Gopher Posted October 1 Author Share Posted October 1 (edited) Finally some close ups of my efforts. Edited October 1 by Gopher 1 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 1 Author Share Posted October 1 (edited) 52 minutes ago, Kevin Johnson said: Clive I love the shots of the goods yard. The tank is coming along nicely. The chipping effect through the tank is nicely done.👌 Thanks Kevin. It is a real learning experience for me, but thoroughly enjoyable. One advantage of these large scale tank models - is the detail is easy to pick out. The disadvantage is it takes a few hours of work because the model is so big. I hope when I build the turret I can replicate the weathering so it all merges in. Edited October 1 by Gopher Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Graham T Posted October 1 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 1 2 hours ago, Gopher said: Final stage was to seal it all with a matt varnish. I think I've finished the weathering (or knowing me I'll still carry on tinkering) That's beautifully done Clive - but is there still a bit of carrier film showing behind the "Carnivore" stencil? Sorry to be picky... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 1 Author Share Posted October 1 13 minutes ago, Graham T said: That's beautifully done Clive - but is there still a bit of carrier film showing behind the "Carnivore" stencil? Sorry to be picky... Thanks Graham - you are not being picky, it is bugging me, and I wonder if I have applied it correctly. I thought it was a transfer (advertised as such), but it had a sticky back. So I stuck it on the tank, and not even a coat of matt varnish has got rid of the carrier film 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 2 Author Share Posted October 2 Must be break time, not much work going on 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 3 Author Share Posted October 3 At least this lot are still busy 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 3 Author Share Posted October 3 (edited) The tale of the tank transfers continues. I tried (by weathering) to blend in the tank name transfers to get rid of the obvious film. Did not work as you can see from the photos below. When I scraped off the transfer, it became obvious they were some kind of pressfix transfer. Of course when I started scraping off the transfer the surface film came away leaving part but not all of the text on the tank. I have led a sheltered life and only ever used waterslide transfers . So a bit of a c*** up on my part. Anyway I scraped away the remaining text, and cleaned up the area. I now have a lighter patch of paintwork where the transfers sat which has not been weathered to the same degree as the surrounding paintwork I decided to make my own waterslide transfers. A few hours fiddling about on the PC getting an appropriate font size and style. Results are in the photos below. I think they look better than the ones I removed. There is no obvious film, just the lighter coloured paintwork under the transfer makes it look as if there is some carrier film. I blended them in with some weathering powders, and think I may have to do some more weathering on the one side (maybe both), before I add some matt varnish to seal the whole thing Edited October 3 by Gopher 7 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 4 Author Share Posted October 4 Must be another tea break, no-one to be seen 13 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 5 Author Share Posted October 5 One from the archive 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted October 5 Share Posted October 5 In the era you are modeling the workers always liked a tea break| 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 6 Author Share Posted October 6 20 hours ago, lmsforever said: In the era you are modeling the workers always liked a tea break| Very true 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 7 Author Share Posted October 7 Looking over the wall into the goods yard we spy an ex SR box van and an ex GW Iron mink 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 7 Author Share Posted October 7 (edited) I'm still tinkering with the weathering on the hull body, mainly adding more panel liner to some of the raised and recessed areas. Also a bit more work on the rear of the tank - just making the towing hook a little more used. I also toned down the new Carnivore transfers I added to the tank side skirts, so they look better. I'm happy with it so will now get on building the turret. I did get side tracked painting some after market accessories. I have some Jerry cans to paint - (water carriers), but also got some fuel carriers. The real tank has a gas turbine engine but it can also run on diesel... and marine diesel, gasoline, even kerosene. I've also got some Pelican boxes (no I'd never heard of them either). One is just visible on the left of the photo of the rear of the tank. Used by the U.S Military for general stowage, and medical kits. They are basically tough crates/boxes of various sizes. They should sit nicely in the turret external stowage baskets along with the Jerry cans, and hopefully some personal kit items I've ordered from E Bay (but have not yet turned up - couple of weeks late and I think I am being bull s****** by the seller). Edited October 7 by Gopher 7 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pecketts And Panniers Posted October 7 Share Posted October 7 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Gopher said: I'm still tinkering with the weathering on the hull body, Well, I think your tinkering has worked! That looks subperb. Edited October 7 by Pecketts And Panniers 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 7 Author Share Posted October 7 24 minutes ago, Pecketts And Panniers said: Well, I think your tinkering has worked! That looks subperb. Thanks so much for the compliment. Clive Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Graham T Posted October 7 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 7 Pelicases are fantastic bits of kit, but a touch expensive for us mere civvies 😀 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 7 Author Share Posted October 7 1 hour ago, Graham T said: Pelicases are fantastic bits of kit, but a touch expensive for us mere civvies 😀 They look the dogs whats its Graham, never heard of them until I started internet searching for some accessories for the tank Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted October 7 Share Posted October 7 They turn up surplus now and again, but film and music people snap them up. Very handy for ahem, sensitive equipment. