What's on my desk? Part 47.
Hello and welcome to the last week of November.
Some shop news first:
- This Friday, November 29, is Local Friday in Mechelen. That evening the holiday lights will be turned on all over town. A lot of shops will be open until 8pm, including Modelist! The Shopping Shuttle will ride between Nekkerhal and the centre from 1pm until midnight. The boat from Keerdok will bring you to town until 9pm.
- In December, the store will be open every Sunday afternoon, except the 15th. That day I'll be attending the BSMC convention in Putte. Come by and say hello!
- The holidays are a busy time. So if you're looking for a specific set, be it a model kit, Warhammer figures, or paints, let me know so I can order in time for Christmas.
On to the builds, then!
First off: the Tortoise. The vehicle is progressing nicely and is almost ready for paint. I built the commander's cupola/turret, including the now familiar electrical wire to the smoke launchers. The Voyager set comes with hinges, the bracket/aim thing in front of the hatch, and cast markings, none of which I used, because the kit parts are good enough. I did use the periscope cover, as that actually provides finer detail.
Rear view showing the wire:
The exhaust was assembled, too. This seems to have been made of two cylinders welded together. The kit provides this as two halves lengthwise, which messes up the weld bead. I stretched some sprue, shaved it in half, then glued it on with Tamiya extra thin and used an old knife blade to recreate the welds.
It fits nicely on the back of the vehicle, but I'm keeping it loose, so I will be able to paint it more easily.
Lastly: the smoke launchers. These are resin parts that needed to be drilled out a bit to receive lengths of brass tube. On top of these tubes, a small PE ring needed to be added. Not a fun job, I can tell you, but it turned out alright. I used two-part epoxy to give me some time to get them to sit properly and let the glue dry over the weekend.
Still to do: complete the smoke launchers, make the tow cables, fix some small PE details. Then it's off to the paint shop.
I've started on the next project as well. This is Gecko Models' Daimler Armoured Car.
In 1/35 scale, the Daimler will build up into a model of about 10cms in length. For such a small size, it comes in quite a large box, with a 56-page instruction manual. There's a full interior (although no engine is provided), using a lot of PE. Most of this PE is mandatory, as there are no plastic alternatives. Not a beginner's kit, then.
I'll be finishing this one as a Belgian armoured car of the Brigade Piron (or '1st Belgian Independent Group' to use its proper name) during the breakout of Normandy and the race to Belgium in August-September 1944. I wrote my thesis about these guys! They (along with the Dutch 'Princes Irene' unit) were envisioned as the nucleus of a new post-war army and as such included organically infantry, artillery, logistics and an armoured car squadron, equipped with these Daimler cars. It was their job to zip around the countryside, looking for trouble (and Germans), and relaying information back to HQ.
Back to the kit. I'm working on the interior first, of course. As I mentioned, there's a lot of PE and no plastic alternatives, so it's slow going. Just a few examples: the legs for the seat (all but invisible), the ammo racks and the radio bracket on the back wall are all essential parts, made up of PE. My 'Bug' is a critical tool here.
Last but not least: the Junkers!
I've managed to finish masking and airbrushed the black this weekend. I used two thin sausages of masking putty to make the big curve in the front, then stuck Tamiya tape over the rest:
I tried to spray over the blue tape from straight above or slightly back, to avoid underspray as much as possible. There are some areas that will need some touch-ups with a paintbrush, but it's looking pretty good. I forgot to tape off one small area on the tail, as you can clearly see... This is a very attractive paint scheme and it's clear why Miniart chose to include it (by the way: it's not Swiss, but Danziger. The Danzig flag includes two white crosses on a red field).
That's all!
See you next week!