Tamiya British Army Chieftain Mk5 MBT

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sun Jul 20, 2014 4:12 pm

Good afternoon folks

Well as the primer achieves it cure on the Meng Vs.Kfz Mineraummer, the beckoning and quickening of my heart leads me to choose a new subject.
This is the first model bought after the 35 year break from this noble hobby (omit hobby for all consuming bank and C/C drainer).
The noble Chief.
Ahhh the sound and the look of this beast.
Way ahead of its time in looks and technology.
Despite my service in the British Army I never got to see this MBT actually in service (all Challys by then), they had all disappeared once I arrived in camo.
The only time I saw them were at Military Shows (Bovington) and as target practice for LAW and the Carl Gustav's up at Warcop. Shame

So shall we begin this thread with box-art.....

Conventional Tamiya art-work.

Sides.

Ends.

Another side.
Another post soon when pictures up-load to Photobucket.
Cheers
John

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sun Jul 20, 2014 4:26 pm

Okay a few more pictures.
I have bought a nice little book as recourse for pictures and stuff (generic term stuff).
Kagero Chieftain MBT by Robert Griffin.
This is chock-a-block with juicy photos and details on this subject.

PE kit from Eduard.

Some nice Water / Jerry Cans for added realism....

Very nice 3 - piece 120mm L11 barrel for Chief from Accurate Armour.
Kit version is two part (halves), and although I would have liked a metal unit, despite trolling up and down web, I could not find one.
This looks a much nicer unit than supplied kit.

1st sprue with figures and turret parts.

Much more to follow,

John

Post by **chief5437** » Sun Jul 20, 2014 4:39 pm

Great kit, I loved building mine. Looking forward to seeing it finished! Good luck with the build mate

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sun Jul 20, 2014 4:55 pm

chief5437 wrote:Great kit, I loved building mine. Looking forward to seeing it finished! Good luck with the build mate

Cheers mate.
If it comes up to your standards it will please me.
John

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sun Jul 20, 2014 4:59 pm

Just finished a C2 Row and feel absolutely shattered, but it gave time for upload of more photos,
So lets carry on.

Kit supplied barrel.
Turret parts.

Hull.

Cheers
John

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sun Jul 20, 2014 5:52 pm

Okay bit more box contents:
Inner, lower hull has mark / date that makes it as old as my wife. 1975 must be the tooling date (?).

Well despite age, it has very little flash and not much injection marks.
It looks a standard clean and well presented moulding typical of Tamiya.

ttp://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b483/Donkeywalloper/P1030513_zps25eb94e9.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

More photos soon.

John

Post by **TechHead** » Sun Jul 20, 2014 5:57 pm

Lovely looking kit! I really look forward to seeing your build on it, I suspect it may end up going on my wish list as I've always been a fan of the Chieftain.

I'm also finding myself starting to build a nice little library of reference material. I love this hobby, as it is so much more than just glueing some plastic together (though admittedly this is lots of fun

).

All the best with the build,

Simon

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sun Jul 20, 2014 6:02 pm

Last piccies:
Two sets of plans. One in Japanese and one in English.

Warning note about the Art of Bending Sprue

Plus naff tracks which I will replace at end of month with Fruil or Accurate Armour set. Not decided as yet.

I say naff, but tracks are okay and when suitably treated would look good. Lets be honest not a lot of track visible with skirt and ground coverage.
Anyway, out with TET, new Blade in Swann & Morton

and Ultimate Sander, and crack on.
Cheers

John

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sun Jul 20, 2014 6:07 pm

TechHead wrote:Lovely looking kit! I really look forward to seeing your build on it, I suspect it may end up going on my wish list as I've always been a fan of the Chieftain.

I'm also finding myself starting to build a nice little library of reference material. I love this hobby, as it is so much more than just glueing some plastic together (though admittedly this is lots of fun ).

All the best with the build,

Simon

Thank you Simon.
Your right about the extra bits of kit.
The reference books and manuals are really the added bonus.
Ever since I as a kid I have had a interest in Military History.
I remember collecting the Purnell complete World War 2, each week back in the late 70's, and buying the binders and sticking on bits of gold leaf numbers on binders.
I found out the other day, my Dad still has them.
Thanks for kind words.
John

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 8:18 pm

Hello everybody.

I will post piccies soon of further build on this venerable lady, but to be honest, my time this week has been spent rubbing down mould lines on each wheel edge

So that has been 24 pieces to be scraped and sanded and then buffed.
I have been carefully following the pictures in the very informative manual that was bought alongside this build (By Kagero).
I was careful that mould lines were not present on vehicles rubber wheels, it does look like that the rubber edges were "seamless", apart from normal nicks and cuts in edges. I will drop a few nicks in just on a few of the rims to simulate wear and tear.
TET has been used to glue each wheel to form a pair (6 wheels each side in pairs).
Kit is old as mentioned, but is going together nicely so far (early days with no real problems so far).
The lower hull (prone to warp but so far mine looks fine) is not really going to be to much of a problem as its few in parts and will be fairly well hidden.
Having read much about this kit on the mighty web it is apparent that this is not a MK5 as described on the box and in instructions, but a MK3.
I have the PE to sort that problem out and if this was built as a OTB it would be a decent enough build but a tad boring in detail. The PE is a mega amount and is gonna test my patience severely. The big thing is the removal of all the moulded on handles on the Bazooka skirts and replacing with PE

Trying to get hold of some Ultimate PE positioning sticks but having difficulty with suppliers saying Out of Stock

.
It will have to be White Tack on the end of Cocktail Sticks then

On long shifts this week that has lead me to drop into Man-Cave only a very few times.
Off over weekend and ordinarily this would be a good time to let rip, but its wifes Birthday on Saturday

so I will have to do the manly husband thing and rein in the build.
Hope all you UK chaps are enjoying sunshine and remember don't keep your kit and builds in the sun.......sounds obvious, but my VsKfz was getting mighty warm in the rays

Best wishes all,

John

Post by **chief5437** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 10:43 pm

Looking forward to seeing more! Happy birthday to mrs walloper! !

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Thu Jul 24, 2014 8:35 am

More will come Chief.
Thank you for wishes to Mrs DW.
We know with "Other halfs", that when they say, " don't make a fuss".........make fuss, make lots of fuss, more fuss than you need. This guarantees more Bench time

John

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Fri Aug 01, 2014 2:31 pm

Good afternoon all

My apologies for no up-dates in ages.
Work and Home stuff creeps in as we well know.
So here is an up-date.

I think I may have taken up to much for a novice.
It's my own fault.
I could have done a nice simple OTB. That would have been straight forward and easy.
Nooooo, I have to go all busy and advanced and obviously well over my skill levels.
The Eduard PE kit for this stretches to three frets, its a lot of tiny, weeny , fiddly PE.
This kit may bust me or end up on the Shelf of Doom

If I had gone OTB, it would have been a nice build and be finished by now, but as written on many, many sites, this is not a Mk5. Its not even a Mk1. Its a...........?
Its a, not sure what it is, cuz it's not even a Mk1.
The PE will though define it to a Mk5.
I'm gonna give it a shot but I know it will be a very slow build now after delving into research and getting my hands on the sprues and PE.
The first bit of the build is conventional for most kits.
Lower Hull and Drive Sprockets and Wheels.
This was as normal in all builds, a bit time consuming.
Every wheel needs a mould-line around its circumference removed with gentle sanding and followed by a buff.

Then it was down to the first bit of PE work.
Now as you all know by now, I work shifts.
I work Nights and various other combinations of shifts to keep my works ticking over (Facilities Manager).
This combination of shifts, especially Nights is highly damaging (only this week in the BBC we have news that those doing Nights and combinations of shifts are more susceptible to Type 2 Diabetes, Yay

).
More importantly for someone who suffers with PTSD and Bi-Polar it has a very bad effect on mental and physical health.
More importantly than that (well maybe not more importantly but you get my drift), it completely fogs up brains and the ability to concentrate.
It goes like this.
I'm at work on Nights, and plan a few hours of build time whilst at work.
After a sleep in the day. Get up, have a coffee (important) and set myself up with kit and tools.
Then this happens.....

