Andy's 1/35 Tamiya Stug B

[Guest]

Not blaming you for getting fed up with the etched bits … it’s not exactly my favourite material either, though when used for the right things, like those screw heads for example, the results can be very good.

[Bortig the Viking]

This might make you feel better, my next model is a locomotive made from metal wood and many more, just been going through the instruction manual, more of a book really, and I have to put in rivets, I lost count at 600. This model I think is trying to kill me.

[Guest]

Yeah, lots of minor things adding up to a big headache really Jakko. I'm getting to grips with constructing the parts, I can often glue them on, and even get them in the right place occasionally :smiling5: but trying to work through two sets of instructions, planning an order of works, deciding what to add and what not to add for later painting, which parts are actually visible enough to be worth the effort, and plucking up the courage to hack up a perfectly good kit part to add details that I may or may not manage (light brackets etc) has my head in a spin. I can often spend an hour just looking at the thing trying to work out what I'm actually going to do next.

Then of course there's the spending a few hours cutting, cleaning, bending, gluing, adjusting, re-gluing and finally taking a breath, only to pick the model up 2 days later to find that part has disappeared into thin air, never to be seen again.

Hats off to you guys that have the skill, patience, and mental capacity to do this regularly. I think I'd end up in the funny farm if I did this more than once! :upside:

Character building I think they call it lol

And Mark - best of luck with that chap, it sounds like your going to need it.

[Guest]

I can often glue them on, and even get them in the right place occasionally :smiling5:

Solid evidence that you’re progressing as a modeller

trying to work through two sets of instructions, planning an order of works, deciding what to add and what not to add for later painting, which parts are actually visible enough to be worth the effort

That’s the sort of thing I have no trouble with — though I think it takes a good deal of experience, which you’re well underway to building by the looks of it.

I can often spend an hour just looking at the thing trying to work out what I'm actually going to do next.

That’s the right way to do it, IMHO. Better think it through once more than cut too soon and find you’ve now got a difficult repair job on your hands.

Hats off to you guys that have the skill, patience, and mental capacity to do this regularly. I think I'd end up in the funny farm if I did this more than once! :upside:

Building models is probably one of the things that’s kept me from the funny farm

[Guest]

That’s the right way to do it, IMHO. Better think it through once more than cut too soon and find you’ve now got a difficult repair job on your hands.

A pain in the rear when I only have an hours bench time though. By the next day I've usually forgotten my plan and have to start thinking all over again lol :smiling5:

Anyway, a quick test tonight of an idea to replicate the detail I messed up on the roof.

I'd already used the method Simon mentioned to soften and remove the "rivets" but it left a bit of a mess in my case. So I drilled out the hole to 0.8mm, punched out a bit of thin card, cemented it into the hole, sanded reasonably flat, then scored with a blade.

[ATTACH]371267[/ATTACH]

Apart from scratching the area with the drill bit (cramp in my finger made me jump!) I think I'm on to a winner. Only 30 or so more to do.

[scottie3158]

Andy,
Looking good mate. only 30 you will have it done in 20mins :tongue-out3:

[Bortig the Viking]

I wish I only had 30 rivets to look forward to ....

[Guest]

Haha, it took me longer than that to do this one Paul!

But then it was a fair bit of trial & error, in a place that'll ultimately be hidden by an open hatch anyway. Now that I've settled on a method and worked out the size of drill & punch that I need it should go more quickly.

[Guest]

Those replacement screws look very convincing, so I’d say you’re on to a winner

[Guest]

Cheers Jakko. I might end up burying the detail under layers of paint but at least I'll know I've tried.

[Steve Jones]

After sticking 990 rivets onto my Bison shield I'm feeling your pain Andy LOL

It will be worth it in the end. At least that was what I kept telling myself LOL

[Guest]

Yes Steve, I reached that point in your video and thought "yep, definitely crackers" lol

[Guest]

All done.

Bob kindly supplied a picture so I knew I was getting the right look, and as Paul suggested it didn't actually take too long once I got going.

[ATTACH]371581[/ATTACH]

I also tried my hand at a weld bead using styrene. A bit messy, like the apprentice did it, but I'm fairly happy for a first effort. Might try the putty method and see if that suits me any better.

[ATTACH]371582[/ATTACH]

Still a mountain of etch to add, although I'm not bothering with the hatch hinges now as the kit ones are fairly nice, and I value my sanity! It's at a stage where I could just throw all the sub assemblies together if I wanted, splash some paint about and call it done, but I've started so I'll finish :smiling3:

[Jim R]

Hi Andy
It's a learning curve for sure. You are doing a great job. Love the screw heads.
Jim

[scottie3158]

Andy,
Nice work the weld beads look good.