discussion Bowcat's 1/35 Meng Gepard A1/A2

[Mr Bowcat]

I've had a monster modelling session this weekend and finished the turret.

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There's loads of nice detail in the rear of the turret and on the back of the radar unit, but none of it is seen once the two are together. It looks like you could probably make the radar unit hinge as in the real vehicle, but I just glued it all in to place.

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Despite what I said before I haven't done any more of the tracks yet, so I think I'm just going to sit down and knock them out in one go.

 

[monica]

looking good,dose have a lot of detail,and very busy ,looking good,:hungry:

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Moni.

 

[Ian M]

Hope you solved you problem with FS colour conversations, if not Vallejo have quite a comprehensive conversation chart as a pdf file. There are a lot of paint brands on it.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Ian, I'll check out their chart but otherwise will just buy the Ammo/AK paints from John.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

So I found out today that none of the German A2's had side skirts, so the parts is cleaned up were superfluous, other than two very small parts at the ends. After a short amount of butchery I went from this:

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To this:

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I also started on the rest of the tracks. I've decided to production line them, so first job was removing the track pins from their sprues. Each one has 4 connection points so will also need sanding.

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[stillp]

:dizzy:

 

[papa 695]

Very nice work with the turret Bob, but rather you than me with the tracks. :dizzy::confounded:

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Tracks and wheels are an AFV modellers punishment for making dirty vehicles. :tears-of-joy:

 

[Mr Bowcat]

What a tedious evening.

180 odd track pins sanded, 4 connection points each.

For an encore I did the inner track pads, only 1 connection point each, but 340 of them! My back is killing me, and I have cramp in my left hand.

Just the outer pads left to do, another 340.

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[Ian M]

rather you than me.

 

[papa 695]

And people moan about rubber tracks.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

The end result should be worth it, but if I had to do it again £30 would definitely be on its way to Friul.

 

[spanner570]

Bob,
No wonder I have a Tee shirt with 'I Love Vinyl' written on it. I didn't realise until now that the statement also included tank tracks......:surprised:!

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Interestingly enough, Meng do an aftermarket set of tracks for the Leopard family. They are exactly the same as the kit supplied ones, just supplied removed from the spure and pre-cleaned up. I wonder how many people got fed up with the kit parts and spent extra on the aftermarket? Clever marketing by Meng maybe. :thinking:

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Got the tracks finished. Instructions call for 85 links a side, but I found 83 fit better.

They are certainly very posable.

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[Mr Bowcat]

Haven't updated for a while as I have been having an absolute nightmare with the paint.

I'd ordered the Ammo by Mig paints specified in the Takom scheme I've chosen. I don't know if it's me, but these are a complete pig to spray. The paint is constantly drying on the tip meaning I've had to stop and clean the needle tip literally every 10 seconds. I couldn't even get them to go through the .2 needle so I've had to use the .4 for the fine work. Worst of all, the sand brown was a pinky flesh tone, so I scrapped that and made up a custom mix with Tamiya.

To say I am disappointed with the result would be an understatement. I'm just going to have to try and hide it with weathering.

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[stillp]

That's a shame. What are you thinning with?

Pete

 

[Mr Bowcat]

I was spraying it straight out the bottle. I did a number of tests thinning in various degrees with water, IPA & x20a. Whenever thinned it tended to spider web, sprayed at various pressures. Maybe I should have got their proprietary thinner??

 

[stillp]

I've only used their paints once, and it seemed OK-ish - a bit spattery, but I put that down to my lack of skill. I think I put a drop of Vallejo Flow Improver in it, which improved it.

Pete