I completely balls up the first part of PE....

So after completing all 12 x Wheel sets, I move on to attaching Drive Sprocket Lower Hub builds.

No problems there.
I attach Rear Lower Hull Plate, and add Plastic Card to inside and filler to locating holes for the Rear Storage Boxes (Were gonna lose the supplied boxes and completely re-build out of PE the Storage Boxes x 2

). So no need for Tamiya locating holes once PE Storage Boxes are built.

Attached to the Rear Plate is a large oblong box containing the box which contains the Infantry to Crew Telephone.

It also has a five part PE vent for Engine, Radiator.

This is where it all went out of sorts, and to cut a long story short, I failed big style.
After three hours, the five parts of PE (Parts 2 and 1 for God's sake the first part of the PE build), looked crappy and went in the bin.

I managed to get PE part 42 and the Spare Track Hooks on (albeit one part of the PE snapped and was glued back on). You can see some residual CA around Spare Track Hooks but hopefully this will clean off with some tender loving strokes

of the Ultimate Sanders.
The next part to tackle was he removal of the Rear Upper Deck Engine Handles. This went well and with some use of a very sharp scalpel blade I managed to remove them with no damage to kit or me more importantly.
Five various sized new PE engine covers were added to this area. Further 10 of these to be added.

So far I have managed to attach four handles (each handle needs two bends in the end of handle to complete.
This looks really good and does according to my Kagero Book make this Chief more Mk5 and above.
This kit is gonna be slow and steady.
I will keep you all up-dated and hopefully I'll make some thing out of it.
Yours, tired and shattered but glad to be in your company,
John

Post by **chief5437** » Fri Aug 01, 2014 11:22 pm

You're working hard on this one mate! Don't worry too much about the PE, it's like that for everyone! Lol!

Just take your time and enjoy it

AFAIK, it's a Mk 3 when built oob. Looking forward to seeing more! But don't let that rush you, lol!

Good luck mate, if all else fails, the shelf of doom GB has just started, ha ha!

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sat Aug 02, 2014 1:30 am

LOL Chief, did think about the Shelf of Doom.
Can't really submit this as just started

Yup, Mk3 OTB but with PE hopefully it will be Mk5 or above

It is a old kit and it shows in plastic quality and fit in places.
Press on me old mate, press on

John

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sat Aug 02, 2014 9:32 pm

Hi all

Well despite not a lot of sleep in the last few days due to Nights, I have cracked on at a snails pace

with small amounts of PE.
The Lightcraft and the new PE holder from The Small Shop have been outstanding.
The Engine Deck Handles have been folded and glued at an alarmingly slow pace, but steady as she goes mates

.
I did have a small (obviously) balls up with a lost Engine Deck Handle for the new PE Engine Decks.
Lost in the grooves in the floorboards (No Carpet monsters up here).
Its not a major thing, so probably will have a go at cutting another handle out of the leftover PE Fret

Tonight, I have been on the Accurate Armour site and ordered the following.
UK BCF Fire Extinguishers x 12
I have cut and paste the blurb from AA website so apologies:
These are the modern style of BCF extinguisher used from the latter part of the Cold War Era and into the modern era, they were replaced later by larger modern types (See A079 and A098) . White instruction label decals are also included. These extinguishers are generally painted gloss dark green but also exist in sand and matt green. On some vehicle the holder bar may be painted black or red.
Plus ordered with the Fire Extinguishers some Cables to replace the supplied towing cables which were a bit grim to be honest.
AA's description again:
A set of 1/35th scale woven brass wire cables and resin cable ends for AFV's. The set contains materials for a pair of towing cables for one AFV.
All adds to the build.
When they arrive in post I shall add some piccies.
Will have some days off next week so will be able to get some progress pictures up, of course if progress comes

Hoping to also get some colour on the Meng soon.
All this and a row of fencing to put up in Garden, where will the time and energy come from.
Lucozade and coffee...............

