to try to spruce that up a bit, so it did not make the photo. However, you can see the PE mags. I'm pretty pleased with how they came out:



I've got a little scene in mind for this, so I needed some figs. Started with your basic Panzer crew from DML:



The figs are stock, except for some better heads from Hornet:



And, finally, a couple shots of the build, all major assembly completed, with primer on:





Those of you with eagle eyes will notice two things: first, is that I did prime the gun in grey and the rest in 'red oxide'. The grey will make a better base for the paintjob the gun will get, sooo...

Second, you might be thinking, "HEY, wait a minute buster! There is not primer on that whole thing!", and you are correct. See, here's the thing. Just before I primed it, I had spent some time cleaning up the tools. As I did so, I thought, "You know, I've got some really nice PE tool clamps..." so, I decided to go ahead and fold about 20+ Griffon clamps, which I had not completed before I primed the rest.

So, there you have it. Thoughts?

PS For the record, I am TOTALLY kicking dupes' butt in this duel!!!

[Leon]

Looking really good Boyd ;)you are defo kicking a$$ on this build.Keep it coming when you can.

[bbrowniii]

Thanks Leon. I'm heading to the beach tomorrow, so it'll be a bit before I get another update, but I am plugging away at it.

[wbill76]

Great to see some progress on this one Boyd, nice work on the gun and the primer looks good (in both shades!).

[bullardino]

Great progress, Boyd

[deafpanzer]

Missed your updates... stunning PE work on the guns!

[deafpanzer]

LOL! Dicky can take as much time as possible to get away because I will need more time to finish any of my builds.

[dupes]

Jul 17, 2013 19:08:06 GMT -5 bbrowniii said:

PS For the record, I am TOTALLY kicking dupes' butt in this duel!!!

You may be at this stage...but with the MS ride in the bank, and peak week at work being right now, you'd best keep it up - production re-commencing on my end VERY shortly! Jonesing to build something fierce, and this one is too close to paint to not get on it.

Those PE mags look great - don't know that I'd have the patience at this point to fold 4 (or more) of those.

[Leon]

Patiently waiting for you to jump on this again Dupes.

[bbrowniii]

I thought you were still in your own corner of PE folding hell with yours?

Sorry for the lack of updates guys. I've got a bunch of pics, just no real time to put together a significan update... hopefully soon!

[bbrowniii]

Alright fellows, here is a bit of an update.

So, as I was wrapping up the build portion, I decided I really was not happy with the kit supplied site. At the same time, I did not want to get too crazy trying to scratch something you'd barely see, so I compromised. I drilled out the site portion, and replaced it with a wire ring, similar to what I could see in reference photos:

Kit site:



Drilled out:



Wire ring "upgrade":



Attached:



Mounted on gun:



I also attacked the muffler with the rusting set from AK. I was a little nervous at first, but am really happy with the results:





I realized that painting this would be tricky, so I painted and weathered the inside of the turret before I mounted the gun and the top half of the gunshield. It'll make final painting a little more challenging, but I could not see any other way to do it:



So this is where we stand now: base coat is on, ready for camo to be applied (tonight??). I've also been working on the two figs and a base for this. I'd tell you the title I am working with, but don't want to give it away just yet...

[Deleted]

Superb weathering and details!!

[bbrowniii]

Aug 14, 2013 15:35:29 GMT -5 Leon said:

Patiently waiting for you to jump on this again Dupes.

NO!!! Don't encourage him. He'll jump on this with renewed vigor and crank out his build with lightning speed and all my bragging will be for nnaught! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!