Trumpeter Cougar AVGP

[Beobachtungsbereich]

Found a Cougar not on a pedestal! If you want photos of any component let me know and I'll get them on here for you.

Regards

[NecronautDrummer]

Thanks for the offer!  So far, I've been referencing ldshrecceboy's Photobucket album, about 20 pages of detail photos on cougars (both before & after the turret refit), and it's helped a lot.  I don't foresee needing any more reference than that album (it's pretty complete already!).  But if I need anything, I'll let you know.

Finished scratching the brake guards, and building the front suspension.  Next step is to fix the mold line above the front wheel housing, the one with the weld in it.  I have a soldering iron at the rehearsal studio that I use for repairing XLR and instrument cables.  I think that I should be able to just hold an old X-Acto blade on the hot tip with some twisted wire.  As well, my last visit to a hobby shop yielded some gaps in scratchbuild materials.  Need more sizes of brass wire and thinner sheet styrene.  Maybe some styrene strip and rod, too?

Still waiting on some photoetch from EBay before I start the upper hull and turret assemblies.  I'll post some pics on Sunday or Monday night.

[NecronautDrummer]

Lotsa goodies!!  Got many sizes of brass rod, styrene rod, strip, sheet, and even some u-channel.  I had a thought about the tie-downs around the vehicle, and it seems to me that while some of them are the bent-rod type, others along the side of the hull are bent steel strip.  The channel, cut into tiny bits, and sanded off on the corners, should mimic that look.

Got a drill index with sizes 61-80 bits, which I'll need for drilling the holes for the non-existent engine grille latches and handles., and making drain plug holes on the bottom of the hull.

Also picked up a saw and miter box set, which should come in handy for sawing rod and stuff!

And I had a thought.  Florists use a thin green wire for tying together bits for floral arrangements.  I think it should scale down nicely to replicate the size and look of para cord, which we would often loop through the tie-downs on the sides of the hull to hold down bits of bush and tree for camo.  Maybe a B-string from a guitar too?

Micro-Mark sells a wire bending die made just for bending handles and rails for trains, etc.  Anyone have one?  Is it worth the purchase?  I've never used brass rod or music wire for scratchbuilding, and I'm a little intimidated by the thought of trying to replicate bends using just some needle-nose pliers.

I was looking for some rod that was around 0.026" in diameter for scratch-building handles and stuff, but the only stuff the hobby store had in that size was 'music wire'.  It's greasy, but easily cleaned off.  Why does everyone use brass?  Is there a disadvantage to using music wire for scratch-building?  And is .026" even the right size for 1/35?

And finally, whip antennae.  I've done this before by melting and stretching sprue.  It works great because you get this tapered shape, which is what our antennae were shaped like.  My question is how do you replicate the ball/cone shaped fitting on the end? Or the antenna tie-downs and clips?

Once again, thanks for helping me out here!  And hopefully I've lent the odd tip in this post too!

[TRM]

Sounds like an awesome haul the ND!!  For small gauge rod you can go to copper wire maybe too.  Stranded up to the solid, covers most of what will ever be needed.  Sometime looking no further than the basement and/or attic....old lamp cords, computer innards have some great tiny gauge stuff...etc.  I think that the music wire can be a bit fiddly when trying to bend it...but if it works out for you...Awesome!!  Check with Scott over at Elmcity about the antenna mounts, pretty sure the are several flavors fo9r short money.  Could also look into crafting bead, like for jewelry making.  Most craft stores carry them and they usually have holes in them already!

Good luck!!

[spud]

check out http://www.rbmodel.com/index.php?action=products&cat=c_bm&sub=35A i duno if they will have the airerl mount but they have other Awsome stuff there. and they are cheap.

also look at teh back of the styrene pack it should say what is 1/35 scale the big pack has it listed

[Beobachtungsbereich]

I used to rip the cones off the antennas. They were useless.

What you could do is use a bit of glue and dip the tip in it and let it dry upside down to form the tear drop shape.

As for antenna tie downs...perhaps some scrap PE frames cut to size and bent?

Regards

[NecronautDrummer]

also look at teh back of the styrene pack it should say what is 1/35 scale the big pack has it listed

Well, look at that!  Never noticed it before.  I was trying to match a wire thickness to what was on the sprue.  And look at all those goodies from RB!  Thanks again, Spud!

I used to rip the cones off the antennas. They were useless.

What you could do is use a bit of glue and dip the tip in it and let it dry upside down to form the tear drop shape.

As for antenna tie downs...perhaps some scrap PE frames cut to size and bent?

Regards

That's in fact what I was going to do if I couldn't find anything else: dip the antenna end in PVA repeatedly, and just cut & bend a PE sprue piece for the tie-down.  However, I'll definitely check out some craft stores for some beads of the right size and shape!

I once left the ball end off while prepping a vehicle for exercise.  My thought was that it's just another thing we'd potentially lose while training, and it didn't seem to increase reception or transmitting, so we'd keep it stashed somewhere safe.  My crew commander agreed.  Useless or not, I must say that my troop commander was not very happy with me because of that... 

Won't make any progress on this build until tonight.  Fortis (one of our utility companies out here in sunny Alberta) is cutting power and gas services to the town for a couple hours this afternoon, so I won't be doing any building until later tonight.  Cheers!

