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Modeller Build Logs
Sherman III Early in North Africa |
| By James Wechsler | | Started: | Aug 13, 2005 | | Updated: | Sep 25, 2005 |
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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? |
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| Chapter 3 - The Upper Hull | Aug 17, 2005 |
Having completed the lower hull, I expected that mounting the upper hull would be a simple and straight forward process. Boy was I in for a surprise. In order to prepare the hull, you have to remove the thin covers left in place for the hull hatches, the turret, and the engine grills. No big deal, a sharp knife takes care of it. Fortunately while I was doing this I noticed that the thickness around the hull hatches was much too great and would prevent my figures from being mounted in the proper position. I got out my Dremel and the big old Tungsten grinder bit and in about 5 minutes I’d thinned that area down (see the photo). Whew, that would have been a mess later if I hadn’t caught it at this stage. Note that if you plan to show the engine grills open you’ll need to thin this area as well.
Having finished this work, I proceeded to mount the rear hull plate to the upper hull. Try as I might, the two just don’t match. The rear plate is about 1mm per side too wide. I trimmed it back and tried to get the plate to mate to the hull. I couldn’t get it to fit tight no matter how I sanded and wiggled it. In the end run, I got close and, using my thumb, I pressed a tiny amount of Squadron white putty into the remaining gaps. I used very little putty and wiped it off with my fingers so I wouldn’t need to do much sanding since the gaps are right next to the weld line.
After this work was done, I test fit the Dragon engine grills to the Legend hull. I expected to have to do some adjusting since the Legend hull is designed for the Academy engine grills. Turns out, the Dragon engine grills are almost 2mm shorter than the Academy grills! Problems. I really couldn’t believe this since 2mm translates to about 2.7 inches in full scale. I checked the line drawings I have and it appears that the Academy grills are more accurate and for some reason Dragon simply made the grills too short. To fix this problem, I had to accept the inaccuracy of the Dragon grills and fit a 2mm piece of sheet plastic to the front of the opening. I also had to move the forward hinge mount which I did by very carefully shaving it off with a very sharp knife.
With this work done, I test fit the hulls together and found that I needed to add a little bit of plastic card stock to close a few gaps around the rear of the hull. No big deal and the reality of using the Dragon kit instead of the Academy kit for which the conversion set was designed. I airbrushed the inside of both hulls flat black.
After mating the upper and lower hulls, I had to do some filling and sanding to close the gaps in the lower sponsons. No big deal.
Well this part of the build turned into a much bigger project. Mine fields avoided.
Up next: The Front Fenders
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