Diggin myself into a hole!

[TRM]

With the plaster done Boots, smooth sailing to the bright light at the end of the tunnel!!

[TRM]

Hey folks!!

Just a little update here.

I have more of less finished the construction of the AEV ...I will get to that in a moment. First, I was going to attack the tracks to finish completely; apparently, the track in this case attacked me back.



Although the case is very nice on the PSM supplied tracks for this kit, they appear to be virtually impossible to remove without snapping the delicate end links right off.

Discouraged a couple weeks back, I came across Meng's new offering: D 640 A Workable Tracks for Leopard 1 Family.



The kit was, well...dirt cheap. I picked these up from Hobby Easy running about $12 US...including shipping!! Also, they arrived about 1 week after the order. If you were wondering...I am on the East Coast of the US and Hobby Easy is in China! Looks like the online store gets a +1 from me for this service!

The kit comes with three bags of parts; bottom track links, top pads and track connecting rods. There is one sprue in the box which contains the jig for constructing the workable links as well as the grousers or Ice Cleats....these are optional.













The first process of construction is to lay out all the bottom plates to the tracks.



After the plates are in place, the tracks connecting rods are placed in with the teeth facing down into the slot provided.



It is hard to show how easy these go together. At first it will be a bit strange but once the "learning curve" has been reached, things move right along. The top pads are places on top of the corresponding bottom plate with the male posts and are pressed in for a tight fit. There should be no gluing required. I did find out that I needed to glue two into place as the top pads were loose after pressing into place. But with a careful placement of the thin cement into the female openings on the underside of the pads, things just went together.





These are fully movable tracks.





These tracks are an excellent outsourcing for Leopard 1 Tracks if needed. There was a little flash from the original sprue gate left on a few of the bottom plates when Meng's handlers removed the parts at the company, but nothing to write home about...there was absolutely no clean up needed.

I still need to assemble about 1 1/2 tracks as I got a little busy here...but things should go together just fine and a heck of a lot better than trying to clean up the resin alternative supplied by the kit maker.

Okay, now that that was out of the way, here it is. The finished construction pics. I left off the loose parts on the front as these will be painted separately as will the tow cables and various other smaller loose parts.





The one bigger issue I had was the auger. This part had a really poor casting design and is nearly impossible to remove with out wrecking things. I managed to salvage most of the drill bit blades. I made a new shaft from some spare rod I had. If I could find a viable way to construct a new one...I might, but for now I will progress!!



Well...that is that! Time to finish building the tracks and priming this one I think! I am heading to thee IPMS Show in Hampton, Virginia next week...for the week as I will be doing some Demos using Vallejo paints and effect ...for Vallejo. If you are in town for the show...please stop by and the Vallejo table and say hello!!

Thanks for tuning in!!

[Leon]

Todd the AEV is looking good and I really the tracks.No muss,no fuss.

[TRM]

Thanks Leon!! All coming together now I think! The tracks are a Godsend! Well worth getting if anyone is doing a Leopard 1 variant!! Cheap and great quality!

[DeafStuG]

TRM, Nice build, looks good workable Tracks detail and jig tool.

[TRM]

Thanks Jeremy!! The tracks are some decent quality and a much cheaper alternative to others out there by and large!

[Teabone]

Nice find on those tracks, I wouldn't bank on that shipping time as a standard time from China, I think that was a least a small lucky break unless you had asked for overnight shipping.  Sounds like a superior product so I home they choose to build them for a wide range of subjects.

Bones

[TRM]

Nope...standard shipping. I have had some decent luck ordering from Hobby Easy. Usually everything shows up within two weeks. I would think this is only the beginning from Meng in the track world...going out on a limb here but the next set would probably be Leo 2's and not too far of a stretch after that...maybe the Leo 2A4 Leopard fans have been waiting for....we will have to wait and see!!

[Deleted]

Wow, I mean wow.

That's just great!