John

Post by **chief5437** » Sun Aug 03, 2014 4:48 am

I might have a spare slave lead and some Brit water & jerry cans from accurate armour. Gis a bell if you want them, and I'll have a look.

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sun Aug 03, 2014 4:53 am

That would be great Chief.
I'll PM you once had a sleep today (on Nights).
Thanks a lot.
John

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Thu Aug 07, 2014 3:37 pm

Hello all

Not done much recently on this unit as concentrating on Meng Mineraummer.
The wife also uses Work-Bench and was concerned that I was getting a few units half done then moving on to something else.
She was right

.
I have though taken delivery this morning by post of these two bits to further enhance kit.
These are again from Accurate Armour.

Once painted up and decals applied these should look really pucker.
And the next...

As I said previous, the Tamiya supplied tow hawsers are not good.
These should improve things immensely.
Hopefully soon I'll get some build going.
Peace and love chaps,
John

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Fri Aug 08, 2014 5:04 pm

Afternoon all

Had a tiny bit of time at Bench today.
So have posted some photo's of progress.
I have not done anymore PE this week, as have been under the weather after coming off Nights.
It has a very detrimental effect on my mental health and spirit.
I have found with PE (probably already known by many with tiny bits of PE stuck to God knows where, that you do need a clear and concentrated mind for any PE).
If the mind is not there, leave it alone

So back to Chief.
On instructions for Tamiya Chieftain, we have been working on the Construction of Suspension (Section 2).
The photos show the six main units affixed to lower hull.
Also completed all towing hooks and affixed the Main Drive Sprocket.
You can see a small mould recess on Tow Hook at Rear Panel, but as this will be tight up against the Storage Box, I decided not to fill.

I have been getting some good research time on the big World Web for Chief pictures and lots of sites have been coming up trumps.
One site was the http://www.greenflash.org.uk/
This site belongs to 3rd Royal Tank Regiment (The Westcountry's own Armoured Regiment).
Packed full of history and magnificent galleries of photos from Ex-Tankies.
Now most of the lower hull is completed (I do have some major work completely re-building the two main storage boxes and Rear Light assemblies from PE).
All wheels are completed and ready for tyres to be painted.
Anyway, hope you all have a great weekend.
Peace and love.
John

Post by **TechHead** » Fri Aug 08, 2014 9:41 pm

Nice work John, it's coming along nicely.

I always enjoy following your threads, and impressed with your skill for someone who has just returned back to modelling. Just wish I was brave enough to tackle some of the kits your working on (and have the same level of skill!). Looking forward to getting my 1:72 Airfix Hawker Typhoon finished so I can move onto bigger and better things.

I need to buy some PE tools as I am going to try and tackle some PE on my next kit. The Small Shop tools look nice and of a good quality.

Good luck with the rest of the build.

All the best,

Simon

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sat Aug 09, 2014 8:49 am

Simon
Thanks for enjoying the threads.
I do talk such a lot of bilge at times. My missus who reads them from time to time says "do you know what you said on here?", Not really darling, just chatting

).
The Small Tools kit is great and despite some of the kit being way out of my spending league, it is worth a punt.
Your praise for my skills is to much

I'm more a have a go chap and if it goes breast up, then so be it.
Your skills lie in planes and thats something I darnt have a go at yet.
Not sure why, but plane kits scare the furries out of me. I do though fancy a go sometimes, who knows......
Have a great weekend Simon.

John

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Fri Aug 15, 2014 7:03 pm

Just like to throw a massive thank you out to the The Chief.
He sent me some spare Accurate Armour parts through the post today, and its stuff like that makes this site so brilliant.

Your a star Chief.
Have a great weekend.
John

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Wed Aug 27, 2014 4:49 pm

Hi folks

Sorry for not updating much.
Been a bit down in mouth (Mrs DW is positively livid with whole affair) since car was smashed up by scrote on the 15th August 2014 (See post in Non Modelling Chat about Uninsured Drivers

).
Lots of PE work on Chief and have been building one of the Rear Stowage and Rear Light assemblies out of the Eduard PE.
16 Items bent and teased into some semblance of a Stowage Box with Hasp and Clasps and Padlocks plus hook for Towing Cable.
It fair drove me to ruin I can tell you. Still have another whole unit to complete.
The white residue is from C/A Accelerator. It will scratch off with some scalpel work later.
Here's the pictures with the Tamiya provided stock stowage box for comparison.
Adios muchachas

PS: The hinge on the top of the box is a bit crap to be honest, but the effect in metal is much more representative of the real thing as these units really got a hammering.
Perfection is not required here as the damage from clumsy "Tankies" was inevitable. Will cover "Crap" hinge with some extra stowage.

