Interesting kit Jakko. Coming on nicely too.
Andrew
Andrew
Hi Jakko
Work so far looks neat with no real fit issues. Cleaning up wheels seems to be a big part of the hobby
Jim
Work so far looks neat with no real fit issues. Cleaning up wheels seems to be a big part of the hobby
Jim
Don't think it was ever intended to be ocean going. I think initial requirements were to navigate snow & unfrozen streams. The C was to meet later river requirements once the initial mission was scrapped. The C improvements included additional freeboard (due to front & rear flotation additions), & rudders for more steering control.
G
This was the easy bit, now we get to all the small detail parts
I’ve seen worse resin kits, yes. Casting quality may not be exactly Verlinden, but I’m glad it’s also not even exactly AEF Designs or Elite Models …Work so far looks neat with no real fit issues. Cleaning up wheels seems to be a big part of the hobby
Good point, I know they did a video on the LVT (4), but not sure about the M29.
That was the problem, yes
LVTs could handle the North Sea coast well enough, though you probably wouldn’t really want to be aboard one, but Weasels tended to get swamped very quickly. A while ago, I added some numbers and the conclusion actually startled me: on 1 November 1944, in operation Infatuate (that is, the landings on Walcheren), around a hundred Weasels were transported to Westkapelle and anywhere between two and 24 to Vlissingen (the actual number is not clear, but photos exist that show two). After the fighting, a little over a week later, some 40 was all that could be brought together … That means that something like 60 to 85 or so were lost.The one I mentioned earlier was lost, then retrieved in 1994 and restored (oh, the owner got back to me, but he said it’s inaccessible at the moment because the building it’s in, is full of caravans
) and I have this nice image of another:—View attachment 431889 (courtesy of Arie de Lange)
I don’t think I'll build mine to represent this particular one’s current condition, though
G
It says on the box that this is a kit for advanced modellers, and they’re not kidding. It has a lot of tiny, fiddly parts that require care and a bit of work to fit correctly, and being a resin kit, things simply don’t slot together as well as for a decent plastic kit. Case in point: the springs.
On the real Weasel, there are four half leaf springs sticking out on each side of the lower hull. These serve as both springs and suspension arms, since the bogies are bolted straight to them, with a stabiliser arm at the top to keep them from tilting sideways. There’s a protective bit of steel over part of the springs and this incorporates a rubber bump stop.
In the kit, this is made as four springs per side, with a piece of etched brass to bend in shape for the cover, and two tiny (longest dimension is about 1 mm) bits to represent the bump stops on each of the brass parts. Oh, and you have to make your own spacer to get 2.4 mm clearance between the outer ends of the springs and the underside of the hull.
What I did was first add the etched parts and bump stops, then make a spacer from some 2 mm square rod and a bit of plastic card (thinner than 2.4 mm in all, because the model will be carrying some cargo). That left finding a way to actually add the springs. If this were a plastic kit, you could just glue all eight in place, then put it on the spacer before the glue sets and line them all out. But with superglue, that’s hardly an option, so I had to glue all eight springs in separately.
I ended up using some Blu-Tack to stick the model to a piece of glass, near the edge to give me room to manoeuvre the springs in on one side:
View attachment 432974
Once the glue had dried, I did the other side as well, then built the etched return roller mounts, but I don’t have a picture of them yet.
On the real Weasel, there are four half leaf springs sticking out on each side of the lower hull. These serve as both springs and suspension arms, since the bogies are bolted straight to them, with a stabiliser arm at the top to keep them from tilting sideways. There’s a protective bit of steel over part of the springs and this incorporates a rubber bump stop.
In the kit, this is made as four springs per side, with a piece of etched brass to bend in shape for the cover, and two tiny (longest dimension is about 1 mm) bits to represent the bump stops on each of the brass parts. Oh, and you have to make your own spacer to get 2.4 mm clearance between the outer ends of the springs and the underside of the hull.
What I did was first add the etched parts and bump stops, then make a spacer from some 2 mm square rod and a bit of plastic card (thinner than 2.4 mm in all, because the model will be carrying some cargo). That left finding a way to actually add the springs. If this were a plastic kit, you could just glue all eight in place, then put it on the spacer before the glue sets and line them all out. But with superglue, that’s hardly an option, so I had to glue all eight springs in separately.