G

[imatanker]

Welcome to the Blade and Boar. Cool lookin' rig T. The tracks are nice also. It will be interesting to see if they start coming apart as you handle them for painting and placement.

[TRM]

Thank you G...most appreciated!

Thanks Jeff! These engineering rigs are pretty interesting to say the least! The tracks seem fairly rugged. I have banged around the section I made pretty good so far testing just that sort of thing out! Everything stayed put! The next test will be painting...but I figure everything is sealed well after that! I will be heading down the Acrylic road to weathering this one, so there are no worries of anything coming "unglued" from the use of enamel washes and such...mainly because there is no gluing...aside from the two pads I had to glue. Typically that would be a pre-weathering sealing that fails causing tracks to fall apart form what I have found!

Maybe a little primer today!!

[wbill76]

Nice progress with the tracks and other details T! The Meng stuff looks pretty good and you can't beat the price either. Looking forward to the paint flying on this one.

[TRM]

Thanks Bill!! With any luck some primer will fly this afternoon!!

[TRM]

I was able to sneak into the cave for a bit tonight...

[imatanker]

Woooooooo-Hoooooooooo, wheels on a stick  Paint looks awesome Bro. I like the colors.

[bigjohn]

Ohhhhh, PAINT! Looking good there toad! Olive Drab even

[Leon]

Always a good sign seeing wheels on a stick Todd.Painting looks great.

[TRM]

Thanks fellas!! Modelling Shishkibob is always a safe meal!!

BJ, definitely going green with this one!! Like Kermit said, "Its not easy being green"!

[wbill76]

OD and wheels on a stick, can't beat that. Nice to see you're sneaking in some last minute work on this one T!

[TRM]

Thank Bill!! Planning on sneaking down there shortly!! With any lucj I will be well on my way with this before show time!

[pantherf..-Email Not Valid]

Whoa... is this lookin' good or what!


Can't wait fer more!  








Jeff

[TRM]

Hey Jeff! Missed you there yesterday!! Thanks buddy!! I guess you don't have to wait too long...

Well I was able to bang out some color on this one just before doing some final packing before leaving tomorrow for the IPMS Show in Virginia.





In case you were wondering what I used...





So I plan on bringing this one with me to the show and bang out some weathering. All that's left after that is some track and get this together!!

Thanks for swinging by!!

[deafpanzer]

Man, it is looking great... wish I can join you boys at the show! Will be thinking of you all... be sure to post pics on Facebook please!?!?! LOL

[wbill76]

Now that's some nice work with the greens T! Just in time too. Have fun at the show!

[imatanker]

AND, you're taking it to the Show? How sweet is that. Have a great time.

[TRM]

Thanks Andy!! Wish you could be at this one too brother! I am sure we will have plenty of pics and such!!

Thanks Bill! Just under the wire!!

Thank Jeff!! Rob and I will do our best!! Sure it won't be too difficult though!!

[pantherf..-Email Not Valid]

Awesome work... I mean, WOW! 

Makes you wanna go out and get an engineering kit right away.  


(nice save on the tracks!)










Jeff

[TRM]

Hi Jeff...sorry I missed you back there a ways. Judging from the date you posted whilst I was at the show....just getting back into the game now!! Thank you for the kind words!!!

Getting back into the swing of things here after a little break to attend the IPMS Nationals in Hampton, VA last week. I worked with Vallejo to provide product demonstrations and address any questions folks had about new products, old products as well as troubleshooting any problems they might have had or encountered in the past. Very successful week I would say!!! Met lots of folks from all over...had a blast!!



I posted this in the MSC Review Connect the other day as more or less a warning for anyone using the tracks...figured it would be good to put down in here as well!!  Original posting: trmreviewconnect.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/vallejo-the-safer-bet-for-weathering-mengs-leopard-1-tracks/

Most recently I was contacted by a good friend that had run into a little problem after starting the weathering process of his D 640 A Workable Tracks for Leopard 1 Family of tanks from Meng. The replacement tracks are brand new to the scene and offer one of the best alternatives to using kit supplied tacks. Fully workable, these tracks assemble quickly and easily as well as coming with a low price tag making them even all the more inviting.



