Tamiya Type 1 Self Propelled Gun

[Justin Wooding]

Another thing i decided to improve with back to basic modeling was to thin the fenders (after painting of course). I was looking at my references and saw how thin the real things were.

Fenders before a work over are quite thick...




It's a messy job scraping and filing...




Looking much better...





That's it for now!

[Philipp Gross]

Definitely a great improvement! Interesting camo too

Philipp

[Vincent Power]

Big improvement indeed and the boxes look much better too.

Vincent

[Adam Durrant]

Visually much much better Woody, pity it was after painting

[Justin Wooding]

Thanks chaps!

Adam, it's no issue, a simple brush touch up will be easy and that area will be dirty anyway, which is why i didn't hesitate to re-work the fenders

[Justin Wooding]

Mufflers were up next for some improving. The kit muffler outlets are solid and have an almost sharp edge. To look good they need opening up.

They are pretty thin with not much to work with so i filed a flat into it at what i thought was about the right angle. Kit part is the lower one and the top has been filed flat. Filing it flat gave me enough surface area to work with.




Next is to carve out the opening with a sharp knife blade. I usually scribe a centre guide line with a needle first and just expand on that. Looks much better!






Both done




Mufflers with the photo etch mesh from the Eduard set and the improved outlets

[Justin Wooding]

Also drilled out holes in some gun cradle parts...





I really enjoy improving kit parts where it is practical and possible. I get quite a bit of satisfaction out of it, and it doesn't cost anything

[Philipp Gross]

Some very nice improvements Woody

From time to time I feel the same about old kits. Makes just that little bit of a difference without much effort!

Philipp

[Shawn Ramsey]

What a difference those fenders make. Once one Woody.

Shawn

[Mark Aldrich]

Beautiful work.