Trumpeter 38(t) - BUILD COMPLETE!!! (09.02.14)

[Hinksy]

Jan 20, 2014 10:57:19 GMT -5 bbd468 said:

Primer looks good Ben and im ready for paint!  Bring on dem sweet Fruils my brotha!!!

Your wish is my command Brother Gary

These Goddam 38(t) Friuls are definately some of the 'slowest to assemble' Friuls I've ever tackled - EVER!

I've actually managed to break 2 drill bits today - my last 0.4mm and 0.5mm's are gone but I've struggled on with some cheapo bit's and in about FOUR hours I managed to assemble - dum dum dah - ONE COMPLETE RUN! Jeez, even Pz.I Friuls were easier! Has anyone else struggled with these?

My finger tips are numb and I've got a headache so I think I'll have a meal and chillax now. I've got into a routine now with a nice sized bit and some wire that slots into the holes nicely without the need for CA to hold them.

I've had a stupidly busy week and really wasn't looking forward to assembling these so when they are done tomorrow it's paint time

Photos - remember these are all dry fitted at present including the wheels and I'll be losing a link or two before completion.





Sorry there's no more to show today but I promise you that tomorrow, there will be, without doubt, another run of Friuls to look at! WooHoo!

Paint next week!

Thanks for looking fellas,

Ben

[bullardino]

I really like it. I agree with you, the sag on the tracks needs a little reduction, but the overall appearance is awesome

[wbill76]

Could be worse Ben, you could be Tony and have his track workload to deal with! Nice progress, good call on removing a couple of links, the tracks on the 38t typically only had sag at the rear after the 2nd return roller due to the drop down to the second set of road wheels.

[Leon]

Nice work on the tracks Ben.

[Hinksy]

Thanks for dropping by guys,

Friuls always make the difference imo - shame these were such a PITA!

Ah well - I've got the second run to look forward to assembling after lunch! LOL!

Ben

[Deleted]

Friul addiction is such a terrible thing indeed, it has taken many a modeller to the brink of insanity...

But they look so God damn nice, in the construction phase of a build log, they just sparkle, clean n fresh.

Who can resist the sparkle?, I can't, Fruil addiction consumed me long ago lol.



On a more serious note, it would help if Friul didn't keep changing the pin wire that they supply with their tracks, in the last few years it seems to have changed a few times, I've given up using it now, and instead use very thin brass rod, they are still a pain in the ass to assemble, but hold form much better, and don't stretch as much.

[Tojo72]

Fruils looking good Ben,I love it when the drill slips and you poke a neat little hole in your fingertip

[bbd468]

Ben, a good fruil update will last a couple days for us fellas.   They look great brother.

[reserve]

Ben, look at the bright side, you could be dealing with Magic Tracks. Bash on, they'll be done soon...


Regards,
Mark

[deafpanzer]

Four hours on one run? You must be getting old... you need to call Uncle Tony for tips. LOL But it is looking great!!!

[Hinksy]

Jan 26, 2014 18:55:18 GMT -5 Tojo72 said:

Fruils looking good Ben,I love it when the drill slips and you poke a neat little hole in your fingertip

Cheers guys!

Last night my fingertips were NUMB and now I feel like a Diabetic who has to stab his finger every day to get blood out - lost time of the amount of times that happened.

Ther's something about these Friuls which sucks I think it's the fact they are so small but with TWO guide horns - there's nothing to hold onto. Panzer III Friuls only have the one horn (obviously) and you can whizz through them. Tiger I Friuls are my favourites!

Re Friul wire - it's CRAP! it's so thin! I use a 0.55mm bit and 0.5mm Brass rod of which I have stacks of 12" lengths! It sit's in the hole nicely without the need for CA to hold it. I also use 0.4mm Jewellery wire from my LHS for small stuff like Pz I Friuls.

I bought some more small drill bits today so I'm going to finish up this second run shortly.

Cheers lads,

Ben

[Deleted]

the wire suppied for the 38t tracks is very thin as you say my fingers where suffering with the small size of these tracks as well!

[Hinksy]

Jan 27, 2014 13:25:32 GMT -5 @snipersmudge said:

the wire suppied for the 38t tracks is very thin as you say my fingers where suffering with the small size of these tracks as well!

I wouldn't wish pain on anyone Pete (usually ) but I'm really pleased to hear that you struggled like hell with these too! LOL!

It's definately the twin horn on one small link that makes these a PITA.

