Achilles Tank Destroyer WIP #2

A week has passed and a little more work has been carried out on the Achilles. The progress has been slow due to me finishing painting the Kazon Fighter that I have been building for Kyran. Some photo's of this will be posted soon. Also I have been getting the fuselage of the A-10 primered up ready for painting.

This week, I concentrated on the rear section of the lower hull, around the engine compartment. The kit comes with the fuel tanks, which are hidden by the upper hull. Now this model does have the full interior, except for the engine and compartment sides. So this has left me with having to make a choice whether to have the model where I can remove the upper hull to display the interior or not! But there is no engine in this kit, so I would have to do something about that. So whilst sitting around yesterday at work, out with the Blackberry and a search on the Internet to see if there are any resin GM 6046 engines out there. And yes, there is a kit available that is produced by Tank Workshop, that comes with the choice of engine alone or with the compartment. So the decision has been made, the upper hull will be removable to show the interior detail when required.

Now that I have decided which way I am going with the Achilles, the fuel tanks could be fitted next to the engine compartment walls. I will be ordering the Tank Workshop engine and compartment set over the next few days, hopefully to collect it from the Brampton Show next Sunday. Now there is a few more things to be done on the lower hull before I give it a coat of primer and start painting it.

Now I am starting on the upper hull section, I noticed there was these outlines for the positioning of tools on the rear panel for the upper hull. These do not look that good on a finished model if they can be seen. So prior to removing them, I used a piece of masking film with the locations cut out to use as a guide for locating these tools once the model is painted. Here you can see the raised lines highlighted with pencil to show them up.

In the last post, I mentioned about the Friulmodel track set I had brought for this project. Well here is the box which they came in. I counted the how many links were one of the rubber tracks that came with the kit, 77 on each side. In this link set, there are two different type of links. One set which are the majority of them, have the end connectors between the track plates are at 90 degrees. The rest are with these connectors slightly bent to go around the drive sprocket, idler wheel and the where the tracks curve around the leading and trailing road wheels. But before I start to assemble the links together, first they need to be washed and each link have the track tread glued to each one. Then it is drill out the hole in each link for the wire joiner before assembling the tracks.

I just hope this section of the build drives me around the twist!

Here are the links with the connectors at 90 degrees.

These are the tread plates that need to be glued to each link.

Revell A-10 Thunderbolt WIP #2

Over the last couple of days, some more progress has been done to the A-10. I have concentrated on finishing the small fins, grills and other items on the exterior of the fuselage. These will be fiddly in a larger scale like 1/48th, but in 1/72nd they have caused me to mutter a few naughty words! So here are a few more photos of these small, annoying pieces.

These are the replacement grills that are located on the end of the wings. The grills just glue over the moulded grills on the wing undersides.

Behind he cockpit are two etched fins that replace the moulded plastic ones in the kit. Each fin is made up from two pieces of etch. Further along are two etched gravity fuel filler caps.

The main undercarriage bays have etched panels fitted inside what would be a bare opening. Inside there is also an etch lever mechanism consisting of two pieces of etch, one with four bends in it. At the bottom is the etched grill which is glued over the crude moulded grill. 

 In this photo, you can see three more etched fins, of which two are not even moulded in the kit. The extra etched detail inside the front undercarriage bay which include replacement side panels and ribs. There is also an etched gun barrel to be made up and fitted in the round opening in the nose.

Onto the rear fuselage section. The two large fins are the moulded plastic that came with the kit. Behind them are two small fins and two round panels on the tailplane's. To the front there is two more grills, one round and the other rectangular. Next to the large fins is the fuel jettison pipe which was made from a piece of shaped etch that gets rolled into a tube. I realised straight away that this would not be ideal for fitting to the fuselage surface, so I wrapped it around a piece of 1mm plastic rod to a; keep the shape of the pipe and b; make a larger surface for gluing it to the fuselage.

I am almost finished adding the etched detail to the fuselage now, there is just a few small items to add inside an opened panel and behind the cockpit. After that is done, the undercarriage needs assembly and have the etch added to it, cockpit canopy needs detailing and the bombs need their etched fins added. So now I need to get the fuselage finished by adding the last few bits of etch, the pylons and other pieces of the kit before masking and priming.

Achilles Tank Destroyer WIP #1

This project was started for me to do whilst sitting on loading bays at work. Other projects I was working on, had got to the stage where it was not possible to continue with them at work. So a new project was needed and this one fitted the bill.

The kit is an Academy 1/35th scale model of the British Achilles Tank Destroyer, which is based on the American M10 Tank Destroyer, which in turn was developed from the M4A2 Sherman Tank. The Achilles was fitted with the British 17 pound MkV gun instead of the American 3" gun as on the M10.

