Andrea's Takom BV206S 1/35 for Simon

[Andy the Sheep]

Yesterday another little step forward

Cleaning all those small parts is time (and fingertips) consuming and when it comes to analyse the pics... there's always an unsatisfying seam or a too marked junction . Anyway, very few (or almost none) of them will be in sight.
The fit is good but a dry fit test is strongly recommended.
As in my previous post, a suggestion:

the two cylinders (parts # C62 and C63 + C27, C28, C33 and C32) should be joined to their respective supports (parts # C6 and C7) before inserting the pistons C48 and C49. The latter, in fact, if fitted when prescribed in the destruction sheet, being not glued, will be an easy prey to the carpet monster; moreover, parts C27, C28, C33 and C32 get easier into their correct position with the help of parts # C6 and C7.

While writing those suggestions, I felt I was nearing James May (Captain Slow) standards ... If I'm boring you, please let me know, but, please, not in a Jeremy Clarkson way :tongue-out2:.

Today no progress. SWMBO directed me to a 1:1 scale model produced by an infamous yellow and blue scandinavian brand... anyone needing some Allen keys...? :rolling:.

[scottie3158]

Andrea,
All looking very nice mate.

[Guest]

You seem to be making a great job of reworking the instructions. Something you'll definitely need and that larger project!

[Steve Jones]

Take as long as you want. All looking very nice

[Andy the Sheep]

Paul, Andy and Steve: thank you for your kind support.

Unfortunately I will have to take as long as someone else wants...
Due to anti-COVID measures, my region has been downgraded from "Yellow" to "Orange", (nothing to do with Great Los Angels area Counties ) thus any movement between different towns is not allowed unless backed by serious reasons. This means that I'm no more allowed to commute from the old to the new house for modelling purposes. This state will last at least for a couple of weeks so...be even more patient (as an adj., not as a n. :face-with-thermometer than ever to see further progresses.
The state of the art at the moment of this partial but already very limiting lockdown is the following:

the central driving and steering block is complete (including bad quality pics [ATTACH]404800[/ATTACH]), the parts are ready for the hissing stick (all the undersides will be painted in black) but that is all, for the moment, unless you want to wake up the sleeping James May in me [ATTACH]404801[/ATTACH] to give a lecture about how the central driving and steering block works, making the BV a peculiar tracked vehicle (and, at the same time, enjoy a rather peculiar written English [ATTACH]404802[/ATTACH]).

As a last move on the eleventh hour, I took some paints and some hairy stick with me to work on some figures and improve my skills in that part of the modelling world while waiting the current condition Orange paling down to the jolly good Yellow one.

Andrea.

[Andy the Sheep]

Inching forward among family chores and movement restrictions that change frequently and will be stricter again from the 24th.
Today I managed to get to the bench, but inspite of the 2 hrs spent there, very little work has been done.
Being a still empty house, it was very cold and had to wait for the heating system to do its job warming the air from 7 °C to at least 14°C before activating the hissing stick.
Here are the results:
[ATTACH alt="IMG_6700r.JPG"]408454[/ATTACH][ATTACH alt="IMG_6701r.JPG"]408455[/ATTACH][ATTACH alt="IMG_6702r.JPG"]408456[/ATTACH]
Undersides, wheels and steering block painted in Tamiya NATO black which, in the end, is not so black...:upside:.
Cleaning my Badger, the shade it left on the tissues was that of a very very dark black-green...
Anyway, its the underside and the most important things are that it looks black, I tried the new "F" needle and nozzle (worked well even at very low pressure) and I was back at the bench.
Thank you for your patience and for being a very warm and friendly band of good people.

Have a nice Christmas and stay safe! :sick:

Andrea

[Mini Me]

And a Merry Christmas to you also Andrea!

[JR]

Like wise Andrea.

Hope you get into the house soon, must have been a great strain.

[Guest]

Tamiya NATO black which, in the end, is not so black...

Indeed — I use it when I need very dark grey, not when I need black

[scottie3158]

Kit is coming on nicely. Seasons greetings to you and yours.

[Andy the Sheep]

Almost 3 years since my last post.
After Takom kindly sent me the spare tracks, I left this build on the shelf: the tracks mishap really sapped my mojo for this kit
Back on the desk and some progress done on the interiors.
For those interested, this is not a "full interior" kit but have some good interiors, especially in the front module. It leaves space for some beefing up especially in the back module where only the seats are provided by the kit while in reality it's filled with accessories, especially the back plate (see pic below of the real thing)


and this is "my" real thing as per today:




The tracks problem has not been solved yet... even the new tracks seem to be 1 cm short, problem which will be solved :cold-sweat::fearful:by stretching them a little after an immersion in warm water.
What really bothers me is that the wheels are delicate; the suspension arms, though properly detailed and almost in scale, are weak and the pressure the tracks will put on them once they cool down could become very harmful. I still think I might have assembled something incorrectly, but I wasn't able to discover what.
In trying to increase the strength of those feeble arms, I superglued some metal staples, which happened to be of the right size, on their inside with a triple dose for the idlers, also reinforced by some plastic rods.


Not very elegant, but once finished the staples won't be seen, hopefully.

Hope to update you soon with this build. Comments and questions, as always, are welcome.

[scottie3158]

I will watch this with interest.

[Andy the Sheep]

Honoured to have such a prominent member of the rabble in the audience, Paul :smiling: and feel free to pitilessly comment and suggest.

[Andy T]

I was fancying this kit when you first started it but read about your problem with the tracks so I've held off.

3 years later and I'm still holding off lol but will carry on following to see how you get on

[Andy the Sheep]

Thank you for your patience, Andy. I hope I'll manage to get to the end of this build without further main hindrances.