BlrwestSiR

Here's the track sets all finished. The lower run of track is added after they're installed onto the tank. Once the glue set, I removed the tracks from the jig. I then carefully pried them open a bit to remove the idler and drive sprocket. This way I can now do the touchups . I then started on the other side.

It's definitely world's easier than the old school tracks. I think the worst still are Sherman tracks.

I'm with John. Try and get the parts you need to swap out. If not, use Tamiya lacquer thinner to strip the paint. It won't hurt the plastic. I've had to do that several times, even on clear parts without a problem. You will most likely need to polish some residue off though but some rubbing compound will take of it. Carl

I think Martin's voting for the Corsair. Me, I like the Corsair a lot but I never see any A-6s get built so that'll be my pick. Carl

No kits or anything model related but I did get some woodworking accessories. This should come in handy when it's time to build my display case.

Onto the time consuming bit of the build. I painted the track parts in XF-84 Dark iron mixed with a bit of hull red. I then clipped them from the sprues and cleaned up the attachment points. Fairly straightforward except for on the longer lengths where some of the attachment points are between the track pins. Then I started the assembly on the track guide. The guide even has a couple notches on it so you know where to place the longer single piece runs.

Thanks Rob! The kit is moving along very nicely. Definitely great for breaking in a new bench and certainly a great first armour kit for someone who hasn't built one before. Carl

Nice pics Martin. Are there any 22/24s still flying?

Poker anyone? The road wheels only needed a quick cleanup of the sprue attachment point. No mould seams. Not sure how they pulled that off but it saved more time. I then got the wheels onto the hull. Here's the idler and drive sprockets. The tracks are link and length. As I mentioned earlier, there's no ejector pin marks on them either. To assemble the tracks, you use the same alignment jig for the axles. The drive and idler sprockets are slipped onto it and then you add the tracks.

Thanks Phil! It's more the kit than anything.

The kit IP looks a bit sparse. Maybe check out one of the Yahu ones too?

Looks good Harv. I think the hard edges are a good match to the pics posted. Carl

Jeroen, so far, it's been a fun build. There's very few ejector pin marks to clean up. In fact, none of the track links have any so those should go quickly. Yup, can't have too many.

Thanks! Here's the paint I'm using for the green: It's AK Real Color RC 047.

Grabbed a quick break and hit the rest of the road wheels and lower hull with Dunkelgelb. One nice thing about some of the late war tanks is the lack of rubber rims. Saves on masking and painting.

The new bench needs a new build. So I took this out of the stash. It's going to be OOB, which should hopefully make it straight forward. We shall see... The kit looks fairly uncomplicated with a minimum of PE bits, those mostly relegated to the engine screens. So first step was the bogie arms. The arms are keyed to make sure they go in the right spot. Takom gives you a jig to make sure the arms are all aligned and you don't get a wobbly tank. I got the rest of the arms on as well as the rear idler arm and the drive housing. I then started painting the road wheels. So things are moving along nicely.

Looking good there Harv. We've got rain for the next few days too. Carl

Really nice looking build Ernie. Might just have to get one. Carl

Ernie's getting Buffed! And I thought my idea of the paper model B-52 in 1/33 was crazy.

I like the individual instruments. That way you don't have to worry about matching the panel colour to the rest of the cockpit. I'm glad to see this back on your bench. Carl

I'm wondering if it's a running change they're making because they not in the instructions that way either.

Oddly, on the Symphony set the tool organizer also has slotted openings and not just holes. Here's the holder from the Symphony, note the slots on the right side. This it the Opera module that's otherwise identical. I hadn't noticed the difference at first. It want until I started putting my tools away that it came to my attention. The slot is handy for razor saws and larger files. The shipping was definitely not cheap but it arrived in less then a week. I would have preferred the free surface shipping but our cat was creating a but too much havoc on the bench and add in my boys working on it too I felt it was the best option.

Thanks Jeff! The new bench top is 78" wide. It's an inch narrower though. But the extra length helps as the boys have taken over half of it. The one I bought is a single unit called the Symphony. You can get modular ones though called Opera. The ones on the far right are Opera units. They use dowels to lock together rather than magnets. The Opera units are actually the same size as the Hobby Zone ones. I looked at the Hobby Zone ones too (my existing organizers were made by them) but they no longer ship to Canada. One thing I didn't like about my Hobby Zone organizers was the size of the holes for the tools. Many didn't fit including the tweezers and nippers. Same for the paint racks. Hope that helps.

Thanks Harv and Ryan!

I then added the back panels. They're glued in place and I'm glad they're there so bits don't fall through the back. There's two shelves where the boxes go. You glue an attachment on top to make a lip. I found that it was best to sand the inside edge slightly so that the boxes can open without snagging it. One thing I like about the Arttystation stuff is the paint racks can be customized. They give you inserts that are designed to hold specific shaped/sized paint bottles. From top to bottom: - Tamiya/Gunze/ AK Real Color 14ml bottles - Tamiya enamel bottles (great paint but almost impossible to find outside Asia) - Vallejo style bottles - generic one that holds any size/shape You can switch them out at any time depending on what you use the most without having to get new racks. I especially like the generic style which I bought extras of. I then assembled the add on units I bought into their column. There are dowels to hold them together. Harv told me to watch the size of the dowels as some are a bit off. Thankfully I only had one that way but they give you extras. Here's the final setup as I start to put away all my random tools and supplies.