The little problem my friend ran into, and subsequently more folks out there since I received the word, is the similar issue that crops up with some Link-n-length, Magic Tracks and even some DS’s; that the some solvent based weathering products are basically either releasing the adhesive bond between the links or eating their way through some plastics in the weathering process of the track makeup.

Here we see an example of the result from using a solvent base weathering product on these Meng Tracks. The track pins have disintegrated resulting in the break upof the tracks.



One of the best viable options to eliminating this problem is the use of an Acrylic wash like Vallejo’s Model Wash.



These washes are true acrylic and water based which has no effect on the plastic whatsoever. The Acrylic washes, as with the paints, dries quickly so care will be needed to the application but this is limited to large flat surfaces usually where some tiding can occur if not either cleaned of after applying or blending in with a dry brush stippling effect to soften the edge.

After priming and painting the tracks, a clear coat is advisable to not only protect the work you have done but also the clear coat allows for better manipulation of the effects just after the application.







Here I have used the Black Model Wash to enhance the rubber track pads on the run. Simply apply the dark wash and allow drying. With Acrylic Model Wash, as with any washes made with acrylics, you do not want to get ahead of yourself and wash too much surface area at one time. The inherent properties of any water based acrylic is to dry quickly. If you apply too much wash over to large of an area that you can clean up or work with your efforts might be doubled if they dry before you get to them.



But with thoughtful preparation, you can move right along with the weathering process and complete the task in relatively the same amount of time that you would normally with a solvent based wash.

When adding localized or pin washes, if you dampen the area slightly with water as the water will act as a carrier such as in solvent. Then simply add your washes. After a few minutes drying time, feel free to added varying colors for contrast and depth.







If you wish to darken areas more, simply add another layer of wash which will naturally darken the area more. It is best to build up effects in layers over several applications rather than trying to cover all at once.

The washes are great for select coloring of certain areas such and panels and hatches or in this case the small rubber pads on the inside of the tracks. Dampen the area that you wish to darken and with a small brush treating the application as a pin wash, touch the center and the water carries the wash to the extents of the section inside the lines. This will give a subtle look to the rubber without having to individually paint each on and worry about masking or staying in the lines.





If you happen to go outside the lines, simply take a flat brush barely damp with water and coming in from an angle clean the excess wash off, drying the brush on a clean towel often.



In the end, not only can you get some excellent weathering results from using these acrylic washes your Meng tracks, and I suspect others brands of tracks as well, will be completely unaffected by the water based effects unlike with some solvent based products.



Model Wash from Vallejo is ready to go straight out of the bottle and can be thinned with water to make lighter washes or filters. Another fine alternative to solvent based washes and effect is to simply use any water based acrylic paint such as Model Color or Model Air. The process is just as you expect, thin with water until you have the constancy you are happy with and apply in the same fashion as describe with the4 Model Washes.

I have found this to be the best alternative for washes and effect on the Meng D 640 A Workable Tracks as well as other tracks that have come apart while applying weathering to my models due to the use of some solvents. Outside the Meng Tracks show in this review, I do feel the disintegration of the plastic due to the use of solvent based washes is not typical and maybe segregated to these particular track links. I have used solvent based product over the years and mostly noticed only some adhered joints loosening and coming apart as a result.

All that aside, I am rolling into the home stretch on this one. A quick testing of the track fit and things are off to the booth again, some decals will be on soon and then some weathering!







As always, thanks for stopping by for a bit!!

[Leon]

Fantastic results on the tracks Todd and a great SBS on the application.

[wbill76]

Nice to see you're getting back on track after the show there T! Nice SBS and progress on this one.