Bulldog build

[wibblywobbly]

Just waiting for a few parts now, all primered up and ready for paint.

I am rewiring the tank and junking most of the spaghetti that HL install, I will post a link to the separate 'how to' when it is complete.

[wibblywobbly]

I now have Taigen Jagdpanther steel gears in there. The Bulldog sprockets needed filing out ever so slightly to fit on the shafts, but with a bit of brute force they went on.

I gave it a coat of US Dark Green, after I had gone round and washed Matt Black into the grooves etc. I also added a rust mix and applied that to various edges and corner before airbrushing. The method in my madness is that once the topcoat is dry I lightly scrub the paint with cotton buds, a toothbrush, a kitchen towel, or anything else, and it gives various shaded worn metal or rust effects through the paint.

I did the exhaust covers this way too, though the actual exhausts have been left rusty.

[Merlin707]

Great build and an exceptional commitment to the build thread with note bubbles and info.

[wibblywobbly]

I do try to give as much info as possible as there are a lot of people out there who visit the site, look at builds etc, so if they want to do something similar it may help them in some way.

I have been busy with the airbrush and hand painting, plus I made an IR emitter housing. The tube plugs into an HL 2 pin socket mounted in the hull so I can detach the tube for general running about. In all honesty there was absolutely nowhere else to put it, if I used the mg hole in the mantlet the barrel would create a shadow in the IR beam, and due to the location of the hinges and the front of the turret roof, it simply wouldn't go anywhere else.

[wibblywobbly]

The Bulldog is all done now. All stowage is attached using glue, but I have stayed within the bounds of authenticity by attaching everything to a mounting point and/or using straps to hold it on. The straps were made using old hi fi speaker cable, twisting strands together and flattening it between pliers.

I have an IBU2 on the way so will post an update when that is fitted.

I have included a video just to show that the simplified wiring works perfectly, and that the cheap RX18 muzzle flash mod does the job too. The details are in the electrics section.

[greengiant]

Pretty good looking Bulldog. In the future do you have any plans to correct the slope of the upper hull and add the tow cable to the right side fender where the cable mount is and a main gun mantle cover?

[PainlessWolf]

W.W.
Cheap Thrills! I like that Bulldog, Sir. Great tip for making workable strapping.
regards,
Painless

[wibblywobbly]

Pretty good looking Bulldog. In the future do you have any plans to correct the slope of the upper hull and add the tow cable to the right side fender where the cable mount is and a main gun mantle cover?

No plans at all for any of these mods, the Bulldog has been built primarily as an IR battle tank. I learnt long ago that if I am running a tank over rough terrain, hitting buildings and going through or over grass, that anything that overhangs the hull, or that can catch on shrubbery, or isn't nailed down... is a weak point. Tank rollovers are not uncommon, even turret mounted mg's are a liability.

I have lost count of the number of times people have lost bits off their tank outdoors (me included) and can never find them, so I try and build them so that they stay in one piece, and keep their integral strength. I try and keep the HL method of screwing the upper and lower hulls together as well, as this turns a flexible hull into a rigid box section, so no need for metal hulls? Just 3 or 4 through the base will do it.

RobG

[philipat]

Nice build! I like the work that you've done.

[wibblywobbly]

Thanks, I had forgotten about this thread and only now realised that I haven't posted up a video with the IBU2 installed. I will try and get around to doing one. The RX18 sounds blooming awful, no idea what was going on with video sound when I made that.

RobG