Post by **Unit53** » Sun Aug 31, 2014 10:25 am

Hi John, Haven't been on for awhile but very glad to see your making excellent progress. Great work on the Chief and the PE is looking all good. Love the Chieftain and really enjoying watching your build, I have started a thread in the Shelf of Doom GB to try and get a bit more involved, so lets see how I get on with that one.

Martin

Post by **AchtungPanzer** » Sun Aug 31, 2014 11:27 am

Good start John. Keep it up

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sun Aug 31, 2014 4:12 pm

Martin, Eryk as usual lovely to hear from you guys, must have a look at your new thread.
Currently just finishing Nights so not had a whole lot of time for time at Bench.
Have been dabbing in and out of painting and assembling the dragon Panzer Pioneers for a Dio for Vs.Kfx 617.
With all of the crap with car being smashed up, have been involved else where.
Hoping to get on with some more PE on Chief soon.
The PE is so much on this and needs a rested and concentrated mind.
Great to see your comments from ISM Legends.
Have a great one both,
John

Post by **chief5437** » Sun Aug 31, 2014 7:06 pm

Great progress mate! The detailed parts are so much better than the kit ones! Good luck with the rest of it

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sun Aug 31, 2014 7:26 pm

chief5437 wrote:Great progress mate! The detailed parts are so much better than the kit ones! Good luck with the rest of it

Chief
They do take it to another level, but my God they are trying on the old sausage fingers and 49 year old eyes.
I really need to sort out the desk and pin a cloth under the leading edge (as Coen), to catch the pesky jumping PE.
I have a week off now, so should be able to start the other Storage Box and then the Rear Plate and associated area should be complete.
Its then on to all the Upper Deck Stowage boxes that need moulded locks and such removing.
Every stowage box on the Upper Deck gets PE of some sort.
By the way, thank you for the Post parts again.

John

Post by **PaulAyrey** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 7:39 am

Wow, fantastic work, look forward to more!

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 9:15 am

Thank you Paul.
Hoping to get some quality time at Bench this afternoon to complete the other rear Stowage Box and Rear Light section.
Thanks for kind words mate,
John

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 5:09 pm

It's back of the Shelf of Doom.
Finishing Nights in morning and have a weekend off.
Want to take some photos and post of some work done so far (yup, bit of tinkering so far).
As you may have noticed this has been literally shelved. The PE kit from Eduard is immense. It drove me nuts.
I have only done PE once on Airfix Jackal. This PE kit has absolutely loads of four part Padlocks with Hasps & Clasps. It is super intense.
My knowledge of PE has become better since coming back. The greatest knowledge though is not PE Tools, Glues......No, it's absolute clearness of mind, non tiredness, good light, no disturbance.
Promise this weekend I will post some updates on this iconic British MBT.
Love and best wishes,
John

Post by **chief5437** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 9:25 pm

Looking forward to some progress pics!

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 10:40 pm

chief5437 wrote:Looking forward to some progress pics!

Well you deserve some up-date photos for your support and advice.
Thanks,
John

Post by **Nige99** » Sat Nov 22, 2014 8:21 am

Great at tension to detail! Looking good so far. Look forward to seeing some paint on this big old girl.

