Details, details, details... I must not get too caught up on the details.
Ok so after my fight with the glue monkey on the engine deck I had to do some repairs. I really tried to keep the handles in tact but when one of them snapped in half on my last stroke prying free the air intake I decided to make new ones. Gluing the broken one would be too much of a compromise Imo.
So I made a jig out of some styrene sheets I had cut to fit and glued-
I remembered when the evil mother-in-law lived with us that she used to do flower decorations and crafts. Off to the barn I went in search of some suitable wire. Found several pieces. One fit perfectly and was firm enough that it would bend and hold the form I needed. Particularly strong stuff used for making seasonal flower wreaths and displays-
I got the bend almost perfectly. I was pretty happy with myself.
I had drilled out the holes from the handles. So I decided to use more scrap styrene and glue it to the bottom.
A little test fit from the top
I think it looks better than the original plastic actually. So I dripped some CA glue into the holes. Nice and sturdy now.
Then it was time to fill that gaudy antennae hole. For the life of me I don't understand why they keep producing them with these metal nuggets. Seems they'd save a fraction of a penny if they stopped doing it on all of their models.
I snipped some old spare sprue from my random sprue bag that fit the hole snugly. Added some quick set cement then it was time to fill the hole with putty.
I used Tamiya white putty thinned with my usual Tamiya airbrush cleaner filled some holes, painted some on other places where the surface wasn't even after wet sanding and also patched up the air intake abortion. I'll let that all dry overnight then sand it all out before doing any armor texture.
More random patchwork and showing my chosen solution.
I had to repair 2 holes in the air intake so I decided to give it some light texture to mask the holes.I'll likely sand it down a bit but not smooth again to mask the damage.
Then it was time to remedy the cable stays and cleaning rods. I have an idea for keeping 1 tow cable run from end end of the tank secured on some nice metal tow shackles after seeing several period pics with Tigers like this during the battle. I had ordered the Mato metal stays/cleaning rod holders thinking that they'd do but was unhappy that their detail was poor and the Heng Long pieces actually looked better.
So it was time to fiddle and cut and file and sand the Heng Long parts
I had removed the molded in cleaning rod base holders earlier from the upper hull because they were absolutely off by a mile. I kept them but thought I could make better replacements. So I glued some more styrene scrap sheets and whipped out the pin vise and drilled away.
A little work with everyone's favorite basic tool the razor saw and mitre box
Pretty close again. Now for some rod file and sanding work.
Since I clipped the plastic cable and I liked the detail of the HL cable clamp, it was more driling next
A little file work and Ta da...
That's it for tonight. But I'll have lots of time in he next 4 days to put in more work.
I'll End this Details, details, details post with a hint of humor for the forum tank Experts=
)