I ended up using some Blu-Tack to stick the model to a piece of glass, near the edge to give me room to manoeuvre the springs in on one side:
View attachment 432974
Once the glue had dried, I did the other side as well, then built the etched return roller mounts, but I don’t have a picture of them yet.
Looks really fiddly…….could you have used five minute epoxy to give you wriggle room to line them up?
Hi Jakko
The end result looks good but what a fiddly, complicated proceedure you had to go through to get there.
Jim
The end result looks good but what a fiddly, complicated proceedure you had to go through to get there.
Jim
G
That might work, if you’re quick enough, I suppose. I don’t have any that quick, only 30-minute, and I wouldn’t want to use that for that exact reason. The annoying thing with two-part epoxy is that it works almost like a lubricant until it sets, so if I had used that I would probably have found eight springs fallen out of the model. But five-minute epoxy is probably fast enough that you could do it, I think.
The looks of the remaining parts and the instructions make me think that this is not even the fiddliest part of this kit … If you have friends who like the look of a real Weasel, or even own one, and think “I’d like a model of one, I’ll buy that LZ kit and build one!” — then do dissuade them unless you know they’re skilled modellers
G
All of them are on now, as are the drive wheels and the return roller mounts:
View attachment 433049
The drive wheels are in two halves that you have to align yourself — there’s only one position in which the tiny teeth and the spokes of both halves line up. The idler wheels are similar but easier, as they just have a bunch of holes through them to line up, but one of the four halves had rather more hole than it should:
View attachment 433047
I superglued it onto a piece of 0.25 mm plastic card and, when the glue has dried, I’ll cut it out and (hopefully) drill open the holes:
View attachment 433048
View attachment 433049
The drive wheels are in two halves that you have to align yourself — there’s only one position in which the tiny teeth and the spokes of both halves line up. The idler wheels are similar but easier, as they just have a bunch of holes through them to line up, but one of the four halves had rather more hole than it should:
View attachment 433047
I superglued it onto a piece of 0.25 mm plastic card and, when the glue has dried, I’ll cut it out and (hopefully) drill open the holes:
View attachment 433048
Rather you than me Jakko. That looks like very hard work.
Keep up the great work.
Andrew
Keep up the great work.
Andrew
Nice work on the hull.
Well,my experience of resin is just Figures,or the odd bit of stowage,so i`m in no position to comment!:rolling:,
HOWEVER,i CAN express my personal thoughts,which are........
Looks incredibly fiddly and nerve shredding:astonished: ......
Requires a certain amount of prior knowledge/research into the vehicle :nerd:,
AND,(most importantly in my mind),it`s looking great so far,and an interesting blog to boot:thumb2:,
Yours,
Uninitiated Numbskull,
From Devon!!
HOWEVER,i CAN express my personal thoughts,which are........
Looks incredibly fiddly and nerve shredding:astonished: ......
Requires a certain amount of prior knowledge/research into the vehicle :nerd:,
AND,(most importantly in my mind),it`s looking great so far,and an interesting blog to boot:thumb2:,
Yours,
Uninitiated Numbskull,
From Devon!!
G
I wouldn’t call it hard work, but certainly tricky and most definitely not the one to buy as your first ever non-plastic kit … (I can’t really call it a “resin kit” as it about half its weight and parts count is in etched brass
) The tiny size of just about everything doesn’t help either, of course. The largest part by far is the upper hull, and as you can see at the beginning of this thread, it’s about the size of a jeep minus its wheels, windscreen and canvas top …Thanks
I must admit to not really having done much … one good point about kits like this is that they are so very detailed that you can be pretty much sure that what’s there, is correct. The instructions are unorthodox, being essentially a set of annotated photographs of a test build, but they are quite clear about how things go together and where parts go — though you may have to look quite hard at some of them to work out which bit is which. Cast-in part numbers on the sprues would have been welcome.
Hi Jakko
Hope the wheel works out ok. Looks a good plan anyway. I suppose you might be able to use one of the good wheels to create a mould and cast a replacement.