[NecronautDrummer]

I've stalled.  I'm waiting on some mail-order goodies (tools, PE, and other parts for the build), and trying to get an old airbrush I found up and running again, since the lower hull is ready for some paint.  I don't want to progress too far, or I'll have a heck of a time trying to get primer and paint in some of those nooks and crannies.

And I'm having a heck of a time with the plastic handles, they're too small to properly sand and smooth.  I'm just gonna use wire.  Now, I thought I had some CA glue around here... nope.  Need some of that too. 

[spud]

defo get that ab up and running and practice on some card if you never used one before.

[NecronautDrummer]

I had one of the Testors Model Master airbrushes from the mid-90's, back when I first got serious with modelling.  Pretty much this type:

I couldn't even find the proper one on Google Image Search, the suck factor was so high.  See how they obviously had to add in the spray from the nozzle in the box art?  That's cuz it wouldn't work!!
It was cool for about the first five passes, but I just couldn't clean it properly.  The entire body and nozzle were sealed units, you see.  I can't count how many $15 nozzles I went through to keep it functioning:

  At one point, I'm sure my LHS was only stocking the tips for me, cuz I just didn't know any better at the time.  If I somehow appeased and appropriately honored the airbrush gods, it MIGHT spray paint.  If it did, I used it on my models, no matter how splotchy or spattery the spray was.  Out of frustration, I went back to rattle cans after a couple years.

All in all, I never practiced with it, simply because just getting it to work was such a chore.  I didn't feel like I could waste an opportunity of having it work, just for mere practice.

It'll be a couple weeks yet, but I'll see if the old Holbein airbrush http://www.scalemodeladdict.com/forum/index.php/topic,4132.0.html can be resurrected, without having to throw too much money at it.

[Myke]

Testors have cornered the market on disposable airbrushes. I tried using one of those back in the day too when they first came out (ignorantly thinking they were the next big thing), and had the same issues. Hated it.
If you are looking for a decent airbrush for cheap, Badger has some good ones.

[NecronautDrummer]

Too late.  I just found a Paasche talon with all 3 tip sizes for a deal way too good to pass up.  I seriously looked at the Badger 100 series, and I still might ask for a 100 side feed for Christmas, just because 

Testors have cornered the market on disposable airbrushes. I tried using one of those back in the day too when they first came out (ignorantly thinking they were the next big thing), and had the same issues. Hated it.

Oh, thank goodness.  For a while there, I was thinking that I was just a big airbrush idiot/bigot, hating so much on the Testors airbrushes.  It's all worth it to know that at least one other person out there shared my pain 

Hey everyone, thanks for putting up with my long-winded posts.  While modelling keeps me off the streets at night (and is dang cool and fun!), I've found over the last few years that just writing out my train of  thought gives me some free therapy, and clears and focuses my head.  Heck, sometimes, just writing about a problem and some of the various ways it could be solved sometimes gets me to an answer before anyone else posts.  The odd time, I can even offer an unlikely tip: for example, did you know that lighter fluid could be used as an enamel paint thinner for airbrushing?  It also flattens glossy or semi-gloss enamels.

_{I am in no way responsible for any jet action or flame-outs due to this tip, whether used in a commercial spraybooth, a DIY spraybooth, or just having a lit cigarette around while airbrushing}

[NecronautDrummer]

Just a quick update on my progress over the past night...


I added the driver's hatch lock-down using styrene rod and a former piece of hatch handle.


I sanded off the extra tie-downs molded at the front of the hull.  Methinks I'll be sanding off the rest of them and replacing then with some cut-up channel instead.  The spacing of them is all off on the driver side.  More to follow on that little experiment.



I can't seem to get the kit-supplied handles to look good (I can't sand them properly, they're too small!!  :'( )  So instead, I've replaced all the latches and added the ones the kit forgot with brass rod, and built some loops to sit on top of the engine grille (the kit neglected that detail too).  However, they seem too big.  I might try bending up a piece of unwound guitar string instead, and see if I can tighten up the loops a bit.

The lower hull's as finished as I want it to be before I paint some of the nooks and crannies.  However, it'll be a couple weeks before i have my Mr. Surfacer, airbrush, and paints, so no colour for a while.  And the old Holbein airbrush I found in a back room at work is currently soaking in a restorer bath overnight.

Since it's on my mind right now, I'll ask everyone: I know I'll need a true primer (unlike GW Basecoat) to get the paint to bite onto the metal and PE parts.  Will the Vallejo primers (the kind you can pretty much airbrush straight from the bottle) work, or should I just go with a rattle can of Krylon primer?

Later this week, I'll be adding the bits of channel to sub in as tie-down loops.  I think the size I have will scale nicely, and add some more authenticity.  If it doesn't work, I already have a few sets of the resin loops (both styles) on order from Tiger Models, along with some chain for the rear hatch handles (Thanks, MadMan!).

I feel like I'm falling behind, compared to a lot of the armour builds here...   Meh, I have until February.  Plenty of time. 

[Leighbo]

Interesting subject, looking forward to seeing the progress!

[TRM]

Making some nice progress ND!!  Nice fix on the handles!!!