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Modeller Build Logs
Tamiya 1/35th Hetzer No 35285 |
| By Mark Pieters | | Started: | Sep 24, 2007 | | Updated: | Oct 12, 2007 |
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Hello, my name is Mark Pieters. I live in Washington state, USA. This will be my first blog. One thing I ask of everyone viewing this blog is to feel completely free to comment (or email) openly with any concerns and/or questions. My thanks go to Paul A. Owen for sending me this kit and asking that I blog it here at Track-Link.
A bit about myself first in order to put things into perspective for those that choose to follow this blog and then I will commence with step one. I was a rather introverted youngster growing up in the early 1970's and my start into this hobby was when my father bought me an AMT Star Trek Enterprise model. To a wide eyed seven year old with zero skills it was a tough go but I managed to cobble it together. And I rather enjoyed it. I eventualy tried another AMT kit and I soon had the whole line of Star Trek models assembled. I was hooked. I wanted more. To this day, I still love going to the local hobby store and surveying the shelves for anything that catches my fancy, buying it, racing home, ripping off the celophane, and soaking in everything that lay within the confines of the box. I stopped modeling to go to university in 1984 and it wasn't until 2000 that I relized that I had a spare room in my new house and lots of extra time and that perhaps I should catch up on the 16 years of what I now call "my dark period". So many new companies had come along and so many new advancements had been made. It's been slow progress for me in these last 7 years of modeling as I had basicaly reverted to my old level of expertise, which was fairly basic as in the 1970's and 80's as there wasn't much for a young kid to learn: Snip, sand, glue (tube glue! ACK!). Now it's time to break the old habbit of building a kit and leaving it unpainted and naked. I have read several "how to" books that have been published by "the pro's" (recently purchased for intellectual absorbtion is Tom Cockle's Panzer IV book and Mig's FAQ book) and followed many logs here and elsewhere and have been in awe of the level of expertise displayed by so many of you. It's time for me to advance my skills and put all I've seen and read to use. Again, this is my first build log so bear with me, feel free to comment or point out flaws that you see and to give advice on areas you feel need improvement.
I'm rip roarin' ready to get myself to the next level beyond mt habitual simple construction and I hope you all enjoy the blog and follow along. Again, feel free to comment and critique if you are more skilled than I, and feel free to ask questions if you are new to the hobby. No matter what our respective skill levels and abilities are, I feel we can always learn from one another and I look forward to utilizing this blog so we can freely exchange ideas and information. Modeling is more than my hobby, it's my passion. I make no claims to being a professional modeler, but that doesn't mean I love to sit and create, and to dream and wonder and to read and learn. Thank you for visiting my blog! |
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| Steps 4,5,7, and 8 | Oct 9, 2007 |
Over the weekend I gave the lower hull, running gear, and roadwheels a base coast of Tamiya Dark Yellow XF-60. I painted the wheels while they were still on the sprues as they are easier to spray. I shot the lower hull and suspension because it's much harder to get the backsides of the wheel coated once the tracks are on and the model complete.
I am at a crossroads at the moment deciding which will be easier: the kit's glueable vinyl tracks or the link and length. I've glued the vinyl tracks together but the detail isn't as strong as the plastic length and link tracks so I will use the latter and attach them in the next chapter, as well as perform some PE work. The roadwheels and drive sprockets are wonderfully detailed and were a pure joy to assemble and detail. I removed the mold seam around each rim then dinged up the "rubber" portion of most of the wheels by gouging and denting them for that extra spot of detail.
I also scraped up and gouged the edge of the mantlet and the gun cowling since many of them were fairly roughly cast. After searching the net and finding many museum pieces (admittedly most of these are G-13's) they exhibit some of these characteristics. Once I get a coat of paint on I'll snap some closeup pictures.
The metal barrel you see in the picture is a Lion Marc brand made just for this kit. It's not the same length as the Tamiya plastic barrel but after inspecting pictures of museum pieces, the Lion Marc barrel looks like it has better thickness of the barrel sleeve and is also rifled. It was too snug however and several passes with a nice thick round file to Tamiya kit part E1 (the mantlet) allowed the metal barrel to fit perfectly snug. I added some CA just to be on the safe side. Even though Tamiya's plastic barrel is very nice looking and requires very little seam cleanup, I still prefered the looks of Lion Marc's barrel. The barrel is stock number LM10019 and is specifically for the 1/35th Tamiya Hetzer.
There isn't much to update in this chapter since much of the main assembly work of the major pieces is now finished. The upper and lower hulls are still dry fitted at this point but once glued, the seam at the front (visible in the photo) should dissapear. Now it's time to concentrate on the PE bits and the other assorted minor bits that go around the hull and on the fenders. This kit has been trouble free up to this point and so far has been a very relaxing build. I'm quite pleased with it so far.
More soon, so stay tuned! |
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