Saddam’s Brolly

[JR]

Alistair.
See you've noticed things haven't changed with the rabble !
Great additions, impressed with the soldering lark.

[papa 695]

Some very nice work Alistair

[Guest]

Alistair,
Looking very good indeed. I do like the new light brackets and the rain gutters around the windscreens.
Will keep checking in for more progress.
Mike.

[Fernando N]

Hi Alistair, great to see your fine work again.
Cool subject and neat detail work:thumb2:.

[Road of Bones]

Gentlemen, you are all too kind! I really appreciate the comments:thumb2:

Tonight’s instalment then...making fenders.

I always loved watching SimonT knocking up new fenders with his signature pewter sheet. I substituted my trusty purée tube, and flattened some out to replace the horribly over-thick kit offerings. I used a steel rule to make a lip that runs along the outer edge, and also scored them for the bend at the front of the fenders:

Next, I sanded some plastic rod into half-rounds to make the stiffening ribs, and glued a couple to each fender, and attached them to the hull:


Then I used a load of punched out rivets left over from another part of the build (more on that next time) and stuck them on with varnish (less messy) to match the pattern on the kit fenders:

I also added the tow-rope holding brackets made from folded PE fret to both sides:

A quick word on how I made those hinges for the hatches- I had a load of spare PE triangular handles, that if you cut & fold them just so, they made the hinges you can see on the model:

Simply cut them at the apex of the triangle, and fold them out. I used a short length of brass tube to make the hinge shaft in between the arms, and added a couple of PE discs at each end to finish them off. Nothing gets wasted!

More tomorrow chaps,
Alistair☠️

[scottie3158]

Coming on very nicely mate great attention to detail.

[stillp]

Very nice Alistair. What is the puree that comes in those nice tubes?
Pete

[Road of Bones]

Very nice Alistair. What is the puree that comes in those nice tubes?
Pete

Ta Pete- tomato, btw

[stillp]

Not frog then? :smiling5:

[SimonT]

Al, for future get yourself a set of these tools

Embossing tools

You can put proper strengthening ribs in with them by scribing on the back of your tomato tube

[Road of Bones]

Thanks Si- ordered :thumb2:

[Jim R]

Hi Alistair
The detailing is a real treat to see.
Jim

[grumpa]

Excellent!

[Road of Bones]

Jims- thanks chaps! :thumb2:

Continuing on then, next up was the upper rear deck. The kit supplied a replacement resin deck to accommodate the resin turret, but the original “clean“ deck was on the sprue. This had 2 large crew hatches, which got new hinges and handles:

According to my refs, there are a number of perforated raised brackets around the rear deck, presumably to facilitate tying down equipment on the hull roof. These are not provided in the kit, so I had to make my own. I drew out a grid on a strip of card, and punched out the necessary holes using my P&D set:

Then this was cut into strips to make 10 brackets:

These were attached to the roof, using some faint weld lines moulded into the roof as a positioning guide:

Next will be the light guards- more later gents,
Alistair☠️

[Guest]

Oh, the fun of making strips like those … I did much the same for the fence on the front of my Strv 103 a long time ago, and was really glad I was done