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Post by rbaer on Apr 8, 2015 11:13:42 GMT -5
Thanks, guys.
Dupes, I give up. I started thinking about my next project the other day, and everything in the list is either IDF, used by the IDF, or what-if IDF. Is's an affliction right up there with not being able to build OOB, although I'm thinking that the Meng Merk3 may be my first totally OOB build in better than 30 years.
Maybe.
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Mudbone
Junior Member
Member since: August 2014
Posts: 56
Aug 23, 2014 8:30:30 GMT -5
Aug 23, 2014 8:30:30 GMT -5
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Post by Mudbone on Apr 13, 2015 5:50:55 GMT -5
Hey man! I'm with you on all of the above, I honestly don't know what it is, but I'm always coming full circle back to something IDF related. Its in the blood.  |
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Post by rbaer on Apr 13, 2015 11:00:08 GMT -5
Agreed.  I was in Israel, for almost two weeks, about 10 years ago and wanted to stay. |
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Post by rbaer on Apr 14, 2015 15:09:38 GMT -5
Long story, ending is: Never again will I attempt to attach teeny steel balls to tine chain and then hang the seventy-some-odd pieces to flimsy PE. In the end, it was the kit PE chain sets and plastic half-balls, with some halfs added from Dragon sprue ends because I apparently tossed the empty Academy sprue that had the rest of the half-balls on it. Argh.....  And of course as I went to add the last of twelve smoke discharger tubes, I realized I only had eleven, so I made one from sprue. All in all, not my most rewarding night of modeling, if you figure that I spent four hours messing with balls, chain and wire, only to have to revert to the kit-supplied parts. But... the turret is mostly done, except of course actually attaching the ball and chain, wiring the mantlet 50-cal solenoids and making the bags that are spread around the turret top, which actually contain the links, pins and small tools necessary to change a couple of track links.  I think after this I may need to build a Tamiya Pershing, just for therapy. |
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Post by Leon on Apr 14, 2015 15:41:35 GMT -5
Nice work on the ball and chains Russ!  |
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Post by wbill76 on Apr 16, 2015 10:45:33 GMT -5
Well at least you had options to fall back on there Russ when it comes to the B&Cs!  Pershing therapy, sounds like an OD conspiracy! |
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Post by rbaer on Apr 16, 2015 11:01:27 GMT -5
Leon, Bill: Thanks. Bill, an "Ace up the sleeve", I believe they say, except in this case it was a "six"..... And there's nothing like a Tamiya Pershing to soothe the soul. In my most humble and usually oddball opinion, it's one of the more well-engineered kits on the market, and can actually be built OOB as something that actually existed. I happen to have recently scored a set of the DML DS T-80 tracks for one, and with that simple addition (and adding two weld beads on the lower rear hull) will probably build a Korean War Marine tank, something I've always wanted to do anyway. So, "anyway", here's the gosh-darned hippy curtain installed:  I've also added a spare track link on each side as sometimes seen on LIC Merks. And below, the manual firing cables for the 50 cal, and the electrical harness:  This has truly been (so far, at least) one of the more challenging stages of this model, and maybe of anything I've done in recent memory. Hmmm.... |
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Post by deafpanzer on Apr 16, 2015 20:43:40 GMT -5
I am back from long break. WHOA those ball and chains look lovely! You know me... you always have my attention!
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Post by rbaer on Apr 17, 2015 14:49:42 GMT -5
Thank you, Andy. And I promise to return your attention in a timely manner. |
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Post by rbaer on Apr 23, 2015 10:17:06 GMT -5
Argh! No modeling in a week! I'm going crazy!
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Post by rbaer on Apr 29, 2015 10:30:09 GMT -5
Out of the fire, into the frying pan......  Lots of flash in the area where the links join, every other link or so. Teee-deee-UM! |
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Post by deafpanzer on Apr 29, 2015 13:43:58 GMT -5
LOL! Try not to have too much fun... they always come out great!
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Post by rbaer on Apr 29, 2015 16:10:28 GMT -5
I really like the look of indie, metal tracks, but gawd, they can be a pain..... I thought about using the kit link and length tracks, but there's two push-pin marks on every other link. I think I'd rather stab myself in the fingertip a few times and use SpadeAce or Friuls and bleed a little.