This kit is very nice. It come with full interior detail, except for the engine which is a shame. Does anyone produce a resin GM6046 in 1/35th scale? I am thinking about building this so that the upper hull can be lifted off to show the detail of the interior with the shells in the storage racks, etc. But I will have to wait and see how the rest of the hull assembly goes first. 

So far, all the work done has been on the lower hull, the upper section is only in place for visual purpose at the minute. The rubber tracks seen here are the ones that came supplied with the kit. I will not be using these as I have a set of Friulmodel Sherman Firefly metal individual link tracks for this model. The tedious task of assembling these will start soon now that the suspension has been completed and glued in place. The reason I have had to do it this way will be explained in a later post on this project.

Here is the interior floors, gearbox assembly and engine bay bulkhead. The rear floor section is raised and secured to the rear bulkhead, these are not going to be glued in place until I have finished painting the interior.

Some closer views of the gearbox assembly and driver controls to the left of the gearbox. The seats and other smaller details will be added after the painting and weathering has been done.

The rear bulkhead and floor section removed from the hull interior. On the bulkhead ends, you can see part of the racking for the storage of the shell canisters.

This kit comes with working suspension, if you are careful with the glue during assembly. This will be great with the individual link tracks once they are fitted and the model is placed on a display base.

Damage has been added to the rubber tyres on the road wheels, you never see these in perfect condition on a tank in active service, not even examples in a museum. 

The plan is to have this model on a base with the crew having a rest during a quiet spell in the war. My vision is for the Achilles to be on the edge of some woods under some camouflage nets. The tank crew will be either having something to eat or relaxing in the sun. But lets just wait and see what happens, or if my warped humour takes over.

Revell A-10 Thunderbolt WIP #1

You know what it is like, you start a new project and you put it aside for a break whilst you work on another project. Then, you forget about the one that you put aside for a break! Well, this is one of those projects that I had put aside and forgot about.

The kit is the very nice Revell 1/72nd scale A-10 Thunderbolt, to which I had brought the Eduard BigEd detailing set. Work originally started three years ago whilst we were on holiday. The initial plan is to use the second set of decals that I used for my other A-10 which came from TwoBobs. But after all this time, the plan might change and head to another colour scheme, though this is not decided on yet.

Progress so far. All of the main fuselage construction was done about two years ago now. The main reason for this project coming to a halt was because I was at the stage of adding the fiddly detailing to it. This cannot be done whilst I am at work with the lorry being rocked around by forklifts, etc. A fair bit of the Eduard detailing etch is very small in this scale which needs patience, time and a steady environment to fit them to the model. So this is properly why this project came to a standstill.

So, it was time to dust off the boxes and get the Warthog out. This week so far, I have fitted the engines in place, added the two etched fins under the fuselage in front of the main wing assembly, added some of the small etched detail to the left hand side of the cockpit exterior and started work on the undercarriage doors adding the etched panels to them. There is still plenty of work to go yet, once the fuselage is done, I have to start on the undercarriage gear and add the etch to the bombs and missiles.

So here is a selection of photos I took a little while ago.

A Slow Period Of Modelling!

After my two weeks off work in August, I thought I would have cracked on with some productive model building. But this has not happened! 

I have not been able to do much modelling whilst at work, this is because there has not been any long periods sitting on loading bays, so this had basically come to a standstill on the Achilles Tank which I have had in my work bag. The only productive modelling that has been done, is to finish off the Revell "Tigermeet" Tornado of Kyran's that I started whilst we were away. So what evening and weekend modelling time I have had was spent finishing this.

Last weekend, I decided to have another change around in the workshop. This also gave me a chance to clear out any rubbish lying around in draws and see what part-built kits there are lying around the workshop. Doing this unearthed an Eggplane kit of a P-47 Thunderbolt that Kyran started earlier this year. So last Sunday and Monday evenings were spent finishing that one off. 

Doing this tidy up, has resulted in a little more display space for built models, once I have finished tidying up the mobile shelf unit and moved some boxes onto that one. Mind you, the easiest solution would be to get a bigger workshop/model room. That is the plan when we move to a bigger house in a few years time.

Now onto what I am working on. A little bit more work has been done to the Victor and Vulcan models, cleaning up of filler on the Victor is the main thing done since the last posting. Tuesday evening, I decided to dig out my Revell A-10 Thunderbolt and after a look, the decision has been made to get the thing finished. It has been sitting on the shelf for over 18 months now without any progress. I am at the fiddly detailing stage prior to primer and paint. Will create post on this project later.

Next, the Achilles Tank. Progress has been slow here, not much time sitting around at work. But I have had to take a couple of days off work to recover from treatment to a tendon in my heel, so yesterday I spent a few hours working on the Achilles whilst sitting on the settee. More work done yesterday then the last month on it! The StuG III is at a standstill for now, just need a break from that project for a few weeks.

So, I will take some photos of the A-10 and the Achilles, then post them up here very soon.