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 9 Author Share Posted October 9 (edited) Turret base installed. Quite clever - it runs on 20 small ball bearings which had to be liberally greased, and are now sealed under the black turret base ring in the photo Also started to install the rest of the electronics. The multi-function unit, receiver, and servo for the main gun elevation. It will be the usual tight squeeze getting all the wiring stowed so I can fit the turret roof. The turret roof will be detachable to give access to the battery. Edited October 9 by Gopher 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 10 Author Share Posted October 10 I weathered the new Rapido Lowmac wagon (as a bit of respite from tank building) 11 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Nevermakeit Posted October 10 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 10 On 09/10/2024 at 07:46, Gopher said: Turret base installed. Quite clever - it runs on 20 small ball bearings which had to be liberally greased, and are now sealed under the black turret base ring in the photo Also started to install the rest of the electronics. The multi-function unit, receiver, and servo for the main gun elevation. It will be the usual tight squeeze getting all the wiring stowed so I can fit the turret roof. The turret roof will be detachable to give access to the battery. I suppose going on a tank tour would certainly be seeing New Zealand in a different way! 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 11 Author Share Posted October 11 (edited) Another weathering and detailing project completed. I'd pre-ordered the Bachmann Class 30. I used to have the Hornby model which suffered Mazak rot. To be fair Hornby provided a new chassis. Anyway I eventually sold it. I have always quite liked the Class 30/31, but will have to run under Rule 1 for Dewchurch. I'll use it for inter-regional freight. This one has the auto un-coupler which works well with the correct couplings on the rolling stock, and saves the hand of god, It is streets ahead of my old Hornby model A bit of debate on other threads as to which model (Accurascale or Bachmann) is best. I went for the Blue box version because of the auto un-coupler. I'm in no position to comment on the total fidelity of either model compared to the real thing. I think they both look great. As well as weathering, and adding crew and buffer beam detail. I upgraded the speakers in the model as the sound quality was a bit poor (lacked bass response). I fitted two small bass reflex speakers to replace the sugar cubes. This vastly improved the sound. I suspect the Accurascale model will have better sound without any upgrade based on the speaker set up. Certainly their Deltic and Class 37 have excellent sound. Time to get back to the tank build P.S there is a driver and second man reading a paper in the cab Edited October 11 by Gopher 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 14 Author Share Posted October 14 Here are the components for the main gun and machine gun. The black mechanism is the main gun recoil unit . A few cogs lots of grease in a black case with micro switch and a motor. The LEDS for the main gun and machine gun were not installed at this stage 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted October 14 Author Share Posted October 14 (edited) Here it is installed in the tank turret, along with the rest of the electronics (Turret rotation motor, gun elevation motor, gun LEDS etc). All wired up and ready to go. Lots of wires so fitting the turret roof will be a challenge. I installed the main gun unit in the turret and removed it on three occasions. The reason was once it was installed I trial fitted the turret roof, and then manually moved the gun up and down. I realised that the gun mantlet was not level - i,e, when the gun was level, one side of the mantlet sat higher above the turret roof than the other side. Was this going to bug me ? Yes of course it was, so out it came. I dismantled the main gun unit to try and see why it was a bit crook. It appeared to be the way the gun was mounted into the mantlet . I had not seated it properly. So after a couple of attempts I managed to fix the problem. It was actually harder to de-construct the gun unit than it was to build it in the first place. I then fired up the RC. The good news is everything worked. The gas turbine engine certainly sounds very different to the other tanks in my collection. Noisy at start up but then quieter. I think one of the nick names the Americans give to the Abrams is whispering death. One nifty thing is the tank can replicate the real thing by staying focused on the target. So no matter how you move the tank, the turret and gun move automatically to stay on target. I'm always relieved when it all works. Be a pain for example to remove the gear box and motors because of a missing gear wheel One thing which will need fixing is a bit of light bleed from the back of one of the front headlights. Not sure why, looks like it is fitted to the hull properly. A bit of filler should cure the problem. I'm coming to the end of the build. Need to add detail to the turret roof, then weather the turret to match the hull. Then build and paint a tank commander figure for the turret (including trying to replicate the figure's uniform desert camo). Back to railway modelling after that Edited October 14 by Gopher 4 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted Wednesday at 14:07 Author Share Posted Wednesday at 14:07 (edited) More tank photos I'm afraid. Added a bit more detail to the turret - range finder, CCTV unit, Commander's cupola, and loaders hatch, plus side cages, and rear panels of turret Also made the commander figure, had to use some filler to hide the gap where the arms meet the body. He needs undercoating before I paint him. I had a bit of a battle to fit the turret roof. Had to reorganise the wiring in the turret a bit so it did not obstruct the roof. I'll finish the turret and then weather it before I paint the commander, and other accessories I've bought for the tank Edited Wednesday at 14:08 by Gopher 4 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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