Rick's 1-87 Scale Trident Jagdpanther Conversion

[Mini Me]

That would be borderline "crazy" JR! Although in defense of your comment, the "illustrious Simon T did attempt to do that very thing on a 1-87 scale half track!!:tongue-out3::tongue-out3:

[Mini Me]

From a distance, it does not look like much has been done however, I managed to get all the hatches in place, all the handles for said hatches, all screens have been final installed, the MG ball was located and filled and sanded, you can't see them but the lower sponson plates are in and the exhaust (early type) has been installed after drilling them out with a .020 dia. bit. and finally, the roof antenna mount has been drilled out for a .015 dia. brass rod which I still have to turn down so it has a proper taper to it.

[The Smythe Meister]

Blimey, that's come on since I last saw it Rick:flushed:, what a neat job you've made of it,and the resin track assemblies are awesome...it ALL looks fantastic :thumb2:.

[Mini Me]

Much obliged Smitty, us folks working in the "wee" scale must keep up appearances.....

[Mini Me]

Got a few outside chores to take care of so not much to post up......Got some Mr. Surfacer on the gunshield and the cast aperture. I think I might need to "knock" it down a bit more. In the second shot I have located the bars that the side skirt brackets will suspend from......still have to make 'em up out of brass stock. Since I do not intend to have any skirting on this vehicle, I'm sure their absence would be noticed.

[adt70hk]

Coming on very nicely Rick. Very well done so far but I think your right about the cast effect being a bit heavy..... especially at this teeny, tiny scale!!

[Mini Me]

I'll knock it down a bit more.....just don't want it to disappear completely

[David Lovell]

Hi Rick solid stuff so far ,I'm currently doing a jumbo scale ,one way strangely of getting some juices flowing again ,could you please elaborate on the cast effect using the mr surfacer ,ive go a pot of the 500 wich I think is the thick one? I ask because I've got a couple of 72nd russkies built and put away(lack of mojo)that would benefit from some cast turret detail ,fore warned is fore armed so to speak before I take matters into my own hands. Cheers Dave

[Mini Me]

Hi David and yes, more than happy to 'splain how I do it. 500 is what you want, leave it thick but not buttery. I use a cut down acid brush with about a quarter of an inch of bristles left on it. that makes a fairly stiff brush for the "stipple" effect you will need. if you are planning on doing a large area, then you will need a large brush to get the paint on fairly quickly and you will probably have to do a section at a time. This paint dries quickly so after a few minutes you need to start your stippling....the more you stipple the more the brush pulls the paint up and produces a more and more coarse texture. I always go coarser than I need because once the paint has dried, you can knock it down with different grits of paper to get the final effect you are looking for. I strongly recommend you practice on a piece of card stock or an old model, just too get the feel of working with Mr. Surfacer. If you need to thin it I use T-103. Good luck

[Mini Me]

Final update of the day......I got the skirt brackets installed and turned an antenna mast and dry fitted it. I also sanded the gun shield and aperture a little more to reduce the overly coarse appearance. Tomorrow I'll start on the stowage and tow cable along with the pioneer tools, jack etc.

[David Lovell]

Thanks Rick ,I've got into the habit of priming and spraying the underside as best I try with the up side of the model ,then any filters etc are tried for effect before taking them up top ,so always a little bit of blank canvas somewhere ,big thanks again for coming back with the help when it happens will show warts and all. Dave

[Mini Me]

Here is todays progress.....only a couple items left and it will be time to paint this little beast:thumb2:

[Guest]

That looks the business. About the only thing that gives it away as being as small as it is, is the size of the mesh on the engine deck.

[Mini Me]

Thanks for the kind words Jakko.
I'm currently looking for the proper size "silk Screen" mesh for future builds. I'm hoping to find a local supplier if not, there's always Amazon. Also, once it's painted the current mesh will blend in better and sort of become a lot less noticeable. At least that's what happened on the last one I built.

[Mini Me]

Here's the last "tidbit" I'm monkeying with before I can throw some paint at this.......the scale cables were way too small so I upgraded to six strands of twisted speaker wire and of course, the old standby, wine bottle foil for the swaged fitting to holds it all together.