With it being such a small intricate vehicle maybe pe is the best way to go.
I won't be buying one anytime soon :rolling:
Jim
Hope the wheel works out ok. Looks a good plan anyway. I suppose you might be able to use one of the good wheels to create a mould and cast a replacement.
With it being such a small intricate vehicle maybe pe is the best way to go.
I won't be buying one anytime soon :rolling:
Jim
G
I would probably do that if I had materials to make a mould and cast a wheel from Casting stuff is not something I ever got into, though. TBH, if I really need a replacement wheel I would probably instead make a 3D drawing of it (this wheel is simple enough that I could manage) and have a friend print me one
As for buying one … if you want to build a model of a Weasel in 1:35, you have three choices, as far as I’m aware: this kit, a 1990s resin one by ADV/Azimut and a 1960s plastic kit by Monogram. The latter is more like 1:32 and really crude on details, while the ADV/Azimut kit was probably good in its day but even some 15–20 years ago, Steve Zaloga wrote an article about it that asked for a modern kit of the M29. And that’s assuming you can find one nowadays, of course.
Casting stuff is not something I ever got into, though. TBH, if I really need a replacement wheel I would probably instead make a 3D drawing of it (this wheel is simple enough that I could manage) and have a friend print me one As for buying one … if you want to build a model of a Weasel in 1:35, you have three choices, as far as I’m aware: this kit, a 1990s resin one by ADV/Azimut and a 1960s plastic kit by Monogram. The latter is more like 1:32 and really crude on details, while the ADV/Azimut kit was probably good in its day but even some 15–20 years ago, Steve Zaloga wrote an article about it that asked for a modern kit of the M29. And that’s assuming you can find one nowadays, of course.
G
Though I haven’t done any work on this model for a few days, I had some unexpected good fortune today relating to it. I was at the Bevrijdingsmuseum Zeeland (“Liberation Museum Zeeland”), and turning a corner, I found myself face to face with:—
View attachment 433415
As I’m still tinkering with the suspension of the model, I wanted to take some photos of that, but it’s covered by the skirt plate as you can see, and it’s not exactly good form to just start opening up stuff like that anyway. Luckily, the museum’s founder happened to walk past, so I asked if it was OK to do that. Sure, he replied, and then took us to get a hammer and some pliers in the back so we could take out the split pins etc. that hold the skirt in place. Thanks, Kees!
Here’s some of the photos I took:
View attachment 433416View attachment 433417View attachment 433418View attachment 433419View attachment 433420
This is just a few, I took enough to cover most of the vehicle, of coursr.
However, it also made me realise that I probably won’t need to put quite as much effort into the suspension as I thought. I mean, look at how little of it is visible with the skirt down, as opposed to up. I can probably get away with fabricating some stronger supports for the bogies than the kit provides, because it will never be visible anyway.
View attachment 433415
As I’m still tinkering with the suspension of the model, I wanted to take some photos of that, but it’s covered by the skirt plate as you can see, and it’s not exactly good form to just start opening up stuff like that anyway. Luckily, the museum’s founder happened to walk past, so I asked if it was OK to do that. Sure, he replied, and then took us to get a hammer and some pliers in the back so we could take out the split pins etc. that hold the skirt in place. Thanks, Kees!
Here’s some of the photos I took:
View attachment 433416View attachment 433417View attachment 433418View attachment 433419View attachment 433420
This is just a few, I took enough to cover most of the vehicle, of coursr.
However, it also made me realise that I probably won’t need to put quite as much effort into the suspension as I thought. I mean, look at how little of it is visible with the skirt down, as opposed to up. I can probably get away with fabricating some stronger supports for the bogies than the kit provides, because it will never be visible anyway.
Hi Jakko
What a piece of good fortune and all credit to the museum for being so helpful. And you now have a great set of reference photos and some work saved when back at the bench.
Jim
What a piece of good fortune and all credit to the museum for being so helpful. And you now have a great set of reference photos and some work saved when back at the bench.
Jim
How very nice of them.
ATB.
Andrew
ATB.
Andrew
G
Yes, great help from the museum, like minded people are always willing to oblige like that, but stripping the vehicle down like that is something else. Well done Kees .
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