Well with the weather not so good and Spring taking its sweet time showing up here on the West Coast, I was stuck inside and at a loss as to what to do with myself. The painting I've been working on is with the people who make the decisions and I have to wait to hear back from them, so I switched focus onto this diminutive Panzer I/A project. Sometimes it seems when building these things I find there comes a point where it is difficult to move forward- for whatever reason- need to paint something but don't have the colour, lost a part, stated a new project, any number of reasons seem to pop up along the way.
This time it was the linkages that are in the front which connect to points that are a little finicky and not really solidly mounted on anything- it's all a bit like those spinning plate jugglers on the old Ed Sullivan Show, which it saddens me to think some of you have no idea who that is, kinda ages me
Well this weekend- as it often happens- no big build up or preparation was involved. I just started mucking about and got stuck in. With the happy rest all went well.. One thing that you readers may not realize is that often I have had to redo things several times or had to mess about trying to get things to fit etc. What you guys get to read is the prettified and edited version, trust me. Next time I may try building the whole thing first before painting- just to see how it goes. I had some issues when fitting things were paint would rub off -particularly on the metal stuff. I would like to see how anyone could get the distinct separation as seen in this version- where everything has been painted as a sub-assembly, my preferred way of doing things.
So here is a picture showing the steering linkages going in place. Thee is also the one on the right hand side of the transmission that has been successfully attached. These were all achieved using stretched sprue threaded through the attachment hole in the corresponding attachment points. Then the ends were cut and melted back with a stick of lit incense as is the technique observed earlier in the build.You can also see in the picture the stems for the gas, clutch and ? These are loose and will be positioned through the foot plate later. Then prior to attaching the foot pedal pads- the ends with be bent at 90 degrees so the metal parts will have something to be glued to.
Just a note-those two disc on either side of the transmission and brake drums, these are not secured in place as yet so they may appear wonky in some of the pictures.another shot- I hate all the dust and hairs and will work to eliminate their presence in further work in the weathering phases.
The transmission was a bit of a bitch -fighting me all the way- I can't tell you how many hours I must have spent trying to get everything to line up. Never having built this Tristar kit before or the Aber interior kit either it was a challenge.
here you can see the floor parts going in.
Here the seat is test fitted and the foot plate has been epoxied in place. You can see on the ends of the foot pedal stems have been bent after threading thru the plate.
just taking a quick look as to how the front plate looks and what really ends up being seen, horrifically not much!
fitting the other side with floor plates.