Chariot of Fire- Meng Merkava IIID

[Road of Bones]

MikeC- that’s perfect! Many thanks for sharing. :thumb2: That particular detail isn’t included in my Desert Eagle Siman 3D book.

Jim, Scottie, PaulE, Ian- thanks guys! Glad you’re still looking in:nerd:

Still plenty to go at before paint: finish the TC & Loader’s MGs, make some stowage & ID panels for the turret basket, construct the side skirts from the ET models set, and then (of course) the anti-slip coating! Oh, and I have to make better antennae bases, as well as width indicator masts. And then there’s the crew to consider...

Paint is somewhere on the horizon, but a mere speck at the moment!

Alistair☠️

[BigGreg]

it's getting better and better... ;-) can't wait for next episode

[Road of Bones]

Your wait is over Greg! :nerd:

I put in the odd shift at the bench here and there this week, and finished the basic construction of the 3 MGs on the turret. They still need a few fine chains and some control wires adding, however. Just dry-fitted for now:



So far, so fiddly! Next up it will be time to start the labour of constructing the side skirt armour, using the ET models PE set:

I foresee some soldering in my future...and probably quite a bit of swearing too!:tongue-out3:

More soon, thanks for looking chaps.

Alistair☠️

[Guest]

Bit late Alistair, sorry about that .
Most impressive work withe PE, as they say " In my dreams ".
Will pay more attention in future.

[BigGreg]

HELL YEAH.....

[Jim R]

Hi Alistair
Lovely work. The mg is superb. Watching for the soldering _ I'll be taking notes.
Jim

[Steve Jones]

B A Utiful!! A real piece of art. Luv it!

[scottie3158]

Al,
The MG's are things of beauty.

[Road of Bones]

Cheers chaps! So far so good, but the time has come to start the side skirt mounting brackets...

The E.T Models PE is rather good stuff - it’s a bit thicker than Eduard, and the fold lines etched in are angled, so it’s easier to get good square corners to each fold. Each of the 10 mounting brackets is made up of 12 pieces, with some tricky & tight shapes to form at each stage. Here’s the first one in progress:

The bracket basically acts as a leaf spring from which the hefty bazooka skirt plates are suspended. I soldered as much of each bracket as I could, in order to give them strength. I use solder paste and a small blowtorch, as I can create bonds quickly and without applying too much heat:

After a solid evening’s work at the bench, I managed to complete one side’s basic mounting brackets:

A kit bracket is top left, for comparison. The wires in the bottom one are being glued through the chain brackets that are on the ends of each set of leaf springs. Fitting the chains to these later is going to be another fiddly old job, too!
I might get the other side done this weekend, but I just received these in the mail, for one of my guitars:

I’m rather keen to get them fitted, so I might clear the bench & have at it tomorrow, while I babysit the workmen fixing the storm damage to the roof :nerd:

Toodles,

Alistair☠️

[Road of Bones]

Did a little more on the side skirt today, after successfully fitting my new pickups to my guitar yesterday.

Each panel has a PE box behind it, which has holes in it to line it up on the hanging brackets - provided you stick some 2mm lengths of rod in the appropriate places! Then a face plate goes on the front of the box, and each bracket ends up with a pair of skirt plates hanging from it:

only another 9 pairs to go... :dizzy:

[Road of Bones]

Starboard side (mostly) finished- just got linking chains to fit once all the brackets are mounted on the hull:

Thinking ahead, I suspect I am going to have to paint the lower hull & fit the wheels and tracks before I mount all this fiddly brass over the running gear. I tried a dry-fit of the tracks earlier, and it took some effort to get them in place, which would be impossible with these skirts in the way as well.

Onto the port side then...

Alistair☠️

[BigGreg]

Starboard side (mostly) finished- just got linking chains to fit once all the brackets are mounted on the hull:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1115401[/ATTACH]
Thinking ahead, I suspect I am going to have to paint the lower hull & fit the wheels and tracks before I mount all this fiddly brass over the running gear. I tried a dry-fit of the tracks earlier, and it took some effort to get them in place, which would be impossible with these skirts in the way as well.

Onto the port side then...

Alistair☠

Wonderful it's gonna be absolutely stunning...can't wait

[Jim R]

Hi Alistair
Now that is a tribute to patience and skill. Worth the effort though. Are the chains pe chains?
Soldering pe is something I have had little success with.
Jim

[scottie3158]

Bones,
hats off mate that is some lovely brass work.

[Road of Bones]

Greg- thanks again sir!

Jim- it was MikeC who got me started with the paste and torch method of soldering PE. Much easier than trying to use a soldering iron and solder wire, as you can sometimes use the paste to hold the parts together until you apply the heat. Failing that, blu-tack on a tile is perfectly adequate for holding parts in place ahead of applying the heat. I still use CA the majority of the time though, but soldering gives you a much stronger assembly where you can use it. The cage armour on my D9R would not have survived had I not soldered it, for example. The chains will be proper chain, not the flat PE chains in the ET models set.

Scottie- most kind mate! :thumb2: