RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Yayyyyyy Herr Dr. is at it again...

Looking forward to see whats up next.

Herr Dr. Professor wrote: ↑Wed Dec 27, 2023 7:56 pm I have the chance to go to my not-so-local hobby store and get my mitts on some bottled Mr. Surfacer 500 to continue the "cast iron" look.

Uhh...*cough *cough...Amazon...*cough...

Yes,tankme, I know that one might order these things from Amazon, and I too often do. But sometimes I just need to drive 90 miles to come back home with plastic on my breath.
So I scored three bottles of Mr. Surfacer 500, some 1987 and later IDF paint, some WWII Russian green (2BO, or something like that).

But did I get to the T26A3? Well, yesterday in one of the threads here on RCTW I mentioned that years ago I had built a weathered Tauchpanzer. Remembering it, I dug it out to see that it still looks okay, if nothing spectacular. But it was an old HengLong with the crystal transmitter/receiver link. Amused, I tried running it; terrible.

So I dove in, meaning to convert it to Taigen V2, transmitters and MFUs of which I have in abundance because of all the conversions I made to Taigen V3 with the various sound modules. What a pain! Fitting the MFU with its fan will still be a challenge, although with a Dremel and sander I cleared some area. (I love the smell of burning plastic any time of day.)

However, I could not get the replacement MFU to test run at all. The with the help of various electric devices and homemade test wiring gizmos, I traced the fault down to the old on/off switch. No problem: I have switches scavenged and new. Oh for pity's sake: one of the tiny screws holding the switch in place was stripped and I had to force it out.

Finally, I neatly re-packed the Tauchpanzer sans electronics for another day and set up to get back to the T26A3 build.

I would go to my local hobby store, but it has NHSS...(Never Has Sh*t Syndrome)...

tankme wrote: ↑Fri Dec 29, 2023 5:39 am I would go to my local hobby store, but it has NHSS...(Never Has Sh*t Syndrome)...

Same here mate, I get it

Some Pershing pics I borrowed.

For motivation Herr Dr.-







T'was quite a story. That hole in the mantlet is from a Tiger I's 88.

That's Fireball, one of the first T26E3s in Germany. Fireball sure didn't last long. I am trying to build another T26E3, one more obscure, not knocked out by a Tiger, but from the same time and places as Fireball.

This post is just to prove that I am poking along. Last Wednesday, I did get to my not-so LHS and grabbed three bottles of Mr. Surfacer 500. Earlier I bought a big pack of cheapo flux brushes for soldering. Today I used up two flux brushes and my last cut-off small stippling brush to stipple on some of the 500. You can see on the front of the hull the difference between the dissolved putty I used about a week ago (lighter color) and the 500 (gray/grey). I need to figure out another source for cheapo small brushes that I can cut off for stippling, as the flux brushes are fine, but only for somewhat more open surfaces. Working in around details requires a smaller brush. (In fact, I even used a toothpick in some spots.) I will head tomorrow for the "dollar store," what here in the States we used to call the "dime store" before 60 years of inflation set in.

I've had luck with the Testors wide brush that came with 3 pack. I have used the same brush repeatedly cleaning with acetone (about eight years and about 20 projects). I don't buy the brand named thinners and brush cleaners, I use acetone for nearly all reducing and cleaning that I do with tanking. I even use it for thinning Bondo to make my version of Mr. Surfacer.

By the way, am glad to see the Pershing back on the bench!

Herr Dr. Professor wrote: ↑Tue Jan 02, 2024 10:35 pm I will head tomorrow for the "dollar store," what here in the States we used to call the "dime store" before 60 years of inflation set in.

Dang! Our dollar stores have become $1.25 stores, or more commonly, "multiples of a dollar" stores. But you are right, they are irresistable sources for modelling supplies.

Mike.