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sat Dec 06, 2014 1:32 pm

Good morning all

Welcome back to this build (that is, if you have read the previous comments).
Well it's Saturday morning. Overnight there has been a glorious frost here in Burton upon Trent.
Everything is sparkling and covered in frost.
Mrs DW would not have felt as chirpy this morning on her long trek to work, but at least is blessed with the wonderful Ford Heated Windscreen and fast De-Frost setting on the Heating unit in car

.
Anhooooo!
This venerable British MBT has been dislodged from its position on the Shelf of Doom and brought back into the fray.
As described this is the Tamiya Chieftain Mk5 kit.
Except its not

.
Its not a Mk5, but a its poor brother, Mk2.
The "Rivet Counters" love these kits, and having researched a lot on this subject, you can see the arguments amongst the modelling fraternity on the different Mks.
The best people though, in the know (Poet and I didn't even know it

), are I find ex-tankers who drove these ladies.
A chap who I have found to be very useful, and who is a keen modeller and ex-tanker himself, is a chap called Doug Sword (Swordie).
He writes a blog as a modeller (He was stationed and is now living in Canada but is British by birth), and his particular blog entitled "Gorbachev- My role in his Downfall.......or everything you wanted to know about the Chieftain and were afraid to ask", has been very useful indeed.
Right back to the model.
It has been sat on the Shelf of Doom, but has been tinkered with periodically and some aspects of build have moved on and some have been major set-backs

.
If you remember I bought some after-market kit to "Jazz" up this great kit. If built out of the box its okay but a bit stale and dated.
I bought the Eduard PE kit from Hannants.
I also bought a new 120mm L11 3-Part Resin Gun Barrel from Accurate Armour and along with that some Water Cans and new Towing Leads.
Chief from ISM very kindly sent me some bits of Accurate Armour kit left over from his build. Superb work on his part Chief and much indebted to him

I have bought already this book to help with build,

The other day though I bought this from http://www.worldbooks.co.uk

Part of the Tankograd series - British Special No9022.
Lots of great reference photos and oodles and oodles of information on Chiefs in all of the 80's glory.

Wee bit of work carried out on the rear plate of Chief.
Now fitted the Gun Carriage and have filled and cleaned up the holes that would take the kit produced stowage bins. These are to be replaced with PE that you have seen already in this thread.
Now this is where I am going to go into the church of ISM, and sit in a pew, and wait my turn to go into the dreaded confessional box and confess my sins through that little brass window.
The Catholics amongst you, may remember this experience, with the same fear and loathing that came from a strike of a wet leather ball hitting your cold legs on a winters day football field. This whilst huddled in a schools football kit that clearly was to big for you and was questionable in its hygiene (did Mrs Dawson wash all of the kit after each match, when it was thrown into a big black bin liner and taken home in Mr Dawson's the PE Teachers Morris Marina?).
I managed to construct one of the new stowage boxes for the rear section. See photo.

The unit on the right is kit supplied and the one on the left is made up of multiple pieces of PE.
Well................................
Remember I do Night shifts

I was very, very tired...............
I attempted the second storage box and things were going swimmingly well.
It was finished and looked superb.
Then I saw the glaring major mistake

The box has mouldings in it that you produce with a pen pushed along the metal so as to produce the crosses and marks that show on the finished storage box.
I had folded the box (and super glued of course), the box inside out.
The indents were back to front.
The box and lights units looked great, but were not the same as the other unit.
It was all super-glued together and of course it was right royally f*****

What can you do?
Bin the two completed units and start again.
I have had to pay £12.99 for a new PE kit.
So brethren of the Holy Order of ISM.
Do not cast me out into the wilderness, do not let me be castigated and thrown to the wolfs.
I am just a mere student of the great and noble art of PE and I dropped a right royal clanger...........
Now that's off my chest, lets return to what I have done right

The one, tiny, tiny saving grace of getting a new complete PE kit is, that I can replace the tiny Engine Plate Handle that shot off, and disappeared in the floor-boards, to be lost forever.
So as photo shows below, this little grab handle can be replaced

The rear plate is fairly well completed with just PE Storage Boxes

to be added once new PE arrives and the Exhaust Pipes.

The front glacis plate has all its towing hooks in place and is good to go.
Another new bit of kit bought via wwwcornwallboats.co.uk is this great bit of kit called the Amati Gripper.
"Third-Hand" type vice that attaches to desk with supplied clamps, and then with small metal lugs (positional in multiple holes in deck) can hold a multitude of pieces to work on.