The Friul wire (the Brass stuff that is about 0.3mm diameter is AWFUL for Friuls but GREAT for wiring up scale radios etc. I always reach straight for the Brass Rod in 0.5mm. The Friul wire goes in the 'metal stuff' tub!

Pz.III Friuls are only a tiny bit bigger but with one horn you can fly through them.

I'll have them finished today (probably)!

Ben

[Tobi]

Jan 28, 2014 4:02:25 GMT -5 Hinksy said:

Jan 27, 2014 13:25:32 GMT -5 @snipersmudge said:

the wire suppied for the 38t tracks is very thin as you say my fingers where suffering with the small size of these tracks as well!

I wouldn't wish pain on anyone Pete (usually ) but I'm really pleased to hear that you struggled like hell with these too! LOL!

It's definately the twin horn on one small link that makes these a PITA.

The Friul wire (the Brass stuff that is about 0.3mm diameter is AWFUL for Friuls but GREAT for wiring up scale radios etc. I always reach straight for the Brass Rod in 0.5mm. The Friul wire goes in the 'metal stuff' tub!

Pz.III Friuls are only a tiny bit bigger but with one horn you can fly through them.

I'll have them finished today (probably)!

Ben

There are a lot of complaints about the wire in new Friul sets. They made a change some time ago. In the past they had good wire and I have only mounted sets with that so far. I wonder if Friul is willing and able to hear the modelling world and change back to the ole stuff!

When I assemble them I make small lengths of 5 or 6 links each, which are only joined together later. I found this way it works pretty fast in most cases.

Cheers,
Tobi

[Hinksy]

Hi guys,

Today, I have made a very belated 2014 New Year's Resolution - I have resolved to never, ever, ever again try to assemble 38(t) Friuls. My God, I really don't know what it was with them but they tested my patience to the absolute limit!

Broken drill bits, punctured finger tips and general frustration plus an epically long time taken to assemble them? I like to think of myself as a bit of a Friul 'veteran' - I think these freakin' things were sent to kill me!

Usually my 0.55mm drill bits leave a perfect hole that allows 0.5mm Brass Rod to be used as pins and the fractionally larger holes allow for a nice 'friction fit' with no CA required. My pin vice won't grip anything smaller than 0.5mm which compounded the hassles

Anyway, grumbling aside - they are now both assembled and teporarily fitted for the photos. Because I ran out of 5.5mm drill bits (as a result so did my LHS who only had three in stock to begin with) I've had to use thinner wire and CA to hold the thinner wire - Friul Burnishing Fluid doesn't take to to any CA covered surfaces which might mean some dodgy looking Friuls so I might paint these ones?

This week means basecoat time so I'm going with a panel line pre-shade and using just a couple of the colours from the AK Dunkelgelb Colour Modulation set followed by some spidery olivgrun and rotbraun cammo effects. The hatch is still unfixed - I'll paint it as normal but see how the figure attempt goes before deciding on a hatch open or closed. I've got to get some Mr. Surfacer put on the Muffler and work out what stowage is going where.

It's going to get damn cold in the UK this week which may effect using the airbrush in the workshop so if that's the case I'll make a start on my Academy Hetzer that I bought this week - luckily the Friuls are already assembled for that one! LOL!









I took this photo with the model next to my old phone to give a sense of scale - diddy little thing ain't she?



Hopefully things will start to get moving now! I wanna spray some paint!

Oh yeah, the British Telecom Engineer came today to sort out our intermittent problems with our home-hub wireless doodah. We now have 40meg/second Fibre Optic Broadband as opposed to the slow old 5meg/second setup before. Killer!

Thanks for looking guys - I promise paint will be shown on the next update!

Ben

[deafpanzer]

So tiny... man I can't wait to build mine. Maybe in 2015 as my year is pretty booked already. Damn! It looks great primed now... rivets are really showing!

[Hinksy]

Feb 1, 2014 16:30:21 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

So tiny... man I can't wait to build mine. Maybe in 2015 as my year is pretty booked already. Damn! It looks great primed now... rivets are really showing!

About the same size as a Pz.I Andy - just a tad longer and taller - not sure off hand but you'll definately enjoy building one.

Sorry about the ridiculously slow progress fellas - I just couldn't bring myself to tackle them Friuls but I hate to do a half-job so they had to be done prior to painting.

Hopefully She'll have colour this time tomorrow!

Ben

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

What a matter Ben you got lace on your panties or something?

I'm going to work on two sets tomorrow, one Pz III and a set for the ISU-152.

What don't kill you only makes you tougher.

Cheers
Tony lee

[Deleted]

Pain is weakness leaving the body.

