|
|
Modeller Build Logs
Sherman III Early in North Africa |
| By James Wechsler | | Started: | Aug 13, 2005 | | Updated: | Sep 25, 2005 |
|
A couple of weeks ago I wrote up a review here on Track-Link of the Legend Sherman III conversion set (LF 1096). I really liked the set and couldn’t wait to start on it. So I thought, why not do a blog to show how the build-up comes together? So here it is.
Up Next: What items am I going to use? |
|
|
|
| Chapter 26 - All Together Now | Sep 12, 2005 |
Well the time has come. All the parts are built, painted and weathered. Time to put them together.
The first step was to mount the VVSS assemblies to the hull. This is a tough job since there are no locating holes. I determined that the bottom of the assembly should be 2mm below the bottom of the hull. I scraped off the paint on the VVSS and the hull and attached all six with Krazy Glue Gel (since you get a little more set time). It’s pretty hard to get them to all lined up and laying flat on the table. In the end run, I got close and figured I could take care of any small line up problems with the hair dryer. Then I put on the tracks and got a huge surprise.
Putting on the tracks is a pretty simple process of threading the tracks over the idler, the return rollers, and around the drive sprocket. I found I was one link too long so I removed it and connected the ends. I then glued the tracks to the return rollers (no floating tracks on this tank) and thought I was done. It all looked good until I looked at the model from the front and realized that the tracks were canted inward at the bottom. Problem.
After a long time looking at what was wrong, I realized that the VVSS assemblies were about 1/16 of an inch closed to the hull that the idler and sprocket. I don’t exactly know why this occurs. My best guess is that the thickness of the Dragon mounting plates for the VVSS assemblies is slightly thinner than the Academy ones.
Well I was faced with a dilemma. I could pop off the tracks and the assemblies and try to add a spacer. This would be tough since I’d almost certainly break a number of components. The other option, which is the one I chose, was to do a little hair dryer adjustment. I heated the rocker arms on each bogie and then slightly bent them outward to reposition the wheels. It took me about 5 tries but it worked. The adjustment is small enough that you can’t see it, but the tracks are now straight.
So with that little panic completed, it was time to add the stowage. I follow three simple rules for locating stowage:
1. Make sure it would actually go there in real life.
2. In light of item 1, put stowage where it hides your mistakes. I know the judges at IPMS will hate me for this. However, the model has to sit on my shelf and I don’t see any reason to look at an error when I could hide it behind stowage. It’s all part of the model in my mind.
3. Considering items 1 and 2, find a spot where it looks really cool.
Of course in this case there wasn’t much stowage and to be honest, I didn’t have really noticeable errors in along the side railings so I just hung the trap and packs off the rails.
I then put the figures in place with Elmer’s glue and attached the antenna and the .50 cal MG.
All done.
Up Next: Well, isn’t that special |
 |
|
|
