British Light Tank Mk VIB (Nth Africa)

[Adam Durrant]

Slow progress this week due to work and being away over the weekend.

Managed to get the running gear all done, bogies are not glued on yet, just getting the track all glued together.



The tracks are a bit crap, would be good to be able to get an aftermarket set but everyone is sold out or doesn't stock MkIV/Universal carrier tracks.

Turret is all done, I just have to glue on the hatches. Was going to put a commander in the turret but the hatch openings are so small none of my figures will fit. Not sure how they fit a crew of three on one of these things!





Still aiming for primer on by this weekend but with work and a busy social calendar over the next week I'm not holding out much hope.

[Philipp Gross]

Looks good! In fact, it looks finished already

Philipp

[Adam Durrant]

Looks good! In fact, it looks finished already

Philipp

Well...no. Just realised that due to the complicated plans and my rushing that I have glued the 4 bogies on the wrong side and back to front. Its obvious now that I look at it but I thought I had labelled everything correctly before attaching the sub-assemblies. Obviously not .

I will now have to cut them off the hull with a razor saw, drill them out and pin them back on with brass rod to reinforce them and a wee plastic spacer to make up for the plastic removed by the saw.

There goes my plan for a quick build. Luckily the wheel spacing is the same on all the bogies so the track shouldn't be thrown out by the change.

Adam

[Olivier Carneau]

Nice build so far. It just looks as tiny as the modern German Wiesel.

[Adam Durrant]

So, carefully cut the bogies off with a razor saw. Was very concerned the thickness of plastic removed by the saw would affect the offset and alignment of the tracks. My plan therefore was to use a small wafer of plastic to replace the material removed. From this (wrong);


bogies switched front to back and are also on the wrong side

Bogies removed, drilled out wire and plastic "washer" glued on







To this (Correct)



This has put my schedule behind a bit, but that's modelling for you!

Should get all the photo etch done this weekend and pretty much complete the build but will need to wash and dry before primer.

Adam

[Steve Hutchinson]

Well spotted and repaired Adam

I still can't figure it out

Another one approaching paint

Well done

Steve H

[Adam Durrant]

Well spotted and repaired Adam

I still can't figure it out

Another one approaching paint

Well done

Steve H

Believe me Steve, even closely analyzing the plans it was hard to work out where the bogies should go as they are built as sub assemblies then you are meant to use the force to work out where they attach!

The PE is also proving to be a headache, but then again, small company, rare subject and a reasonably cheap kit, what do you expect!

Adam

[Philipp Gross]

I'm glad you could fix it.....gotta love some nice and simple torsion bars

Philipp

[Adam Durrant]

I'm glad you could fix it.....gotta love some nice and simple torsion bars

Philipp

With you on that!

So far this kit has been a headache from go to whoa! The fit is perfect and the level of detail is just right, but the plans are very convoluted

[Adam Durrant]

Got my soldering Mo-jo on this afternoon. I'm a big fan of throwing technology and toys at a problem and recently took delivery of a Piranha PE folding tool from RP Toolz. This is a big step up on the mini one I have and opens up the ability to make bigger folds. I also bought Wilders liquid flux as the paste I have is just awful .

Here's the results so far;



The wee heat sinks that I got for $2 ea from J-Car are excellent, no more burnt fingers and other soldered joints don't soften when you are working on the other side of the piece.



The PE storage is certainly a huge step up on the plastic part on the left. The kit gives you both options. The headlights are the same, you have the option of a fairly basic plastic part or a kit provided PE option.



Most of the reference photos I have show one or both of the lower lockers missing their wooden storage bins. I considered this, but the Cauter scheme is so complex I would have either had to have done some very complex masking, or paint the storage lockers off the model and hope the camp scheme would match up. As I was on a roll with the soldering I did both storage bins...this Mk VI is just off the boat and the crew haven't had a chance to lose anything yet .