Gecko 1/35 Supacat ATMP

[outrunner]

Looking OK to me Andy, nothing a bit of tidying up wont fix. What type of CA are you using? When I was building RC aircraft I found that Slo-Zap was good, being thicker it did not run and gave you time to position stuff, I am just about to order some for myself as I am finding the cheap superglues are a pain in the butt.

Andy.

[stillp]

Umm... if you use the driver, wouldn't he be wearing the seat belts rather than hiding them? :tongue-out2:
They look OK to me though, I've done far worse.
Pete

[prichrd1]

Looking good so far Andy:thumb2::thumb2:, don't let the etch beastie get the better of you, like Peter says - I have also done far worse!! :flushed:

Paul.
:smiling2:

[Guest]

Thanks again for the great comments chaps.

Andy, I've tried all sorts but most of them have either gone off in the heat of the shed, or sealed themselves solid like the fancy zap & flexi 5k ones. I've currently got some loctite precision, or good old screwfix no nonsense stuff if I want slow or thick. Both have metal pins in the lids so actually work more than a couple of times :smiling2:

Pete, yes, probably. But can you imagine the mess I'd have made trying to fit them after painting? :smiling5:

He already has Paul. I know I won't enjoy the build any more after such a failure, but I'll see it through and hopefully the figures will go better :thumb2:

[JR]

Andy, there is nothing wrong with the PE at all, a little clean up on the seat as Outrunner Andy says. As for the copper replacement, think it looks ok if not better than the kit one would have looked . Don't be so hard on your self.

[Guest]

Thanks John, and sorry, I can't help myself.

I'm not normal after all :upside:

[adt70hk]

Andy

Couldn't agree more with John. You should have seen the resultsof my one and only foray into PE.....

ATB

Andrew

[Steve Jones]

You certainly have your hands full with this kit Andy. I'm sure you will beat it into submission. Like what you have done so far. Keep up the great work my friend

[Guest]

Cheers Andrew & Steve.

Yes, it's more than I bargained for mate, but if I can keep my head in the right place it should all make a nice little scene in the end.

[papa 695]

Looking very good so far Andy

[Guest]

Thanks Ian.

I squeezed a bit of bench time in this afternoon to tackle the roll cage.

After a lot of clean up on the roll cage parts, breaking & fixing one in the process, I used blu tack to hold the main hoops in place, so that I could assemble it on the model, rather than separately as the instruction state. I thought that would give me a better chance of getting it all square. I've already done a bit of clean up on the belts here too, and removed one strap to soak in debonder to get rid of the "panic" glue I slapped on it when things weren't going well yesterday.

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I wanted to keep the cage removable for now as I wasn't sure how easy it would be to get the driver in afterwards. So I picked up the driver sprue to put him together for a test fit, and found this:

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It seems like there's a different, compressed seat to use with the driver, but it isn't mentioned anywhere in the vague instructions. There's no way I'm going to fit it now, so I'll have a go at carving the poor drivers derrière away and see if I can get him to look & fit okay.

Having worked out I'd probably have enough room to get the much slimmer guy in afterwards, I cemented the cage in place (after modifying a piece that again isn't mentioned in the instructions, but I'd noticed in a picture on Gecko's Farcebook page). The cage also has a thin bar behind the seats, which I first broke when cleaning it up, fixed it then lost it , found it, lost it again after my tweezers pinged it into another dimension, finally found it again so nailed it on quickly before it disappeared for a third time. There were also 2 thin vertical PE strips and some mesh to add. This is a bit higher than it should be, but it was fairly square and central at first go, so I decided to leave it alone. The seat belts fasten to the same bar.

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I notice in the pictures that some of the cleaned up sprue scars still look a bit rough. They feel perfectly smooth so I think it's just discolouration, but I'll know for sure once it has some primer on.

[Jim R]

Hi Andy
It will be fine. PE is just a skill like any other. Just takes practice to develop a way of working that suits you. My first attempts were more glue and bad language than PE.
One slight issue I do have with PE that is included in a kit is that you have to use it. If the PE is after market then you do have a choice about whether the PE in an improvement or not and so whether to use it or not.
Jim

[Guest]

Cheers Jim. It's frustrating when I can't do the things I want to do, but like you say, I'll just keep having a go :smiling3:

Tackling the jerry cans & cages today. There's no indication of how & where to fold them, nor any score marks to follow so I'll be using the cans as a guide. As you say, I've no alternative either, so fingers crossed.

[outrunner]

There's no indication of how & where to fold them, nor any score marks to follow so I'll be using the cans as a guide.

That is a bit off, all the PE I have done, but I have not done not a lot mind, has had fold marks but at least the cans will be a help.

Andy.

[Guest]

Yeah, I'm used to at least a bit of a clue.

What I end up doing was lining a steel rule up with the back portion (figuring the front should be the same width) and folding the sides up along that line. Seemed to work pretty well and they are almost square :surprised: Just waiting for them to dry now before cleaning off a bit of excess glue.

Blue line showing where I folded. Nice wording detail moulded into the cans too, although I'm guessing these must have been commandeered many years ago! :smiling5:

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