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| Subject: | [Chapter] Chapter 3 - The Upper Hull |  |
| Date: | Aug 16, 2005 |
| From: | James Wechsler | |
Chapter 3 - The Upper Hull
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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 | [BLOG] Sherman III Early in North Africa - James Wechsler - Aug 13, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 1 - What items am I going to use? - James Wechsler - Aug 13, 2005 |
| . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Chapter 1 - What items am I going to use? - M Wawrow - Aug 14, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Chapter 1 - What items am I going to use? - Martin Dogger - Aug 15, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Chapter 1 - What items am I going to use? - Jim Wechsler - Aug 15, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Chapter 1 - What items am I going to use? - Billy Bishop - Aug 17, 2005 |
| . . . Re: References and markings - Paul A. Owen - Aug 14, 2005 |
| . . . . . . Re: References and markings - Jim Wechsler - Aug 14, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: References and markings - Paul A. Owen - Aug 15, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: References and markings - Martin Dogger - Aug 15, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: References and markings - Kurt Laughlin - Aug 15, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: References and markings - Paul Roberts - Oct 19, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 2 - Lower Hull - James Wechsler - Aug 15, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 3 - The Upper Hull - James Wechsler - Aug 16, 2005 |
| . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Chapter 3 - The Upper Hull - Andrew Herbert - Aug 17, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Chapter 3 - The Upper Hull - Jim Wechsler - Aug 17, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 4 - The Front Fenders - James Wechsler - Aug 18, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 5 - The Sand Skirts - James Wechsler - Aug 19, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 6 - Painting the Lower Hull - James Wechsler - Aug 20, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 7 - Weathering the Lower Hull - James Wechsler - Aug 20, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 8 - Those Pesky Front Fenders – Part Deux - James Wechsler - Aug 22, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 9 - The Suspension - James Wechsler - Aug 23, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 10 - Front Hull Details - James Wechsler - Aug 26, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 11 - Rear Hull Details - James Wechsler - Aug 26, 2005 |
| . . . . . . a couple of suggestions..... - Chris SMith jr - Aug 29, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: a couple of suggestions..... - Jim Wechsler - Sep 1, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: a couple of suggestions..... - Chris SMith jr - Sep 1, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 12 - The Pioneer Tools - James Wechsler - Aug 28, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 13 - The Turret - James Wechsler - Aug 29, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 14 - Painting - Part 1 - James Wechsler - Aug 30, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 15 - Painting - Part 2 - James Wechsler - Aug 30, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 16 - Painting - Part 3 - James Wechsler - Sep 1, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 17 - Painting - Part 4 - James Wechsler - Sep 2, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 18 - Dry Brushing - James Wechsler - Sep 3, 2005 |
| . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Chapter 18 - Dry Brushing - Aaron Cole - Sep 3, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: Dry Transfers - Paul A. Owen - Sep 4, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Dry Transfers - Aaron Cole - Sep 4, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 19 - Dry Transfers - James Wechsler - Sep 3, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 20 - Detail Painting - James Wechsler - Sep 5, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 21 - Weathering - James Wechsler - Sep 7, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 22 - Just the Tracks Maam - James Wechsler - Sep 8, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 23 - Please Maam, Just the Tracks - James Wechsler - Sep 9, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 24 - Stow it - James Wechsler - Sep 10, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 25 - The Crew - James Wechsler - Sep 10, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 26 - All Together Now - James Wechsler - Sep 11, 2005 |
| . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Chapter 26 - All Together Now - Andrew Herbert - Sep 12, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Chapter 26 - All Together Now - Paul A. Owen - Sep 12, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Chapter 26 - All Together Now - Andrew Herbert - Sep 13, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Chapter 26 - All Together Now - Jim Wechsler - Sep 13, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Chapter 26 - All Together Now - Jim Wechsler - Sep 13, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 27 - Well, isnt that special - James Wechsler - Sep 13, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 28 - The Base - Part 1 - James Wechsler - Sep 19, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 29 -The Base - Part 2 - James Wechsler - Sep 21, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 30 - Final Assembly - James Wechsler - Sep 23, 2005 |
| . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Chapter 30 - Final Assembly - henryk gorkiewicz - Sep 24, 2005 |
| . . . . . . Awesome! - R.C. Hill - Sep 24, 2005 |
| . . . [Chapter] Chapter 31 - Perspective - James Wechsler - Sep 25, 2005 |
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