The front of hull has had (as indicated by arrow), a moulded piece removed (moulded piece removed with S&M Blade and then sanded down flush to hull), and a folded piece of PE added.

I will update some more later, but unfortunately Photo-Bucket is not playing the game.
Hope you enjoyed the test and pictures so far.
Love and Peace all.
John

Post by **chief5437** » Sun Dec 07, 2014 2:50 am

Awesome update! I do like your ramblings, no offence intended! Looks like it's gonna turn into a real beauty. Are you going to go the whole hog and do a Berlin Bde paint job?! Lol!

Ps love that B&W pic of the 43!

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sun Dec 07, 2014 10:55 am

Hi Chief

As to my rambles, famed for it.
Worse when tired and even worse with a drink. The combination is a killer.
Berlin paint job? Not on your nelly mate.
No way Jose...
Need I go on?
Yeah, the 432, I have a fondness for them as I did my track vehicle licence in one in Barton in 88

Nice to see you Chief.
John

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sun Dec 07, 2014 3:57 pm

Afternoon all

More rambling from DW

Well I know you veterans of PE will have had the afternoon I have had sometime.
My God it is destructive on the eyes isn't it?
Well in two and a half hours of peering through the Light-Craft Magnifier and carrying out the breathing skills developed by Snipers the world over, I have been attaching Hasp and Clasps and other ironmongery, to two of the many, many storage boxes that dot the upper surfaces of the Chief.
One is the forward left hand storage box and the other is one of the rear storage boxes.
All the OOTB moulded locks have been scraped, sanded and removed with various sharp blades.
I have many, many of these boxes to be "tarted up".
Music used to smooth the process this afternoon was the Best of America and Best of Chris Cross

Not sure if any of you have found your eyes deviating from the tiny piece of PE in-between your tweezers and found yourself examining the ridges in your fingerprints...........
No

Well that will just be me then

Here come the pictures.

Don't worry about me, I just need coffee........................

God, I hope this is worth it

Love and Peace brothers,
John

Post by **chief5437** » Sun Dec 07, 2014 9:53 pm

Huge improvement over the kit parts! However I think you need a break. I'm sure I read that you were listening to kriss kross?! If it's the same thing I'm thinking of, I think the CA fumes have done some serious damage! Lol!

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sun Dec 07, 2014 10:29 pm

Mrs DW read this Chief and creased up in laughter. She must have thought the same Kriss Kross (this is where the ten year gap comes in).
Chris Cross or Christopher Cross of Arthurs Theme and Sailing was what I was listening to.
Mrs DW pulled up the video of the two scamps called Kriss Kross and that ballad Jump.
Now you don't think I could tweezers PE with that playing do you Chief?

Thanks for your encouragement Chief though, means a lot that you have been there and done this.

John

Post by **chief5437** » Sun Dec 07, 2014 11:03 pm

Lol! I did wonder how you managed to place PE with that dross on the stereo! Jump, jump! Lol!

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Fri Dec 12, 2014 6:10 pm

Well good news.
The fine chaps at www.hannanats.co.uk got me some replacement PE for the lady.
My its shiny and new.
Lets hope I don't cock this up again.....

I also have taken delivery of some very nice Long Nose Jewellers Pliers. I really need some fine nosed pincer type action to hold the little bits from springing everywhere.
I also bought some Glue Tips and the handle for the R&B Saw Blade.
The Glue Tips are on a PE frame, and precisely apply C/A to areas (Providing your not listening to Kriss Kross eh Chief

).
The R&B Saw Blade was an immense buy. I needed to take 5mm off the corner of a locker box fitted to the top armour. The saw literally went through the plastic like a hot knife through butter. I did use the saw though without the handle

Anyhoo, weekend off, and if I can get out of Christmas shopping and anything else planned by other half, I could get cracking with re-creating those damn Rear Lockers