Love the build, looking forward to the camo.

G

[Hinksy]

Feb 1, 2014 20:09:43 GMT -5 tonylee-Rest In Peace said:

What a matter Ben you got lace on your panties or something?

I'm going to work on two sets tomorrow, one Pz III and a set for the ISU-152.

What don't kill you only makes you tougher.

Cheers
Tony lee

You'd think so wouldn't you Tony!

Give me Some Tiger I Friuls, a 0.55mm bit and some 0.5mm rod and I'll have both runs completed in 90 minutes (ish).

I'll assume you have assembled these things before. As I mentioned before they are about the size of a Pz.III link (a tad smaller) but as they have two guide horns on the edges as opposed to the Pz.III with just a single one in the centre they are bloody difficult to grab onto. NEVER AGAIN.

The ISU links will be fun - nice and big! You'll blast through them!

Update later or tomorrow on the painting depending on what gets done.

Ben

[Deleted]

No pain no gain fella! Your efforts paid off it looks great

You think these are small I have some in 1/48 for a Pz III

[danb.]

Sorry to hear you had some issues but man that looks luuuuurvly great job fella

Dan B

[Leon]

Ben,all your pain and effort produced some great results.

[Hinksy]

Feb 2, 2014 5:27:55 GMT -5 danb. said:

Sorry to hear you had some issues but man that looks luuuuurvly great job fella

Dan B

Cheers Dan and Leon!

Fiddly Friuls - a right PITA but if they are the only problems I encounter from now going forwards I'll take them!

Vlad - make sue you have fun with the Pz.III 1/48 Friuls mate! Like I say these would be fine but it's just the fact that the twin guide horns mean you are left with virtually nothing to grab onto. Pz. I Friuls were easier than these!

I'm off to start the basecoat and cammo in a minute - update later!

Ben

[wbill76]

Looks good with the shoes on Ben. Glad to hear you're now speeding along the information superhighway instead of stuck in 1st gear.

[Hinksy]

Feb 2, 2014 11:26:06 GMT -5 wbill76 said:

Looks good with the shoes on Ben. Glad to hear you're now speeding along the information superhighway instead of stuck in 1st gear.

Hi guys,

Bill: Cheers matey - the difference is staggering

Okay - the build has been painted. Had some problems (all my fault) and basically ruined the pre-shade and screwed up the spidery freehand red and green cammo - I ended up with a daft looking pattern - the turret was perfect but a couple of chunky lines really ruined the upper hull so onto plan B: Re-load with DY light base and give a really soft coat all over taking the edge off the cammo and I'm actually pretty pleased with it now. The only problem being the CM effect was lost but hey-ho. I ain't doing it again!

It's not what I'd originally planned BUT it's looking cool so I'm happy.

Next up I'll use the DY shine from the CM kit to drybrush the edges, raised areas and rivets - that will make things POP!

Here's where I am now:















Thanks for looking fellas,

Any constructive comments or suggestions much appreciated!

Have a good week y'all!

Ben

[deafpanzer]

Nice work! My only concern is that it is very subtle that camo may vanish during the weathering process. Unless you are not going to do heavy weathering this time?

[remarc777]

Hi there Ben,

Nice paintjob you did here! I actually like the background you use with the pictures. It gives me a "Greece theatre of war" feeling with this 38 ...

Seriously: I think you're on the way of creating a beauty here. I'm gonna tag along and enjoy the progress...

greetings, Richard.

[Hinksy]

Feb 3, 2014 2:46:46 GMT -5 remarc777 said:

Hi there Ben,

Nice paintjob you did here! I actually like the background you use with the pictures. It gives me a "Greece theatre of war" feeling with this 38 ...

Seriously: I think you're on the way of creating a beauty here. I'm gonna tag along and enjoy the progress...

greetings, Richard.

Thanks Rich,

Comments really appreciated brother! The background is the granite table top in the kitchen with a splash guard and then the tiles - yesterday it was standing on my laptop as my camera was struggling a bit with the crappy lighting.

Andy - cheers dude. I'm going subtle and will be doing filters and pinwashes only. Basically the cammo looked TERRIBLE (need more practice freehanding) so I gave it that final overcoating with the light DY shade. As I said to Rich the lighting was awful and in the sun it looks really good this morning. I thought about totally losing the cammo and knew everything has to be light going forward. I should have just left itplain DY like Pete as the CM work kicked butt!

Oh well, it's good practice and I'm happy so that's all that counts

Update ASAP fellas!

Ben

[wing_nut]

Some nice subtle coloration Ben. Well done.