This Place is a ZOO !

[panzerace007]

Hey Guys,

I've started Dragon's Elephant with ZImmerit (#6465). I'm gonna add a set of Modelkasten Trax, an RB Barrel, & an RB M.G. barrel for the bow M.G. Here's what I have so far !

The RB Barrel ready to put together !

These Tiny lil' Buggers - Only one will be used as the Bow M.G.

With careful gluing you CAN make the Suspension Workable !!

This P.E> screen is included in the kit !! Pretty Cool, But you're Never gonna see it once the Model is completed !

Time to move to the Trax ! IT's only 108 links per side :woohoo:

They give you 4 Jigs that hold 10 links at a time & really make assembly a Breeze !! Each end of this Pin sprue is lettered A & B. You take the A pin & I add a little drop of glue to the tip that meets the pin head & insert it & then break the sprue free. The "right angle" lookin pin goes on the other side. These ARE side specific. as one replicates the Nut that you see on the outer side, which is opposite of the camera. * once you insert the pin all you have to do is give it a very gentle twist & they break free ! That's it Brotha' !!

Here's what the Jig looks like with a couple of pieces of track on them !

Here they are. It really didn't take that long to put together. and notice - NO EJECTOR PIN MARKS ! ModelKasten is smart enough to put the EJ pinmarks on the Sprue !! :woohoo: Now That's Genius ! Why Doesn't everyone else get on that Band Wagon ? SO, aside from clipping these off of the Sprue & a subtle cleaning up of the cut marks. Your Home Free of Clean up !!

What I did for the cleaning process. I got 2 empty prescription bottles. I clipped all of the Pins free from Their Sprues & dropped them into one of the bottles. Sprue attachments are on the discarded part - No Clean Up of the pins ! Then I clipped all of the Trax free & placed them in a small bowl. with Opti-Visor in hand I manicured the trax & dropped them into the other medicine bottle. When I was ready to assemble th Trax. It was easy - alternate the Trax with the Guide horn & with out. slid the pins in on one side spun it around & before I could sing Dylan's Tangled Up in Blue ... These Puppies were Finished & 100% workable !!

That's all for 2-Day ! Now .. It's time to get the road wheels,Trax & Lower Hull in th Paint Shoppe !! Then it'll be time to Weather the Lower Hull & get started on the Superstructure !!!

 

[Leopard2]

Very nice start. I think I have to give those MK tracks a try sometime.

Joe

 

[moon puppy]

You know, those pins...Scale Hardware would do well making such products out of brass. Nice start Erik and good writeup.

 

[AndyFettes]

Great start !!!

is this going to be a weekender job then Erik ?

 

[moon puppy]

Hey Erik, you may have stumbled on a new GB, The Zoo. Tigers, Panthers and Bears...oh my!

 

[Kreighshoer]

rock on erik!

that's a phantastic build you started here!

thanks for sharing! :cheer:

 

[panzerace007]

Great start !!!

is this going to be a weekender job then Erik ?

Well there is Easter . I don't think I'll get much building in ... I have added the Barrel in the superstructure. I still have to paint the Lower Hull & road wheels. I omitted showing these .. as Road wheels are not very Glamorous .. As We ALL know !

Thanx for the Kind Words MOONIE !! I think scale hardware would really Rock it if they did the Full Track pin. especially for Pz. IV's , Panthers , Tigers, Jagd-Panthers, Stug's that way you could really model Spare tracks on vehicles a little more realistically !

Hmmm - :woohoo: I thought of that as a G.B. ... The M.A. Zoo ! Although a lot of those would be German. I know some other countrys .. Oh ! Th Dingo ! The U.S. has the Buffalo ! Ha !! great thought Moonie !!

LAURA - Thanx for the kind words !! It's surprisingly going together very Well ... almost too well ! :hmmm

 

[reconron]

Cool one Erik!!

Greetings,Ron.

 

[mlp]

ohhh dear, this would drive me nuts

But looks great looking forward to see more

 

[Iron Mike]

Heffalumps and woozles you say? Looking good, keep going!!

 

[panzerace007]

IRON MIKE, MIP, RECONRON - Thanx Guys for th kind words !!

Now.. an Update !

It looks like th Elephant is ready for th Panzer paint Shoppe ! I've dry fitted th Upper & Lower Hull together for th sake of th pix. She will get broke down so I can paint & weather th lower hull. The Road Wheels are dry fitted as well. Which, by th way have been THE BEST fitting road wheels I've ever had from a DML kit. Absolutely No Wobble. A very tight fit !! Th Trax are just draped around to check for fit. ModelKasten has also included Discs that are to be glued to the inside of th Final Drives to permit movement- a-la Track Tensioners, so the trax can be fit after They've been assembled to get th right sag !

You'll also note that I still need to add th Fenders. They'll be added after th Lower Hull is painted & weathered & before th Upper superstructure is fitted.

DML has included a fret of P.E. When DML includes a fret they always seem to make it for th thinest pieces (i.e. the tool clasps, hangers for th Tow cable etc.) The cap for th Commander's Cupola was to be P.E. as well, but I felt that it was out of scale & too thin, so I went with th styrene part.
You'll notice that these bolt plates have a slight curve to them. in order to get these to fit right on th Cupola I had to Roll them with My Trusty, but Never Rusty Rolling set from Small Shop. I used th two smaller ones to get th curve.

I started with th bigger of th two to get things moving & followed up with th smaller one to gett th correct curve !

You can see that I've left out th Driver's Periscopes as well as th ones for th Commander's Cupola. DML has molded these in Clear Styrene & I've developed a process for these. These will be added after Final Paint !

I'll follow this process :
1) I'll paint th periscopes in Tamiya Clear Green
2) Then painting everything but th Lenses in Tamiya Chrome Silver
3) Followed by painting over th Chrome with Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black
I've noticed that this acts like a Mirror ( on th inside) & reflects light thorough th Periscopes, simulating illumination & gets them to stand out !

Well that'll do it for now .. Until I get 'er in th Paint Booth. I'll paint th Lower Hull & weather it. Painting th Trax and Road Wheels separately. Adding th Fenders after th Trax are on & follow up with painting th Upper hull.

 

[Kreighshoer]

that's supahdupah looking erik!

 

[moon puppy]

Looking good Erik, good to see you building again.

 

[ricklawler]

Bitch'n. Nifty trick with the periscopes.

 

[Brokeneagle]

B) great looking kit.

 

[JSteinman]

 

[Iron Mike]

Looking good, Erik!

 

[panzerace007]

Looking good Erik, good to see you building again.

Thanx MOONIE, It's tough to build th things I wanna build, due to th fact that I have a few builds for Review for AMPS. This was a fairly quick build & I can't wait to get some Paint on Her & Weather !!

JOHN, Broken Eagle, RICK & LAURA,

Thanx for th kind words !! As mentioned ... I'm lookn' forward to th paint !!

Also - looking at it, I'm not going to be able to use those M.G.'s from RB Barrel. as They are too short & meant for the Turrets of Panzers like th Pz. IV & Pz III , Panther etc .... Oh well ... Return them to th Stash !

 

[MrT]

Oh Yeah!!!!

Terry

 

[AndyFettes]

Another great build Erik