.
Peace and Love,
John

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 6:25 pm

Sorry but pictures to follow.
Well it was Chris Cross to bend and twerking PE last week.
This time it was a full bottle of Port.
It really helped to calm the twitching fingers.
The Xuron Jewllers Pliers were an inspiration.
The Small Shop PE Machine was awesome.
The Rear Lockers are assembled and ready to be attached.
Mrs DW moaning at me to get off an old lady who owned a lamp and get change for Chinky.
Sorry,
John

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:58 pm

Short but sweet.
I told you about the balls up

with the Rear Lockers and having to buy a fresh Eduard PE kit for this Lady......
Well it does give you the option to replace the tiny Grab Handle for the Engine Deck that I lost in the floor-boards

.
I did get some great time in at bench on Sunday to re-do the Rear Lockers and they have at time of writing come out "Bonzer", even if I do so say myself

.
Practice does make perfect

.
The revelation though has been the use of the Ultimate PE Placer. Absolutely spot on bit of kit. Thoroughly recommended.
See picture of arrowed new handle (Cheers Gary for info on arrows).

And as the mighty Coen says, "That's all she wrote"
More to come promise,
John

Post by **PaulAyrey** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 8:04 pm

Awesome progress, you're doing a 1st rate job with the PE. I realise that you had some niggles but is still ten times better than I can achieve, I find it the most annoying, fiddly, stressful, pain in the proverbials that any manufacturer can gift a modeller!

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 11:44 pm

Ahh Shucks Paul, your to kind.
Honest mate, I felt the same way about PE when I first started having a go, but now (Yeah, it still blows my mind and eyes), I really am getting into it.
Yup bits fly, and the tiny, teeny pieces.......Oh the tiny, teeny pieces

I sat today at bench, having left Mrs DW to watch re-runs of Casualty (without doubt the most bloody dire programme ever made), and crept into Den.
I then started to bend tiny pieces of PE, that are no longer than 3mm (1mm wide) and have to be bent four times to achieve a bracket for the Rear Stowage Lockers

This inturn has a tiny Hasp & Clasp attached

.
This will then have a Padlock attached

.
Though, something is starting to make me really enjoy the sheer evilness of it all

I have to take some photos tomorrow to show the little bits crafted out of the evil metal.......

We are getting there. If I did no more PE the Chief would look fine. I though have started the journey and must complete

Love and Peace,
John

Post by **chief5437** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 12:47 am

yey! More pics coming!

Post by **Donkeywalloper** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:57 pm

Good evening Chief and everyone

Just had text that Mrs DW on way home so this is quick up-date before scraping carrots (not a euphemism), and steaming spuds (neither was that).
I have done an hour and a bit this afternoon on Bench, but to be honest half-way through Nights and with little sleep this week, I could not hang on to the concentration required for PE.
So here are some latest pictures.
Remember I screwed up the Rear Storage Lockers for the Chief and had to re-order PE?
Well these are the new Bent, Filed and Glued Boxes (this time correctly made).

Amazing how much Brassier this PE set is to the last (Grey) set.
The next picture shows the tiny pieces of PE that had to be bent into four, to achieve the Hook for the Hasp and Clasp that will sit on top.

Arrow shows the hook

The storage boxes will sit atop of these boxes.

Now moving to the front, which by the way, is covered with PE.
This is the Drivers Scope, resplendent with its new Wiper assembly.
The top of the Scope has a thin brass PE strip that needs to be bent where the arrows show.
I have C/A'd it for now, and once set, I will bend to shape with Tooth-Pick.

To the left is a small piece for the Drivers Hatch that is constructed from two pieces bent six times, and this will have a chain attached through the hole in the top.

The covers for the Front Lights have been glued and shaped as well (Mentioned them previous thread).

Few little hooks and other embellishments added as well this afternoon.

So much more to go.
No idea at this stage why I took on this mammoth project.
Anyhooo,
Off to prepare Dinner.
Love and Peace.
John

Post by **Coen** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 6:43 pm

I say that's all she wrote?
I didn't know that.
I just caught up on this John, wow talk about an epic battle.
I'm really impressed with your sticking power buddy. I know a couple of fella that would have tossed this and moved on. Well done to you.
I can see that this is going to be an impressive looking piece with all that extra detail.
I won't be missing any more of your build now.