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Post by rbaer on Apr 30, 2015 10:30:20 GMT -5
No humans were harmed in the production of the following parts:  I did the tools bags on the turret top, and started the spent-shell catch bag for the MG. Paint soon, I hope. |
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Post by rbaer on May 4, 2015 10:50:07 GMT -5
Primer:    Gotta love Krylon..... |
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Post by deafpanzer on May 6, 2015 14:24:58 GMT -5
Looking fantastic!!! You love Krylon just because of its fume I am afraid... LOL
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Post by rbaer on May 18, 2015 12:13:02 GMT -5
Har, har.... More Krylon:    I've also finished track assembly, with a test-fit. SpadeAce supplies very few extras, I thought I might be taking the two spare links off the turret to finish, but barely made it. I think I have four links left. |
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Post by wbill76 on May 18, 2015 19:07:08 GMT -5
Glad the track count worked out for you Russ, always a tricky proposition with replacement track sets sometimes!
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Post by Leon on May 18, 2015 19:29:35 GMT -5
Really looking the biz Russ! Tracks and paint look great. |
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Post by dierk on May 19, 2015 8:24:41 GMT -5
Sorry Russ - totally missed this one...problem with being Russocentric rofl-roll
Fine work as always! I hear you on the flash-laden Spade Ace tracks - did one set for a Stug and spent more time cleaning them than it took putting them together. Never again!!
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Post by rbaer on May 19, 2015 14:33:33 GMT -5
Thanks, guys. I consider the bullet dodged on the tracks. It'sfunny, I buy Friuls for Merk1's and -2's for Magachs, and after three Magachs, have enough spares to do another Magach. That wouldn't work with SpadeAce: The M113 set had about 8 spare links.
Dierk, I used SpadeAce for the M113 Fitters' rig I did last year, and they were near-perfect. I was really surprised with these. I have SpadeAce tracks for Tamiya's JS-2 and their T-55 tracks, I'm going to take a very close look at them soon.
Maybe the above two "points" are why SpadeAce tracks are only a tic over $30? I dunno.
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Post by rbaer on May 20, 2015 11:28:57 GMT -5
Yuck: painting tires:  Also done: black on rubber parts of fenders, with gloss, now ready for decals. I did the Yanush stripe on the gun tube, but the kit decals seem to be impervious to MicroSol and SolvaSet, so I stopped. I have a few places where the decals will need to settle into anti-slip and cracks, and I really don't want them to "silver". Thought required..... |
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Post by rbaer on Jun 1, 2015 16:40:22 GMT -5
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Deleted
Member since: January 1970
Posts: 0
Dec 2, 2024 1:05:32 GMT -5
Dec 2, 2024 1:05:32 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2015 16:44:58 GMT -5
Pretty sweet work.
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Post by wbill76 on Jun 1, 2015 18:50:49 GMT -5
Looks like it's been out on maneuvers and getting down in the dirt Russ, nice!
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Post by Leon on Jun 1, 2015 19:09:51 GMT -5
Just the way we like them Russ! Real dirty. |
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Post by dupes on Jun 2, 2015 8:47:11 GMT -5
Mmmmm...looking good Russ! Nothing wrong with having your own "niche".
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Post by rbaer on Jun 2, 2015 13:36:37 GMT -5
Thanks guys.
Was it "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry" or the other way around? I kind of like the sound of "Dirty Mary", I used to date a "Crazy Mary".
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Post by rbaer on Jun 18, 2015 15:03:44 GMT -5
I had to do something with this model, just to avoid sticking it in a box, maybe to motivate me to finish it. The butt-ugly B&C on the turret is just a downer, so last night I fitted the wheels, sprockets and tracks, now that I have the hull sides all dirtied up. This lead to an interesting discovery about the tracks, something I had not noticed until now: all the links are cast very slightly off of being rectangular. If I look at a long run, the lateral lines on the links are not exactly perpendicular to the length of the run, meaning that they don't fit the sprocket teeth worth a hoot. Argh! So just to see if I had a quick fix, I grabbed the Friuls I have on the shelf and stuck ten together real fast (they went together w/o any drilling, no fuss whatsoever) and they're straight. Great I thought, until I tried them on the Academy sprockets: no fit! The pitch is considerably different. Okay, Friul supplies sprockets. Guess what: Friul's sprockets don't fir Friul track. Just shoot me. I may see if I can file down the very large teeth on the Friul sprockets, but I have a feeling this one may just end up with the SpadeAce tracks, or get stuck in a box. Hmmm..... Anyway, a pic with the SpadeAce tracks mounted:  |
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Post by wbill76 on Jun 19, 2015 14:38:37 GMT -5
Sounds like they borrowed Dragon's designers for the track/sprocket arrangement there Russ. |
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Pershing therapy, sounds like an OD conspiracy! 
